- Year 2017
- NSF Noyce Award # 1660814
- First Name Philip
- Last Name Parker
- Discipline Engineering
- Co-PI(s)
Andrew Pawl
, UW-Platteville, pawla@uwplatt.edu - Presenters
Philp Parker
, UW-Platteville
, parkerp@uwplatt.edu
Need
The state of Wisconsin has shortages of qualified STEM teachers, especially in physics, technology education, and mathematics. In this Capacity Building project, we propose to design a teacher education model that will help address these shortages while simultaneously improving the engineering background of STEM teachers in Wisconsin.
Goals
Goal: To plan the implementation of a successful Noyce Scholarship program (‘Engineers to Teachers,’ or ‘E2Teach’) at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville (UW-Platteville) to meet the significant and growing need for STEM teachers in high-need and underserved rural districts.
Objective 1 Solicit input from constituents and stakeholders
Objective 2 Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the demand for STEM teachers in the Tri-State region (Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa)
Objective 3 Examine and streamline curricula to create accessible pathways for engineering students into STEM education degrees, including a new applied physics degree
Objective 4 Design the Noyce Scholarship program (E2Teach)
Objective 5 Create a marketing plan
Objective 6 Investigate an efficient pathway for post-BS engineers to acquire a secondary education license to teach secondary STEM courses
Approach
The following tasks will be carried out:
1. Solicit input from constituents through internal and external advisory boards
2. Perform a market analysis
3. Examine and streamline curricula
4. Design the Engineers to Teachers (E2Teach) program
5. Create a marketing plan
6. Investigate a pathway for post-BS engineers to acquire educator’s licenses
Outcomes
This project has just been awarded.
Broader Impacts
At the regional level, this proposal would impact the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa by increasing the supply of highly qualified teachers in three licensure areas that are currently experiencing shortages. These teachers would additionally have deep exposure to an engineering discipline, including upper division coursework, providing local schools with teachers who are highly qualified to teach innovative and popular engineering curricula like Project Lead the Way.