Inspire and Prepare Noyce Scholars to Teach in Rural Environments

St. John Fisher College

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, this Track 1 Scholarships and Stipends project aims to serve the national interest in high-quality STEM teaching. It will do so by focusing on two national challenges in STEM education: (i) the shortage of highly qualified STEM teachers, particularly in rural high-need schools; and (ii) the lack of prepared college-ready secondary students in STEM. The project is a collaboration between St. John Fisher College (SJFC), Finger Lakes Community College (FLCC) and four rural high-need local central school districts (Sodus, Geneva, North Rose-Wolcott, and Penn Yan). Through this partnership, the project aims to prepare twenty new STEM teachers over five years. These teachers will be recruited from undergraduate majors in biology, chemistry, mathematics physics, and computer science. The undergraduates will be provided with two-year scholarships to cover their unmet financial needs. Project activities in collaboration with FLCC include early exposure of undergraduates to teaching as a career, and inclusion of FLCC transfer students in pre-service teaching activities. This innovative project plans to supplement curricular requirements with educational modules on Culturally Aware Mentorship (adopted from the University of Wisconsin-Madison), to develop lessons and laboratories that require minimal resources, to educate preservice teachers about trauma-sensitive classrooms, and to increase understanding of poverty's effects on learning environments. Mentoring of Scholars and teachers will also be included. By promoting an educational partnership among local rural school districts, FLCC, and SJFC, this project aims to provide a replicable model of preparation of STEM teachers for high needs, rural school districts across the Nation. The project aims to accomplish three objectives that address the national need for highly qualified STEM teachers: 1. Recruit twenty STEM undergraduate students, including transfer students from community colleges, to teach in rural environments and support them as they earn the credentials to become mathematics or science teachers; 2. Provide these Noyce Scholars with scholarships and an integrated enrichment and support program to equip them with the knowledge, skills, and disposition to teach effectively in high-need school districts; and 3. Create new knowledge through a research study measuring how introduction of trauma-sensitive pedagogy affects future STEM teachers and their classroom practices. The project aims to support new teachers through ongoing mentoring, professional development, and networking activities, including the development of a community of practice focused on creating trauma-sensitive school communities. Results will be widely shared through such means as publications, professional meetings, and conference presentations. Preparing highly capable STEM teachers trained in creating trauma-sensitive classrooms has the potential to improve educational outcomes as well as college readiness for students in high-needs and rural school districts, informing practices across the STEM community. The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts and experienced, exemplary K-12 STEM teachers to become STEM master teachers. It also supports research on the persistence, retention, and effectiveness of K-12 teachers in high-need school districts. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.