Projected Timeline

Spring 2007

Selected STEP Fellows will be paired with mentor secondary school teachers to discuss curriculum needs and relevant science projects. Specific UW research programs that coincide with curriculum needs will be selected for the summer program.

Summer 2007

STEP Fellows will be paired with graduate students in the selected labs. Both will be provided a stipend of $3,000 for 6 weeks of hands-on research.

Fall 2007- Spring 2008

The STEP Fellows’ teaching experience will incorporate new lesson plans and experiments guided by the outcomes of the summer research project. The graduate students will travel to the secondary schools to assist the students when the new unit is being done.

     Program Summary

• The STEP Fellow will meet and plan for the upcoming teaching residency with the secondary school mentor teacher during the spring prior to the research experience. The goal is to guide experimental design of the summer project to be consistent with education-specific benchmark.
   

• During the summer prior to the practicum, the STEP Fellow and graduate student will develop a new experiment, designed for execution in the secondary school teaching environment.
   

• While conducting the summer research and during the subsequent fall, the Fellow will participate in relevant seminars led by UW professors in science education.
   

• Once designed and tested, STEP Fellow will bring the research unit to the mentor teacher for on site secondary school use during the spring residency.
   

• The mentor teacher, STEP Fellow and graduate student, along with participating UW faculty, will continue to interact during all phases of testing and execution of the experiment in the secondary school setting.