Project "WEST" (Water, the Environment, Science and Teaching)

Project WEST (Water, the Environment, Science, and Teaching) is a graduate student fellowship program funded by a GK-12 grant from the National Science Foundation. WEST links the University of Utah, the Utah Museum of Natural History, and the Salt Lake City school district in enhancing inquiry based science teaching in grades 4, 8, and 9 and the interdisciplinary training of university graduate and undergraduate students in the geosciences. The unifying theme of WEST (water and the environment) emerges because of its simplicity and its significance for human survival and livelihood in the arid west. National standards and Utah standards for teaching science in this grade range lend themselves to focusing on the environment and particularly on the role of water. Every resident in the State of Utah is impacted by the local hydrological cycle: our mountain ranges receive ten times the precipitation of valley floors, water runs off in streams or percolates into the ground supporting the many ecosystems found between 12,000 ft and 3,000 ft elevation, water provides for both agriculture and urban consumption, and flows ultimately to the unique ecosystem of the Great Salt Lake. Water affects recreation, the economy, and settlement. By gaining an enhanced understanding of the role of water in the environment, particularly in this time of severe drought, students will contemplate their place in nature. Project WEST is facilitating integrative and inquiry based learning among elementary, middle, and high school students in a manner that fulfills core curriculum requirements and state standards. It provides professional development tools to school teachers in the form of materials, observatories, workshops, and field trips that promote more effective science teaching. The multidisciplinary nature of WEST (geology, geophysics, meteorology, ecology) also provides intellectual stimulation and enhanced learning opportunities for graduate students and undergraduates selected as GK-12 Fellows.