STEM Advancement through Collaboration in STEM Teacher Preparation

The project aims to serve the national need to prepare high-quality STEM teachers to serve and persist in high-need schools. STEM teacher retention and effectiveness in high-need schools can be influenced by cultural differences between teachers and students. The project aims to recruit and prepare 30 secondary STEM teachers to teach biology, mathematics, chemistry, or general science in high-need schools in Massachusetts. The preparation of these STEM teachers will include development of content expertise and development of inclusive teaching skills to bridge cultural differences that sustain students’ cultural identities in the context of STEM. The project includes the innovative practice of engaging university STEM faculty in co-teaching in high-need STEM classrooms in collaboration with secondary STEM teachers and students to promote mutual learning. This project at Westfield State University (WSU) aims to partner with the high-need Holyoke and Springfield Public School Districts. Project goals include: 1) increased recruitment of STEM majors into WSU STEM secondary education licensure programs; 2) increased STEM teachers graduated and placed in high-need schools in the region, 3) enhanced WSU secondary STEM teacher preparation courses to better prepare aspiring STEM teachers to serve in culturally diverse, high-need classrooms, and 4) establishment of a community of practice among aspiring, practicing ,and early career secondary STEM teachers and WSU professors. The project aims to recruit and provide two-year scholarships for four cohorts of 7-8 undergraduate STEM students majoring in biology, mathematics, chemistry, or general science, for a total of 30 undergraduate scholars over five years. External evaluation aims to provide iterative feedback to the project and to generate new knowledge about effective approaches to incorporating social justice frameworks into a STEM teacher preparation. Dissemination of project results has the potential to influence secondary STEM teacher preparation programs at other institutions. 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.