A Way to Get Students Interested in Materials Science: Research Presentations for the K-12 Group
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A Way to Get Students Interested in Materials Science: Research Presentations for the K-12 Group L. J. MartÃnez-Miranda Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering Center and GK-12 Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2115, [email protected] ABSTRACT The GK-12 program involves students doing a masters or a Ph.D. in science and engineering working with a science teacher to develop demonstrations and laboratories which will bring the excitement of science into the schools. They work for an entire semester with the same group in school. We expect that the teachers will be able to carry on these demonstrations after the GK-12 students have left. Another aspect we want to bring to the students is the excitement of doing research in the field, and that what they are learning may be helpful in doing this research. As part of their work, we ask the GK12 participants to prepare a research presentation for their schools. They have to present it in language that the students will understand, and with the material that the students have learned. In doing this, the students learn how to explain their research in much better terms and the K-12 students are exposed to real research and new approaches that nonetheless are based in the lessons they are learning. INTRODUCTION The idea of the National Science Foundation in forming the G K -12 programs was to involve students of the sciences and engineering in the classroom, in order to help the teachers in developing demonstrations and laboratories that would bring the excitement of doing science and engineering to the students. For engineering, the challenge is even larger, since engineering as a topic is not taught in K-12 except in specialized schools. The graduate students have to rely on the lessons in physics, chemistry and biology to introduce engineering. A further challenge encountered by our fellows is the specific themes the teachers need to cover in order for the K-12 students to satisfy the exam requirements from the State of Maryland in order to graduate. Whatever they do, it cannot be so new and so detached from what the teacher is teaching because the students may not fully appreciate what they are doing or demonstrating. Many K-12 students do not see the importance or application of science and engineering in their lives or how they have made their life easier. The final goal of the program, which is to leave the demonstrations or laboratories ready for the teacher to do it by her/himself, may not be achieved. A successful program involves the teachers and the participating fellows in the preparation of the demonstrations. However, we wanted to be able to communicate to them the excitement of doing research in language that the K-12 students would be able to understand. We introduced the research talk as one of the ways fellows could do this, connecting it to the lessons that the students have just learned.
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THE PROJECT The guidelines for the presentations were that the fellow must 1. look for a t
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