Preparing Post-Baccalaureate and Undergraduate STEM Majors in the Physical Sciences to be Teachers in High-Need School Districts

Trustees Of Boston University, Boston

Investigators

Abstract

This Robert Noyce Scholarships and Stipends Track 1 project intends to produce 29 teachers of the physical sciences (chemistry, physics, and physical science) with deep disciplinary content knowledge and pedagogical skills specific to the content, as well as strategies for supporting middle and high school students, in high-need school districts, in being highly successful. Specifically, this project will recruit post-baccalaureate STEM graduates, including career changers, as well as undergraduate STEM majors in their senior year. Currently, less than half of the nation's chemistry and physics classes are taught by a teacher with a degree in the discipline. Working in collaboration with high-need school districts, the project's three principal goals are to: (Goal 1) implement a plan to recruit 29 individuals who possess or earn a baccalaureate degree in physics or chemistry in order to prepare them to be great middle and high school teachers of the physical sciences in high-need school districts; (Goal 2) prepare these Noyce Scholars to be successful in teaching in high-need urban school districts through a focus on working with communities of diverse cultural backgrounds, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and the employment of universal design for learning; and (Goal 3) sustain these nascent teachers through their induction years in order to increase the likelihood of their persisting in the teaching profession, particularly in high-need school districts. The Robert Noyce scholarship and stipends received through this grant will provide the tuition and induction year support to make the transition into teaching economically feasible for post-baccalaureates and STEM professionals who are changing careers to become teachers, as well as for undergraduate seniors earning a baccalaureate degree in chemistry or physics. All Noyce Scholars will earn teacher licensure, with the post-baccalaureate Noyce Scholars also completing a Master's of Arts in Teaching. Retention of new science teachers in the profession is one of the challenges for ensuring that all students have access to an excellent science education. While one of the best indicators of whether a new teacher will be a good teacher is their content knowledge, an extremely important indicator of whether a new teacher will remain in the profession for an extended period is the quality of their pedagogical preparation. Thus, the length of the supervised practical experience is critical. The full-year program offered through this project includes pre-practicum and practicum experiences for three semesters working with students from high-need schools in various programs, observing and assisting in a high-need classroom, and then engaging in teaching in such a classroom. These supervised activities are bolstered by courses in which best methods of classroom management and science teaching are discussed along with readings from the education research literature. The teacher preparation program features the cohorts of science teacher candidates taking pedagogical educational courses together and specialized seminars on effective teaching practices in STEM. The induction program, which occurs during the first two years of teaching, includes monthly meetings and mentoring by master teachers. The project has a robust recruitment plan exploiting professional networks, social media, and marketing directly to career centers and human resources departments of high-tech companies and companies with large production facilities which employ science and engineering professionals. This project will benefit society in at least three ways: 1) direct impact on the students and schools in the Greater Boston area, and wherever else these 29 Noyce Scholars teach in the future; 2) the potential for a longitudinal study documenting attitudinal and pedagogical content knowledge gains, as well as factors influencing teacher persistence, of the Noyce Scholars in this project and the prior Boston University Noyce program upon which it builds; and 3) sharing what is learned related to strategies that are successful and those that are not in recruiting primarily career changers in the physical sciences into teaching.