The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a grant of approximately $2.7 million over a period of 5 years to a team of professors in the Mathematics Department at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, in order to bring the expertise of research mathematicians in the department into K-12 classrooms in the State of Hawaii. The team, led by Monique Chyba, also includes Erik Guentner, Mirjana Jovovic, Michelle Manes, and David Ross.
The new project, School and University Partnership for Educational Renewal in Mathematics (SUPER-M), reflects the ongoing commitment of the UH-Manoa Mathematics Department to mathematics education in the wider Hawaii community. SUPER-M will partner Graduate Fellows in the Mathematics Department with K-12 mathematics teachers from public schools on Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island.
SUPER-M Fellows will bring their knowledge of and excitement about mathematics as a research discipline to K-12 teachers and students, improving the quality of K-12 mathematics education in the state. The Fellows will themselves benefit from the experience by improving their communication skills, learning to discuss their research with varied audiences, and honing their teaching and pedagogical skills. The first cohort of SUPER-M Fellows is expected to join the Mathematics Department in August 2009.
The grant is provided under NSF's Division of Graduate Education, in its GK-12 (Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education) program, which has funded approximately 20 projects each year since its establishment in 1999. The program recognizes the impact vibrant graduate research departments in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields can have on the quality of education at the K-12 level.