- Year 2018
- NSF Noyce Award # 1557328
- First Name Thomas
- Last Name Dick
- Discipline Other: Math and Science
- Co-PI(s)
Rebekah Elliott, OSU, Elliottr@science.oregonstate.edu
Nick Cabot, OSU, nick.cabot@oregonstate.edu - Presenters
Nick Cabot, OSU, nick.cabot@oregonstate.edu
Need
Ambitious teaching deliberately aims to get all kinds of students across ethnic, racial, class, and gender categories not only to acquire, but also to understand and use knowledge, and to use it to solve authentic problems. (Lampert & Graziani, 2009)
This notion of ambitious teaching is a central focus of a new project at Oregon State University, funded through the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (see http://nsfnoyce.org/). The program seeks to address the critical need for K-12 teachers of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by encouraging talented STEM students and professionals to pursue teaching careers in elementary and secondary schools.
Goals
* Recruit undergraduate students and practicing professionals in the STEM disciplines into Secondary Education.
* Provide a high quality graduate program in Math and Science Education that builds upon STEM students and professionals’ undergraduate degree in Science, Math, or Engineering.
* Increase the number of graduates with a Masters of Science in Science and Mathematics Education who are prepared and licensed to ambitiously teach Secondary Science or Mathematics aligned with the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSSM) and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
* Provide ongoing professional development and membership in the Math Science Teacher Network supporting continued learning of ambitious teaching of the CCSSM and NGSS.
Approach
Instructional activities, structured and bounded disciplinary specific routines, are built around the work of teaching mathematics and science and used to advance goals for teacher and student learning. Teacher candidates develop instructional skill through supported cycles of investigation and enactment.
Teacher candidates, teacher educators, math and science secondary teachers are partners in developing candidates? instructional knowledge and skill through cycles of working in schools teaching NGSS and CCSSM aligned lessons across the
year. These opportunities are in addition to candidates working
in two partner LEA school placements across an entire school year and completing a teaching performance assessment portfolio (edTPA).
Outcomes
Questions: In what ways, if any, do fellows take up ambitious science and mathematics instructional work within their initial preparation and the the first four years of teaching in high needs LEAs? What challenges do fellows or teacher educators identify in developing fellows’ ambitious teaching? Participants MS and licensure Fellows Cohort I (2016-2017) n=8 (6 science, 2 math) Cohort II (2017-2018) n=8 (3 science, 5 math) All candidates have successfully completed the edTPA, with no remediation, and with an average score above the state and national averages. Candidates from cohort 1 and 2 met to share action research projects and project faculty and evaluator are developing resources for fellows in their first four years of teaching and beyond.
Broader Impacts
In partnership with Oregon Department of Education, the project has organizied an annual Ambitious Math and Science Summer Institute. The institute supports the Noyce fellows and over 50 math and science teachers, teacher candidates, and teacher leaders with opportunities to connect with OSU scientists as well as OSU faculty for professional development on math and science modeling, math content for teaching, ambitious science teaching, and equitable teaching practices. Five invited plenary speakers share expertise on a range of critical issues for math and science teaching and learning to support diverse learners. The Institute also features STEM learning innovations – including mathematical modeling, virtual reality, drone technology, coding/robotics and much more – presented by educators across the state leveraging the network of STEM Hubs in the state.
