STEMTeach: An Interdisciplinary and Immersive Program for the Preparation and Induction of STEM Teachers

Berry College, Mount Berry GA

Investigators

Abstract

The project aims to serve the national need of recruiting and retaining highly qualified math, science, and technology teachers. The project includes early experiences for future teachers in rural, urban, and suburban classrooms with teacher mentors, immersive educational experiences in international locations, and continued support after graduation as they transition into teaching careers. These opportunities encourage students with strong STEM backgrounds to explore teaching as a profession and provide them with opportunities to develop a strong awareness of the varied needs of their future students along with the teaching knowledge and skills needed to be effective educators. This project at Berry College includes partnerships with Rome City Schools, Floyd County Schools, and Bartow County Schools. Project goals include recruiting 22 undergraduate Noyce scholars over five years who will pursue dual majors in secondary education and biology, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, environmental science, mathematics, or physics and graduate prepared to teach in high-need schools. Project goals also include developing scholars' curricular beliefs and actions in support of effectiveness. These goals will be addressed by expanding recruitment in STEM disciplines to include computer science majors with at least 3 scholars and 3 new elementary and middle grades mentors for apprenticeship experiences for this P-12 certification area. The project will develop scholars' linguistic cultural competence through a required English for Speakers of Other Languages endorsement. The development of STEM teachers' teaching and learning philosophies will be tracked through their preparation and induction years using teaching philosophy inventories, which will also be used to intentionally pair scholars with mentors. Graduated scholars will be invited to participate in micro-credentialing opportunities to support new and mentor teacher effectiveness in high-need schools. The data collected from the teaching philosophy inventories about students’ development into teaching as well as the effectiveness of micro-credentialling as induction opportunities will be shared with the teacher education community to inform other development and support efforts. This Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Project (Noyce). The Noyce project supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the effectiveness and retention 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.