Information for Cornell Faculty
Are you looking for a way to meet NSF's Broader
Impacts (Criterion 2) or other funding agencies' requests for
outreach? CSIP offers a successful outreach model in which Cornell
graduate students gain teaching expertise while leading science
and engineering lessons in K-12 classrooms.
What is CSIP?
Why involve graduate students in outreach?
What do CSIP fellows do?
How can CSIP help Principal Investigators?
Quotes from Cornell faculty
Quotes from CSIP fellows What
is CSIP?
In 2000-06, the Cornell
Science Inquiry Partnerships (CSIP) provided fellowships to graduate
students who engaged in educational outreach. CSIP began in 1999,
when Cornell received one of the nation's first NSF Graduate Teaching
in K-12 Education (GK-12) grants, which was renewed in 2003 (PIs:
Marianne Krasny and Nancy Trautmann). CSIP was highlighted
in BioScience and selected by NSF as one of five programs
to appear on a best practices panel. CSIP's grant is ineligible
for further renewal, but we are seeking to continue supporting
Cornell graduate students who are interested in educational outreach.
Why
involve graduate students in outreach?
Working in partnership with K-12 teachers provides graduate students
with training and experience in effective teaching and outreach
to complement their training as scientists or engineers. We
have found that engaging in outreach enhances graduate students’
teaching, communication, and scientific skills and helps them
to develop broader perspectives on their research and potential
future careers. For those aspiring to be faculty, the fellowship
experience is likely to impact the ways in which they will teach
and mentor student research. A recent article in Bioscience summarizes
the impacts of CSIP on Cornell graduate students: Integrating
Teaching and Research: A New Model for Graduate Education?
What
do CSIP fellows do?
In CSIP, graduate student fellows collaborate with teachers to
update science content and enhance inquiry learning in K-12 classrooms
or nonformal settings. The fellows:
- Develop lesson
plans and curriculum resources based on their individual
areas of interest and expertise.
- Serve as positive
role models.
- Improve their teaching
skills through guiding youth in inquiry-based learning.
- Gain experience
in addressing the educational needs of diverse learners.
- Develop understandings
of inquiry learning, effective teachingpractices, curriculum
development, assessment, and related topics.
How
can CSIP help Principal Investigators?
With increased interest by NSF and other funding agencies in educational
outreach, you may be searching for an effective way to incorporate
outreach into your proposals. We invite you to consider providing
funding for graduate fellowships, which could be dedicated exclusively
to outreach or could entail a combination of research and outreach.
Fellows funded through
such proposals will be placed in K-12 classrooms for a specified
number of hours per week with teachers who are interested in working
with a visiting scientist. Individualized mentoring and our yearlong
CSIP seminar will help the graduate students improve their skills
in teaching, guiding student research, lesson planning, and assessing
student learning.
If you are
interested in including graduate student outreach in your grant
proposal, contact us
.
Quotes from CSIP
faculty advisors:
- “There's a
wonderful carryover between trying to design experiments with
students and her own research.”
- "I think it
has been great for [Fellow]. She is not only excited to be involved
with teachers but seems even more organized and excited about
her research."
- "High school
students are much harder to teach than Cornell undergrads. They
represent a wider range of backgrounds and interest levels…
It’s useful in generalizing one’s skills and experiences."
Quotes
from CSIP fellows:
- "I have gained
confidence as a scientist. I ask clearer questions and find
cleaner answers as a result of articulating the process to kids.
I also am more aware of the context for the research I do."
- "It has been
EXCELLENT for me to think about the scientific process. My advisor
will tell you, as a result, I am framing my questions in a much
clearer fashion and answering them more directly and logically."
- "My experience
this year has really taught me that students need to be reminded
or taught about how to do science and how science is done. I
will definitely include this major issue in the design of my
courses even for undergraduate students, and continue to think
about ways to teach these important concepts."
- "Before this
year, I was familiar with just one high school environment –
that of my own high school. Now I have a much more realistic
impression of the diversity of environments that my future students
will be coming from."
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