Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program Track 3 Project: Elevating Secondary STEM Teacher Leaders in Arizona

This Noyce Track 3 project aims to serve the national need of preparing highly-qualified STEM teachers and developing effective STEM teacher leaders through a three-year professional development program that emphasizes artificial intelligence (AI) curriculum. Additionally, this project will support two cohorts of 15 each, for a total of 30 Master Teacher Fellows (MTFs) in all STEM fields by providing stipends for professional development experiences. The proposed project components will enable high-achieving practicing teachers to effectively use AI with their students by illustrating how machine learning algorithms learn from data to make predictions, thereby making the technology more accessible and relevant to students’ everyday lives. This project at Arizona State University includes partnerships with the Arizona K12 Center, Tolleson Union High School District and Phoenix Union High School District. Project goals include: 1) MTFs will develop skills in engineering habits of mind, including design thinking, critical and creative thinking, collaboration, problem-solving under constraints, and iterative testing within the context of foundational AI concepts, including virtual assistants, recommendation systems, machine learning, and deep learning; 2) MTFs will explore machine learning principles through exploration of object detection, sound recognition, pose classification, and data categorization models and illustrate real-world applications of machine learning to make AI concepts relevant and accessible; 3) MTFs will engage diverse stakeholders (e.g., students, parents, educators, and industry professionals) in conversations about AI literacy and build community awareness of AI careers and educational opportunities through targeted outreach initiatives. Thirty new teacher leaders in all STEM fields will be produced over a five-year period in the state of Arizona. This project will be iteratively evaluated. Evaluation of the project will be guided by the following evaluation questions: (a) After participating in project activities and supports, what improvements are observed in teachers' motivation/attitudes and self-efficacy? (b) What are the MTFs' perceived affordances and constraints of using AI in secondary classrooms? The results of this project will be disseminated to help enhance the field. This Track 3: Master Teaching Fellowships 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 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.