National STEM Teacher Corps Pilot Program: Midwest Alliance for Rural Elementary Science

The National STEM Teacher Corps Pilot Program Alliance project, “Midwest STEM Alliance to Elevate Science Teaching in Rural Elementary Schools,” aims to recognize outstanding educators in high-need elementary schools to advance excellence in STEM education in the Midwest Region. This project will support 18 rural elementary teachers to become STEM Teacher Corps Members by recognizing and rewarding their accomplishments and efforts to enhance STEM teaching and learning in rural elementary classrooms in Iowa, Kansas, and Minnesota. The project also intends to provide professional development, mentorship, and support to 120 rural cohort teachers within the region. This significant teacher cohort will receive instructional materials, money to purchase science curriculum materials, and opportunities to participate in the planned community of practice among all the regional teachers. The proposed project intends to enable, elevate, retain, and sustain exemplary and innovative elementary STEM teachers within the community of practice during and after the project. Ultimately, the project seeks to improve young, Midwest students’ interests, knowledge, and abilities in science. The project at the University of Northern Iowa includes the development of partnerships among four institutions of higher education, the University of Northern Iowa, Iowa State University, the University of Kansas, and the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. This Midwest Alliance also includes all three State Departments of Education to address the needs of teachers in rural elementary schools throughout the three states to increase and improve the teaching of science. Project goals include the enhancement of science knowledge and skills among the Teacher Corps members and participating Rural Cohort elementary teachers in a community of practice using NGSS’s three-dimensional framework with an emphasis on collaborative sense-making. In addition, the project intends to elevate the prominence of science in the elementary curriculum in rural schools and to increase instructional time for science throughout the region. Finally, the creation of legacy products for future in-service and pre-service elementary teachers by Corps members can influence the teaching of science for years to come. This project is informed by iterative evaluation, guided by the following questions: (a) How do participating teachers shift their science teaching practices over time? (b) How does the amount of instructional time devoted to science instruction impact science and mathematics achievement in students? (c) How does the engagement of Corps teachers in the community of practice support students’ science and mathematics achievement? The results of this project are to be disseminated nationally to help enhance the field. This Regional Alliance project is supported through the National STEM Teacher Corps Pilot Program. The NSF National STEM Teacher Corps Pilot Program supports outstanding STEM educators in high-need schools that advance educational excellence in our Nation’s preK-12 classrooms. 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.