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Programs for K-12 Teachers and Students:

For more information


    For more information, contact the Center's director:

    Dr. Jed S. Lyons
    Department of Mechanical Engineering
    University of South Carolina
    Columbia, SC 29208.

    803.777.9552
    lyons@sc.edu

Fellows in K-12 Education
Each year since 2001, graduate students (Fellows) from the College of Engineering and Computing at the University of South Carolina have partnered with K-12 teachers and spent several days each week in the classroom, connecting K-12 learning to the habits and skills required for future study in engineering, science, and mathematics. The long-term and repeated engagement of technically oriented graduate students with K-12 teachers and students has a number of benefits, including:
  • Providing role models and improved learning for the K-12 students, our future engineers and computer scientists,
  • Enhancing understanding of engineering, science, and math for the K-12 teachers, and
  • Improving teaching and communication skills of the graduate students

The graduate students help the K-12 teachers develop, adapt and adopt educational materials that use engineering examples, experiments, and design problems to teach science and math.

"I have been very pleased with my Fellow and impressed with his work. He's extremely helpful, energetic, and positive in the class setting. The kids love him!" -- An 8th Grade Teacher

"Science is useful because if you had a pulley, you could lift a big rock out of your yard." -- A 2nd Grader

"It is rewarding to work at this school. the children need extra help and I feel like my services and time are well placed. I also want to express my support for manipulative materials in the classroom!" -- A Graduate Teaching Fellow

Over the next five years, locally-sponsored Pi fellows will gradually replace the NSF-sponsored GK-12 Fellows. Each Pi Fellow will spend 5-10 hr/weeks engaged in GK-12 like activities and will receive a $10,000 supplement to his or her regular research assistantship during the academic year. This level of support is consistent with other Fellowships available through USC. Pi Fellowships will be funded by the College of Engineering and Computing, College of Science and Mathematics, Graduate School, Office of Research and Health Sciences, Commission on Higher Education and Richland School District I.

By expanding our GK-12 program, which originated in the College of Engineering and Computing, to include students in College of Science and Mathematics, we will be able to serve a greater diversity of K-12 classrooms. The disciplinary knowledge of graduate students in biology, geology and other sciences will make them ideal partners for 7th and 8th science teachers who concentrate on life and earth sciences. Likewise, mathematics students will well serve math teachers. Engineers are ideally suited for working with 6th grade science teachers because of the focus on physical sciences in that grade, and because most of the 6th grade science teachers in our targeted schools teach either math or social studies.

One feature that is key to the sustainability of our program beyond the period of NSF funding is that we promote the use of existing learning modules rather than creating new teaching modules. A great number of exemplary instructional materials exist that have been proven effective in other settings. However, these are underutilized in the schools in South Carolina, particularly in the partnering school districts. These include programs such as Activities Integrating Math and Science (AIMS), Full Option Science System (FOSS), Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS), Project Learning Tree (PLT), Project Wild, Science and Technology (STC), the William and Mary Problem-Based Science Units, Comprehensive School Mathematics Program (CSM), and Hand on Equations. Engineering, science and mathematics graduate students can apply their own disciplinary knowledge to help teachers adapt such programs to the unique environment of their classroom. They can explore the materials, test the activities, and work with the teacher one-on-one to develop the confidence to implement them in his or her classroom. This is our goal.

Appropriate pairing of STEM graduate students and K-12 teachers is key to our GK-12 program’s success. We recruit our Teacher Partners after our Fellows are selected in March. Knowing the specific background of the Fellows while recruiting teachers helps the teachers understand what the program has to offer. Two weeks before school starts in the Fall, the Fellows and Teacher Partners will gather on the university campus. This meeting focuses on developing working relationships between the participants.

In our participating school districts, teachers report to school one week before their students. The Fellows will plan with their Teacher Partners during this time, will participate in faculty meetings as appropriate, and in this way will become full partners with the teachers and other school personnel.
Swearingen Engineering Center • Columbia, SC 29208 • 803.777.4177 • webmaster@engr.sc.edu