GRADUATE TEACHING FELLOWS IN K-12 EDUCATION ABSTRACT PROPOSAL #: 0638774 TITLE: New, GK-12: BioME: Biodiversity from Molecules to Ecosystems The GK-12 project from the University of Arizona will create synergistic opportunities for graduate fellows in life sciences departments and programs (such as ecology, neurobiology, and plant sciences) to engage K-12 students and teachers in the excitement of how science directly relates to them and the natural world around them ("Bio" and "ME") through a variety of university resources (such as the tree of life digital library of biodiversity). Graduate fellows will receive appropriate training in K-12 education and in teaching science through inquiry through a graduate seminar course. Fellows will also participate in a summer institute with their cooperating teachers to develop and strengthen relations. The project will recruit 10 fellows and up to 18 teachers per year. Research advisors of the graduate fellows and other collaborating faculty members will be actively involved in the project. The advisory board will also include an external evaluator to provide additional guidance on the formative and summative evaluation components. The intellectual merit includes providing opportunities to participating teachers to collaborate with graduate fellows to integrate aspects of the field experience to the Galapagos Islands into classroom curriculum and activities. The broader impacts include a plan to recruit graduate fellows from underrepresented groups and a commitment to sustain the project activities after the end of the grant for a period up to five years.