Improving Secondary Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, and Computer Science Teacher Preparation Through a Sequence of Active Teaching Experiences

Drake University, Des Moines IA

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national interest in high-quality secondary STEM education. It will do so by preparing science and mathematics teachers for diverse classrooms that include students of color, students from low-income families, emerging bilingual students, and/or students with special needs. Many students from these groups have less access to grade-appropriate assignments, quality instruction, deep engagement, and high expectations from teachers. A growing body of evidence suggests that active teaching improves student learning outcomes, student engagement, and student attitudes. Thus, this project aims to prepare STEM teachers who can teach STEM topics in equitable, rigorous, and active ways. The project design is expected to help preservice teachers: (i) develop greater confidence in their abilities to teach college preparatory STEM courses in engaging and active ways; (ii) gain the necessary content knowledge for teaching physics, chemistry, mathematics or computer science; and (iii) learn how to implement innovative strategies for teaching diverse populations of students in culturally responsive ways. Preservice teachers in the project will be supported during their first year of teaching via seminars and ongoing mentorship. It is expected that these activities will help the new teachers overcome challenges and continue to improve their instruction. The anticipated outcome of this project is to prepare at least 24 highly qualified secondary STEM teachers who will teach in high-need school districts throughout the Midwest, thus partially addressing critical teacher shortages. Over time, this project has the potential to improve secondary student learning outcomes by addressing factors that contribute to learning opportunity gaps in STEM fields. This project at Drake University includes partnerships with Des Moines Public Schools. The project will prepare, support, and graduate at least 24 new physics, mathematics, chemistry, and computer science teachers by embedding innovative, active learning teaching experiences within their teacher preparation program and associated field-experiences in Des Moines Public School district. The project's preservice teachers will include both undergraduate STEM majors and STEM professionals with a STEM baccalaureate degree. The preservice teachers will complete a coherent three-semester sequence of active teaching experiences across a variety of settings within their preparation programs. Throughout this progression, the project will assess changes in preservice teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and confidence levels for teaching. By prioritizing the critical role that specialized content knowledge plays in supporting active teaching strategies, this project seeks to understand how self-efficacy, pedagogical content knowledge, and teaching effectiveness improve through experiences designed to target and grow new teachers’ knowledge using established quantitative and qualitative data collections tools (e.g., STEBI; CoRe; RTOP). This project has the potential to provide insight about the relationship between pedagogical content knowledge and teaching effectiveness and how pedagogical content knowledge develops over time. The project aims to use project activities to increase the level of active learning in secondary and undergraduate STEM classrooms, as well as, the engagement of underrepresented students in these STEM classrooms. This Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). 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.