NSF GK-12 Program Must be Saved: What You Can Do to Help

ate students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields directly into K-12 schools to bring their research to elementary, middle, and high school students. The program is designed to address multiple factors at once: STEM graduate students ’ lackluster communi-cation skills, K-12 teachers ’ lack of confidence in their subject-matter knowledge, and recruitment and retention of K-12 students into STEM fields. The NSF GK-12 program is unique in its ap-proach to changing the face of STEM education at both the K-12 and graduate levels. By bring-ing content matter experts into classrooms, stu-dents can gain authentic experience with STEM areas and learn about what future opportunities await for them in STEM. K-12 teachers also benefit, gaining content knowledge and confi-dence that they are bringing up-to-date scientif-ic knowledge to their students. Finally, graduate fellows receive a unique experience that helps to develop their communication, leadership, and teamworking skills--areas emphasized by educators as necessary to STEM but not often addressed in graduate education