FAQs

1. What is the COSMOS Teacher Fellow program? Why should I become a Teacher Fellow?
2. When is the application due?
3. How will the Teacher Fellows be involved with the faculty?
4. When is the training for Teacher Fellows?
5. Who can I contact with more questions?

Q: What is the COSMOS Teacher Fellow program? Why should I become a Teacher Fellow?
A: COSMOS encourages local math or science high school teachers to apply as participants in the COSMOS Teacher Fellow Program. Participants choose the cluster topic most interesting to them and receive a stipend. Teacher Fellows are chosen for their personal and professional achievements and the potential impact they have on the academic development of their students. Each cluster has an affiliated Teacher Fellow, whose experience of working with secondary students assists and supports the UC San Diego faculty. While providing instructional support, Teacher Fellows also deepen their own knowledge and experience through working with university instructors, participating in field and laboratory work and teaching a Science Communications course. It is the goal of the COSMOS Program to create a strong academic foundation for our participants. By including Teacher Fellow in this process we are giving them an opportunity to work with gifted and talented high school students from all over the state, form relationships with university researchers and scientists, and gain access to university resources.

Q: When is the application due?
A: All applications from interested high school teachers should be submitted by Friday, March 14, 2008. The COSMOS Program Manager will review all applications. Once this initial internal review has taken place, faculty will review the finalists and schedule interviews in collaboration with the Director in order to ensure the Teacher Fellow’s ability closely matches the needs of the cluster.

Q: How will the Teacher Fellows be involved with the faculty?
A: Teacher Fellows serve as the pedagogical bridge between high school student learning and university faculty teaching. They are chosen for their professional and personal achievements and the impact they have on the academic development of students in their high school classrooms. Each Teacher Fellow comes with high recommendations from their site administrators. They should directly participate in all classroom, laboratory and field work and will serve as a liaison between the residential and academic programs and should be involved in the teaching of the main cluster content. For example, for Cluster 2 – Engineering Design and Control of Kinetic Sculptures, the Teacher Fellow could teach a lesson on the basics of velocity, acceleration, force, momentum and energy. They will also be included in the development of ideas for student final projects. For summer 2008, Teacher Fellows will work with COSMOS Administrators to improve the Science Communication course through interaction with cluster faculty to ensure the goals of this course as well as the goals of the entire cluster curriculum are met.

Q: When is the training for Teacher Fellows?
A: Teacher Fellows will participate in training on May 31, and July 3, 2008, with both faculty and the COSMOS resident assistants (RAs). The faculty will also use this time to “work though” cluster experiments to ensure things run as smoothly as possible.

Q: Who can I contact with more questions?
A: Contact COSMOS via e-mail at cosmos@ucsd.edu, or call us at (858) 822-4361.