STEP Program
STEP/SLIDER Graduate Application
The Student and Teacher Enhancement Partnership (STEP) Program partners advanced Georgia Tech graduate students with metro-Atlanta area high schools in teams that are led by master teacher-coordinators. The program seeks to improve the teaching-related communication and leadership skills of Georgia Tech students and to use the exceptional scholarly expertise available at Georgia Tech to assist in increasing the mathematics and science performance of Atlanta-area high school students.
STEP Graduate Fellows participate in summer training workshops to familiarize them with inquiry-based learning pedagogy, classroom management, and effective teaching skills. They also work with high school personnel to develop a needs assessment and action plan for the school. During the school year they work in teams (each having at least two Georgia Tech students) with their partner school, choosing activities from a menu of options that includes: 1) Student instruction, 2) Teacher professional development, 3) Student enrichment and mentoring, 4) Implementation of appropriate educational technologies, 5) Science fair project assistance, and 6) Georgia Tech lab tours.
Who should participate in the STEP Program?
We encourage all qualified students who have a desire to improve their leadership and communication skills, who like to work with other people in teams, who would enjoy working with high school age students on math and science skills, and who have a desire to give back to the local community to apply to be a STEP Graduate Teaching Fellow. If you need more information, please contact Dr. Donna Llewellyn at donna.llewellyn@cetl.gatech.edu or 404-894-2340.
STEP Graduate Teaching Fellows
- Students Eligible: Graduate students from NSF-related disciplines who are supported by faculty or academic units as Graduate Research Assistants, Graduate Teaching Assistants, or Graduate Assistants.
- Time commitment :
- Summer Training —7 hours per week of class time, plus some outside projects. The summer program begins on May 12 th and continues through July.
- School Year —5 hours per week at the school and 2 hours per week preparation time. The preparation time includes a 1-hour per week seminar (expected to be at 8am on Fridays).
- Compensation : Students will receive a $7,000 stipend (we expect that this will be a supplement to their existing salary but we can not enforce this), a tuition exemption for the whole year, and an allowance towards the mileage expenses incurred in commuting to and from the school. In addition, they receive academic credit for the summer training, and for the school-year seminar.
SLIDER
Science Learning: Integrating Design, Engineering and Robotics (SLIDER) is a 5 year grant from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Discovery Research K-12 (DR-K12) program. During the grant period (10/1/09 -9/30/14), the program will seek to answer the question: "What effects do robotics, engineering design, and problem-based inquiry science have on student learning and academic engagement in 8th grade physical science classes?"
SLIDER fellows participate in summer training workshops to familiarize them with inquiry-based learning pedagogy, classroom management, and effective teaching skills. In addition, the SLIDER fellows will participate with partner teachers in a summer professional development program aimed at learning about the SLIDER curriculum and its implementation. During the school year, they work in pairs at one of the partner schools assisting the teachers with the implementation and assessment of the new curriculum. SLIDER will be located at East Cobb Middle School (in Cobb County), Bear Creek Middle School (in Fulton County), and at Swainsboro Middle School (in Emanuel County). We expect that the Fellows who will partner with Swainsboro will be enrolled at GT Savannah.
Who should participate as a SLIDER Fellow?
We encourage all qualified students who have a desire to improve their leadership and communication skills, who like to work with other people in teams, who would enjoy working with middle school students on science through a robotics and inquiry based curriculum, and who have a desire to give back to the local community to apply to be a SLIDER Fellow. If you need more information, please contact Dr. Donna Llewellyn at donna.llewellyn@cetl.gatech.edu or 404-894-2340.
SLIDER Fellows – Eligibility, Applications, Logistics
- Students Eligible: Graduate students who are familiar with robotics and engineering design, have an interest in LEGO Mindstorm robots, are from fields that use physics concepts; and who will have support as Graduate Research Assistants, Graduate Teaching Assistants, or Graduate Assistants.
- Time commitment:
- Summer Training – 7 hours per week of class time, plus some outside projects. The summer program starts on May 17th and continues through July. The GT Savannah fellows will participate at a distance except for one week on campus (July 12-16)
- School Year – 5 hours per week at the school and 2 hours per week preparation time.
- Compensation: Students will receive a $8,000 stipend (we expect that this will be a supplement to their existing salary but we can not enforce this), a tuition exemption for the whole year, and an allowance towards the mileage expenses incurred in commuting to and from their partner school. In addition, they receive academic credit for the summer training.