CONTACT:
- Gretchen Rollwagen-Bollens, Office of Research and Graduate Education, 360-546-9115, rollboll@vancouver.wsu.edu
- Sheri Byrd, Office of Marketing and Communications, 360/546-9602, byrds@vancouver.wsu.edu
VANCOUVER, Wash.—The National Science Foundation has awarded $2.7 million over five years to Washington State University Vancouver. Under the Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 program, or GK-12, up to 10 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø science graduate students per year will partner one-on-one with sixth to ninth grade science teachers in Vancouver, Camas and La Center school districts.
Graduate student GK-12 Fellows and their partner teachers will engage middle school students in authentic scientific inquiry focused on environmental change in the Columbia River watershed.
"The central theme of this GK-12 project is also our campus theme, ‘Global Change in a Local Context,' " said Gretchen Rollwagen-Bollens, 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø Interim Director of Research and Graduate Education. "The Columbia River watershed is the unifying environmental feature around which students connect science concepts from their classrooms to their own backyard."
The partnerships will utilize and enhance each district's existing curriculum by identifying questions and activities about the Columbia River Watershed that link instruction to state and national science standards, as well as to the complementary expertise of 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø research faculty and graduate students working in the Watershed.
Other 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø faculty involved are Stephen Bollens, Brian Tissot and Tamara Nelson, as well as Anne Kennedy of the Science and Math Education Resource Center in the ESD 112, and Bonnie Lock, curriculum supervisor for La Center School District.
91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø is located at 14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave., east of the 134th Street exit from either I-5 or I-205, or via C-Tran bus service. We offer 16 bachelor's degrees, nine master's degrees, one doctorate degree and more than 35 fields of study. Visit us on the Web at .