Leveraging Technology Resources to Encourage University STEM Students to Explore and Persist in Teaching Careers

University Of Alabama At Birmingham, Birmingham AL

Investigators

Abstract

This Noyce Track 1 project aims to serve the national need of preparing highly qualified STEM undergraduates and STEM professionals to become highly effective STEM teachers in high-need school districts. Additionally, this project will support 42+ scholars/fellows in science, mathematics, computer science, and engineering by providing scholarships, internships, and monthly activities at which the students and graduates will join with very experienced STEM education specialists and trained mentors to jointly learn about STEM education and how to develop engaging STEM learning through hands-on, discovery-based activities. The proposed project components will enable high-achieving STEM majors to become experienced STEM teachers and form a community of teacher-learners who will excite all secondary STEM students to learn via active learning instruction, in all areas of biomedical sciences, physics, chemistry, engineering, math and computer sciences, resulting in outstanding teachers who will be retained in schools throughout the nation. This project at the University of Alabama at Birmingham includes partnerships with 15 high-need area school districts in Alabama and Lawson State Community College. Project goals during the five years of the project include the nurturing of 42+ undergraduate and graduate students, providing them with skills and support mechanisms to be effective, enthusiastic, and confident in their preservice teaching and throughout their careers. The project is aimed at ensuring that middle and high school students are given access to the excitement and wonder of science through these new teachers. To accomplish this, the project will focus on teachers in “high needs” schools, who typically enter teaching with great passion, skill, understanding, and motivation that can fade if they lack adequate support and mentoring, leading to low teacher retention and low persistence in teaching careers. The program focuses on teacher excellence through outstanding pedagogy, team teaching, leadership, and training in bidirectional mentorship and wellness resources, enabling teachers to thrive in their careers and foster their passion for educating the next generation. It also supports research on the effectiveness and retention of STEM teachers in high-need school districts. This project will be iteratively evaluated. Evaluation of the project will be guided by the following evaluation question: 1) Do graduates persist in teaching careers longer than non-Noyce graduates? 2) Do graduates stay in their original placement school longer than other teachers? 3) Do graduates use more inquiry-based methods in their classrooms than controls? 4) Does the mentorship training increase teachers working together more effectively and increase persistence in teaching? 5) Are the wellness tools used and do they help teachers feel better about their teaching? The results of this project will be disseminated to help enhance the field. 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 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 teachers to become STEM master 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.