SCWIBLES Fellow and Teacher Requirements

[Note: SCWIBLES fellowships were available only from 2010-2015.
Listed below are the program requirements from that period.]

Graduate Fellow eligibility
Ph.D. students in environmental sciences at the University of California Santa Cruz are eligible to apply for year-long fellowships in the SCWIBLES program. Fellows are expected to have a strong academic record, have completed required coursework for their degrees, have a well-developed STEM-based research project suitable for the participation of a teacher fellow, and be committed to improved cross-cultural communications in environmental sciences. Fellows will usually be in their 3rd or 4th years of graduate study.

Teacher Partner eligibility
Teachers from Pájaro Valley Unified School District who are interested in incorporating inquiry-based learning and aspects of environmental science, ecology, or evolutionary biology into their pedagogy are encouraged to apply for year-long fellowships in the SCWIBLES program. In addition to teachers of environmental sciences, agriculture, and biology, we strongly encourage teachers from across the curriculum, including math, physics, chemistry, statistics, language arts, video, and business, where environmental science themes and inquiry-based approaches can been integrated. Because of their critical role in developing the SCWIBLES program and securing funding, teachers affiliated with the ESNR academy at WHS have priority for participation.

Expected commitments
Participation in the SCWIBLES program requires a 1-year commitment from both Graduate Fellows and Teacher Partners. Specific program components and estimated number of hours for each are detailed in the table below. The total yearly time requirement for a Graduate Fellow is 607h, and 145 hours for Teaching Partners, (exclusive of classroom time as assigned by WHS). Graduate fellows and Teaching Partners must be available the 2nd week of June for a 3-day workshop; 48 h in the summer for research and curricular development activities; 21 h of curriculum workshops on weekends during September and January. Fellows must be available as scientists-in-residence at WHS from the 2nd week of September through the first week of June (except during school breaks), and must participate in weekly ENVS291 SCWIBLES seminar meetings during the academic year. Some activities may take place in the evening or on weekends. Fellow’s participation in SCWIBLES activities can be adjusted to accommodate research schedules, field seasons, and professional meetings, but participation in the workshops is required.

SCWIBLES Fellows are encouraged to participate in the Designated Emphasis in Education program at UCSC. This requires an additional 660h outside the SCWIBLES commitment.

This table describes estimated hours to be spent on SCWIBLES activities for 2014-15 program. Please note that some modification of the distribution of hours may occur, but the total number of hours expected during the year will not increase.

Graduate Fellows
Teacher Partners
Activities Summer Academic* Summer Academic*
Inquiry-based workshops (3 days, 2nd week of June) 30 h 30 h
Research/curriculum partnerships 48 h 48 h
Curriculum development wkshp (2 days in Sep, 1 day in Jan/Feb) 14 h 7 h 14 h 7 h
Student contact time at WHS (avg 8h/wk for 30 wk) 240 h (WHS)
Travel time UCSC-WHS (~2 trips/wk) 90 h
Participate in student field trips (Academic year) 18 h 4 h
Fellow-Teacher or Fellow-Staff meetings (incl. ENVS 291 for Fellows) 40 h 16 h
Community forums (2/yr, including development time for Fellows) 6 h 4 h
Module preparation and feedback, time sheets, journaling, program evaluation 24 h 90 h 18 h
Total hours 116 h 491 h 96 h 49 h
Designated Emphasis in Education (recommended) (660 h)

* PVUSD Academic year last from 2nd week of August through 1st week of June (~38 weeks of instruction). However, Fellows will begin classroom time the 2nd week of September, for a total of 34 weeks at WHS.

Designated Emphasis in Education
SCWIBLES Fellows are strongly encouraged to participate in the Designated Emphasis in Education (a graduate minor), which is focused on effective teaching and learning in cross-cultural contexts. This requires (1) a graduate advisor from the Education Department, (2) Five graduate courses in Education, and (3) a significant piece of writing in some area of Education.