Building Partnerships Between Research Institutions, University Academic Departments, Local School Districts, and Private Enterprise to Advance K-12 Science Education in Texas

The University of Texas at Austin Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) is engaged in six K-12 education and outreach programs, including two NSF-sponsored projects--GK-12: Linking Graduate Fellows with K-12 Students and Teachers and Cataclysms and Catastrophes--Texas Teachers in the Field, Adopt-a-School, Geoscience in the Classroom, and UT's Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program. The GK-12 Program is central to UTIG's effort and links the six education projects together. While the specific objectives of each project differ, the broad goals of UTIG's education and outreach are to provide high-quality professional development for teachers, develop curriculum resources aligned with state and national education standards, and promote interaction between teachers, scientists, graduate students, and science educators. To achieve these goals, UTIG has forged funded partnerships with scientific colleagues at UT's Bureau of Economic Geology, Marine Science Institute and Department of Geological Sciences; science educators at UT's Charles A. Dana Center and in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education; teachers in six Texas independent school districts; and 4empowerment.com, a private education company that established the "Cyberways and Waterways" Web site to integrate technology and education through an environmentally-based curriculum. These partnerships have allowed UTIG to achieve far more than would have been possible through individual projects alone. Examples include the development of more than 30 inquiry-based activities, hosting workshops and a summer institute, and participation in local science fairs. UTIG has expanded the impact of its education and outreach and achieved broader dissemination of learning activities through 4empowerment's web-based programs, which reach ethnically diverse students in schools across Texas. These partnerships have also helped UTIG and 4empowerment to secure additional funding for other education projects. Finally, UTIG has helped sustain educational innovation locally through informal partnerships with the Texas Education Agency, which oversees the public education system of Texas, the Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence in Science Teaching, a state-based science education alliance, and UTeach, a program for pre-service teachers at UT Austin.