Philadelphia Regional Pre- and In-Service Teacher Conference Series on Integrating STEM in Everyday Life

Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr PA

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce), The project aims to serve the national need of advancing the development of highly effective science and mathematics teachers. Te project is led by Bryn Mawr College on behalf of the Philadelphia Regional Noyce Partnership (PRNP), a collaboration of nine institutions of higher education (Arcadia University, Bryn Mawr College, Community College of Philadelphia, Drexel University, LaSalle University, Saint Joseph's University, Temple University, University of Pennsylvania, and West Chester University, and the Philadelphia Education Fund). Through a series of five conferences over fourteen months, this cohesive, focused professional development series will convene approximately 100 Noyce pre- and in-service secondary STEM teachers, and other Philadelphia-area STEM teachers. Through the conference activities, these participants will gain the understanding and skills needed to "Integrate STEM in Everyday Life," the primary theme of the year-long work. It is anticipated that implementing a "STEM in Everyday Life" approach will increase the success of students in STEM classes. The conference series aims to partner pre-service and in-service teachers to develop non-traditional curriculum units that are both inquiry-based and place-based, using the students' cultural and physical environment as the source of student research and data collection. Educators will be supported in thinking intentionally about areas of their students' lives in which learning STEM concepts would be highly motivating. Examples of such areas include sports, food and nutrition, health and safety, music, and transportation. The workshop participants will design and develop learning experiences that engage their students in exploring how STEM concepts and practices intersect with language arts, history, and fine arts, as well as how STEM affects their lives and influences their decisions. In this conference series, teachers will be challenged to develop engaging place-based, project-based units that not only align with the Next Generation Science Standards and the Common Core State Standards, but also to place STEM teaching in socio-scientific and cultural contexts. In addition to the member institutions of the PRNP, this project will reach out to institutions of higher education in the Philadelphia region who have not had Noyce programs and introduce students and faculty from these institutions to the Noyce network. Furthermore, the project will disseminate what is learned through this work in publications and presentations at national professional meetings. This project has the potential to advance instructional skills of teachers in developing and implementing placed-based curricular units that use the surrounding communities as their laboratories. Thus, learning environments can be extended from inside school walls into the community, while simultaneously bringing cultural and community stakeholders into the world of schools. This interchange has the potential to open new relationships within each community along STEM, cultural, and community lines. The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 STEM teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the persistence, retention, and effectiveness of K-12 STEM 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.