UTeach Noyce Scholarships and Stipends: Making Teachers

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

With funding from the National Science Foundation's Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, the University of Texas at Austin will continue to prepare secondary science and mathematics teachers through the project, UTeach Noyce scholarships and Stipends: Making Teachers. This Phase 2 project will support 24 juniors/seniors/post-baccalaureate students who are majoring in mathematics, computer science, or a science discipline (or who have completed such a major) and preparing to teach secondary mathematics or science in a high-need district. Each Noyce Scholar will receive up to 2 years of scholarship support. New in this Phase 2 project will be an emphasis on Maker Movement features, including having students make things they might ordinarily buy, such as electronic circuits built from components or utensils created by a 3-d printer. Using systematic observations, surveys, and test scores, the project will address research questions such as: (1) How well do the qualifications used to select Noyce Scholars correlate with their teaching practices in their first two years? (2) Which student attributes and dispositions on entering a UTeach program are most predictive of deciding to teach? (3a) Does introduction of a Maker Education strand into teacher preparation coursework influence engagement and retention of teacher preparation candidates? (3b) Does introduction of a Maker Education strand into teacher preparation coursework lead to measurable changes in teaching practices in early years of teaching? (4) How do learning gains of high school students in Algebra and Biology whose teachers have three years of experience or less depend on the teacher's preparation route?