- Year 2016
- NSF Noyce Award # 1540792
- First Name John
- Last Name Pecore
- Discipline N/A
- Co-PI(s)
Jaromy Kuhl, University of West Florida, jkuhl@uwf.edu;
Kirk Bradley, Pensacola State College, kbradley@pensacolastate.edu
Sean Psujek, Northwest Florida State University, sean.psujek@gmail.com - Presenters
John Pecore, University of West Florida, jpecore@uwf.edu
Jaromy Kuhl, University of West Florida, jkuhl@uwf.edu
Kirk Bradley, Pensacola State College, kbradley@pensacolastate.edu
Sean Psujek, Northwest Florida State University, sean.psujek@gmail.com
Melissa Demetrikopoulos, Institute for Biomedical Philosophy, mdemetr@biophi.org
Need
According to the Florida Department of Education, middle and high school science and math teachers are listed as critical shortage areas. The highest proportions of critical teacher shortages exist within urban and rural low-economic schools, which describe the majority of the schools in the counties served by UWF and its partners. Teacher attrition is also a continual problem that plagues American education, especially for new hires as is the low number of underrepresented minorities entering the profession. The Recruiting Impassioned STEM Educators (RISE) project aims to develop a multi-dimensional program for recruiting and retaining highly qualified STEM teachers for grades 6-12 in the Northwest Florida region by working with educational partners and area districts that serve both urban and rural low-economic high needs schools.
Goals
The primary goals of the RISE project are to develop an infrastructure to support STEM majors to become highly qualified science and mathematics teachers, expand the STEM learning community in NW Florida, and strengthen partnerships between UWF, local colleges, and area school districts. To achieve the aforementioned goals, RISE instituted myriad project activities, including the following: offered Master Mentor training for STEM teachers and educators, established student field sites at local STEM learning centers, and conducted multiple surveys with stakeholders. In addition, UWF teacher education and STEM Department Chair collaborated in designing a professional certification degree program.
Outcomes
Several key outcomes are being achieved as a result of the RISE project: a) the development of a new professional teaching certification pathway for UWF STEM content majors to teach Grades 6-12, b) the development and implementation of a new course, Exploring Inquiry Teaching, to introduce STEM field majors to the education field, c) the recruitment of dual-enrolled students and STEM majors to a career in STEM teaching, and d) the expansion of the STEM learning community, including high-needs schools, in NW Florida.
Broader Impacts
As a result of the RISE project, the University of West Florida, in partnership with two associate degree serving colleges, has created an infrastructure to recruit highly qualified STEM majors to become secondary teachers. These teacher candidates will ultimately impact students in grades 6-12 by teaching in local school districts. The new recruitment course, Exploring Inquiry Teaching, will serve as a model course for other undergraduate colleges. In addition, important partnerships have been strengthened and forged as a result of formalized cooperative agreements between STEM disciplines and teacher education departments and through the expansion of the STEM learning community in Northwest Florida.
