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LIFE AFTER NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIPS: THE IMPLICATIONS FOR A GRADUATE STUDENT'S PROFESSIONAL ENDEAVORS

OBARSKI, KELLY JOSEPHINE
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1182623592

Abstract Details

2007, EdD, University of Cincinnati, Education : Curriculum and Instruction.
Each year, hundreds of graduate and undergraduate students, participate as Fellows in National Science Foundation GK-12 Grants throughout the U.S. These Fellowships create opportunities for university students to improve their communication skills, teaching proficiencies, and team-building skills, in addition to expanding their interest in educational endeavors in their respective communities while pursuing their college degrees. STEP (Science and Technology Enhancement Project) is one such project. University faculty, public school teachers, and community leaders collaborated together in order to bring scientists into middle and secondary classrooms to focus on increasing student interest and proficiency in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills. Seventeen Fellows, in the previous four years, designed, developed, and implemented innovative, hands-on lessons in seven local schools. The evaluation team collected a tremendous amount of research evidence focused on the effect of the program on the Fellows while they were participants in the study, but there has been very little data collected about the Fellows after leaving the program. This research study, consisting of two-hour interviews, qualitatively explores how the skills learned while participating in the STEP program affected the Fellows’ career and educational choices once leaving the project. This data was analyzed along with historical attitude surveys and yearly tracking documents to determine the effect that participation in the program had on their choices post-STEP. An extensive literature review has been conducted focusing on other GK-12 programs throughout the country, K-16 collaboration, Preparing Future Faculty Programs, as well as on teaching and learning literature. These bodies of literature provide the theoretical basis in which the research is framed in order to assess the impact on Fellow educational and professional choices since leaving the STEP program. This research project sheds new light on how participation in a GK-12 Fellowship impacts career and educational choices after the Fellow leaves the program.
Dr. Piyush Swami (Advisor)
158 p.
GK-12; NSF; Fellowship; Learning Communties; Engineering Education

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • OBARSKI, K. J. (2007). LIFE AFTER NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIPS: THE IMPLICATIONS FOR A GRADUATE STUDENT'S PROFESSIONAL ENDEAVORS [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1182623592

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • OBARSKI, KELLY. LIFE AFTER NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIPS: THE IMPLICATIONS FOR A GRADUATE STUDENT'S PROFESSIONAL ENDEAVORS. 2007. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1182623592.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • OBARSKI, KELLY. "LIFE AFTER NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIPS: THE IMPLICATIONS FOR A GRADUATE STUDENT'S PROFESSIONAL ENDEAVORS." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1182623592

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1182623592
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© 2007, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.