A Survey of Former GK-12 Fellows

The Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) program was established by the National Science Foundation in 1999. This paper is based on work at a GK-12 site that received continuous funding from the NSF, the State, and the institution from 2000 to 2011, and supported a total of 96 GK-12 Fellows. A study was conducted to investigate the long-term impact of participating in the program on the GK-12 Fellows. In 2011, former Fellows were contacted and asked to take an online survey about their program experience, and how it affected their career path after graduation. The majority of survey respondents indicated that they felt the GK-12 experience had a large or very large impact on their career path. The time spent actively teaching in classrooms led to large impacts on teaching, communication, and presentation skills. In addition, other skills such as leadership, teamwork, and time management were also reported to have been improved. Participants ranked teaching K-12 students – the primary activity in the GK-12 program – to be equally helpful as their thesis/dissertation and graduate coursework. The results indicate that the GK-12 program had important long-term positive influences on Fellows’ careers and job-related skills. Introduction The Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) Program was established by the National Science Foundation with the goals of developing the technical communication and teaching skills of STEM graduate students, fostering STEM content gain and professional development among K-12 teachers, and enriching K-12 students’ learning of STEM concepts and applications. A number of studies have been conducted that indicate that a GK-12 site can accomplish the NSF program goals. Studies have examined the benefits to the K-12 students 2-8 and the K-12 teachers . Studies have also been conducted on the benefit to the GK-12 Fellows . These studies note primarily improved teaching and communication skills. However, less is known about how participating in a GK-12 program affects the career choices and career development of Fellows after they have graduated. This paper contributes an evaluation of what Fellows perceive to be the long-term effects of participating in this GK-12 Program, both in terms of their career path and continued involvement in K-12 education. This study relates to a GK-12 site that was established in 2000 at the University of South Carolina. This site received continuous funding from the NSF, the State, and the institution until 2011. This GK-12 site studied has given over 10,000 K-12 students and over 400 K-12 teachers an increased awareness of STEM concepts. This was accomplished by engaging 96 GK-12 Fellows from STEM disciplines in public school science classrooms and after school programs. At this site, cohorts of 6-15 engineering and science graduate students were recruited each year. Each cohort of GK-12 Fellows and Teacher Partners started with an August retreat which engaged them in team building and planning activities. Each GK-12 Fellow then spent one or two days each week for the academic year in a science classroom with students and teachers, involving them in supplemental hands-on, inquiry-based activities, projects and labs. Fellows P ge 23117.2 received instruction on learning and teaching in a graduate level education course during this time as well. The year ended with Fellows developing and teaching summer workshops for teachers from across the State. The workshops disseminated the best activities that the Fellows developed to over 300 teachers. During the school year, each GK-12 Fellow repeatedly leveraged his or her expertise to raise STEM awareness. The following example illustrates the types of activities that occurred. An Environmental Engineering Ph.D. student working with fifth grade students developed a series of activities that integrated science standards on the water cycle and on ecosystems with engineering practice. The flow and treatment of waste water from the school neighborhood was the foundation. To begin, the Fellow adapted a science unit from the EPA on protecting and preserving ecosystems. Next, he developed an activity for students to taste-test waters from different sources (tap, distilled, bottled, etc.) and to compare the differences. This connected the science process skill of product testing, part of state standards, to the science content covered. The Fellow and students then brainstormed and discussed possible non-point source pollutants found in urban storm sewers after a storm event. They then made a physical storm drain model using an aquarium and model pollutants (dirt from a vacant lot, oil, green food coloring, grass clippings). Next, the Fellow took the students to look at a large storm drain on their playground where they could observe the depth of the drain, the pipes connecting to the drain, and the slope of the ground leading to the drain. This was followed by another activity with the kids that demonstrated how the water cycle principles can be used to make a reactor for treating water. In his weekly journal, the Fellow wrote, “I was ecstatic during the class discussion of how the evaporation/condensation reactor worked to clean the water, that three students opened their textbooks to a diagram of the water cycle and began to explain to the rest of the class how the water cycle effectively treats water in the natural world.” Activities involving in-depth and sustained exposure to science and engineering content and process skills such as described above were repeatedly provided by every Fellow. Program evaluation indicates this was the basis for strong gains in STEM awareness among K-12 students and teachers. The question is: how did it affect the graduate students? Study Methodology This study consisted of two surveys administered to a large group of former participants in one GK-12 program. The development of the surveys and the recruitment of participants are described below. It is noted that this study did not involve treatment and control groups with random assignment of participants. It is also not a quasi-experimental study with preand posttesting available. It is more akin to an anthropological study of the behavior and development of a specific group of individuals that participated in a specific program. Generalizability is therefore limited. However, since the main components of this GK 12 program are found in most others that were funded by the National Science Foundation, the results may be of greatest interest to those who have been associated with the GK 12 program, including the GK-12 Fellows. In addition, the results may also be useful for others who are interested in developing and implementing professional development activities for STEM graduate students. Page 23117.3 First Survey Methodology and Results National Science Foundation guidelines for the final report for this GK-12 program included a “Fellows Tracking” table, including the current status of each Fellow as well as a current email address. We had current contact information for many of the Fellows because they have kept in touch. For others, we obtained a current email address from their advisor or graduate program coordinator. Others were found using LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google. Of the 94 graduate students that participated in our GK-12 Program between 2001 and 2011, we were able to confirm working email address for 76. In September 2011, these Fellows were sent a onequestion survey, shown in Figure 1, by email from the project’s Principal Investigator. All 76 Fellows responded with a statement of their current status. The data can be categorized into five groups or career paths. The number and percentage of Fellows indicating a specific path are shown in Table 1. Colleagues, I am preparing the final report for our NSF GK-12 grant, and need a sentence or two about your “current status.” Can you send me one? A couple of examples appear below. Ex 1.Pursuing a MS in Marine Science at USC. Anticipated graduation Spring 2012. Ex2. Graduated with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2008. Currently works in the Commissioning/Green Building field. Ex 3. Graduated from USC in 2007 with a doctorate in Analytical Chemistry. Currently working as a postdoctoral clinical chemistry fellow in the pathology department at Emory University Hospital. Also, if you have a more permanent email address than the one this is being sent to, please share it with me. I would very much like to keep in touch as the years go by. Thanks! Figure 1: First survey sent by email to GK-12 Fellows. Table 1: Employment status of participants in the first and second surveys. Differences in responses from First to Second Survey are attributed to students graduating between survey administration periods. First Survey Second Survey Current Professional Status Fellows Percent Fellows Percent Teaching Position in Higher Education 12 16% 18 32% Non-teaching Position in Higher Education 6 8% 3 5% Employed in Government Labs or Agency 7 9% 8 14% Still in School 16 21% 3 5% Industry 28 37% 13 23% Faculty Career in K-12 Education 5 7% 3 5% Other 2 3% 8 14% The most common career path reported was employment in private industry, such as engineers, research scientists and consultants. This was followed by a faculty career in higher education, including assistant professors, lecturers and post docs. A number of Fellows were still in school, P ge 23117.4 with about half of these pursing a degree beyond the one they studied as a Fellow. A few Fellows had chosen to pursue faculty careers in K-12 education. These included three teachers in middle or high school, and two instructors in informal or co-curricular science learning institution. The category of “Other” includes non-industry private sector work, non-government organizations (NGOs), medical, and military positions. As stated, the purpose of the first survey was simply to obtain a statement of a Fellow’s current professio