- Year 2016
- NSF Noyce Award # 1439926
- First Name Virginia
- Last Name Vandergon
- Discipline All
- Co-PI(s)
Kellie Evans, CSUN, kellie.m.evans@csun.edu
Norman Herr, CSUN, norm.herr@csun.edu
Brian Foley, CSUN, brian.foley@csun.edu - Presenters
Melida Paz, CSUN, melida.paz.981@my.csun.edu; Bryant Cooper, CSUN, bryant.cooper.928@my.csun.edu; Kellie Evans, CSUN, kellie.m.evans@csun.edu
Need
(a) A current need in California is quality secondary teachers in STEM fields. We feel that the CSUNoyce Phase II scholars program helps us support promising pre-service teachers so that they can reach the classroom quickly. Many of our students have to support themselves and having the ability to participate in a one year credential program helps them get their credentials in a more timely manner.
(b) This project benefits our promising students especially our students that are from underrepresented groups in STEM teaching. It also benefits our partner schools as they get high quality teachers in the hiring pool.
Goals
(a) Goal 1: to provide one-year stipends to individuals with bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields who, because of this program, have decided to pursue teaching careers;
Goal 2: to provide one- two- or three-year scholarships to undergraduate junior- and senior-level science and math majors who have committed to an additional credential year or who are already in an integrated math/credential program;
Goal 3: to provide support for freshmen and sophomore math and science majors to participate in summer field experiences with a goal of interesting these STEM majors in teaching careers;
Goal 4: to provide professional development opportunities for our CSUNoyce Phase II scholars and to the past scholars who are one to two years in their own classrooms;
Goal 5: to provide financial assistance to opportunities to attend teaching and subject matter conferences.
(b) For Goals 1 and 2 we recruit each semester to fill in spots for the scholarships/stipends. Our criteria include a GPA of 2.8 or better as an undergraduate or a degree in a STEM field for the credential students. They also have to provide letters of recommendation and participate in an interactive interview.
Goal 3: we recruit for summer opportunities on our campus in which the freshman and sophomore candidates can assist in teaching subject matter enhancement courses. They have to be making good progress in their courses and also participate in a short interactive interview.
Goal 4: we provide professional development (PD) and seminars centered around reading of original research on aspects of teaching in diverse classrooms and classroom management. We also invite the scholars to attend PD linked to some of our other activities for example Math Morsels, CSCS open house and JPL open house for teachers.
Goal 5: we pay for travel to meetings for the scholars for example the California Math teachers and the California Science Teachers Association annual meetings.
Approach
(a) Recruitment is being done by working with Science and Math departments and undergraduate organizations within these departments (e.g. Matador Math Society, Tutoring Center).
(b) A key framework is to recruit undergraduates by providing early experiences in classrooms and other learning environments. We have created programs like ‘Tomorrow Scientists’ and summer teaching workshops where undergraduates work as TAs for expert teachers. These early experiences help students realize that teaching is a great way to use their science knowledge to promote a more educated society. Our goal is to give students experiences showing what the best education is like – which may be different from the teaching they experienced in school.
(c) CSUN faculty in both the College of Science and Mathematics and College of Education collaboration on these efforts to engage undergraduates in STEM teaching program.
Outcomes
(a) Our programs have engaged dozens of undergraduate STEM majors in teaching programs. A survey of participants showed that it was a very positive experience and increased interest in teaching. We are hopeful that these efforts will result in higher numbers of students entering teaching when they finish their undergraduate degree.
(b) We have developed a model of engaging undergraduates in teacher professional development efforts called Immersive Clinical Professional Development (Foley, Reveles & Castillo, 2016). This model is complex but it allows us to provide support for teachers at a variety of levels. We started working with science teachers exclusively but recently expanded the program to math teachers as well. We have also involved our Math scholars in a math seminar that focuses on technology in math classrooms and this has been very well attended even the science scholars enjoy going.
(c) The next phase of the project is to provide increased support for STEM teachers in their first years of teaching. Now that we have a cohort of credential completers we will develop online and inperson support for young teachers.
Broader Impacts
(a) CSUNoyce Phase II scholars will develop their teaching and mentoring skills by working with teachers in selected high-need schools. Noyce Scholars will thereby impact the lives of students from the high-need communities from which many of them will have come.
Phase I Noyce Math Scholars taught in a “Summer Institute” for middle school math and science students. Math scholars participated in a “Responsive Teaching Cycle” (SITTE, 2012) where they met and collaborated with middle school math teachers and CSUN mathematics education faculty to discuss lesson planning. The Noyce Scholars then taught the lessons and met again to discuss how the teaching went, what their students learned, and how to improve the experience for all involved. This “cycle” continued during a 3-week period, which was productive for the Noyce Scholars, the teachers they assisted and the middle school students they taught and tutored. In addition, Phase I Noyce Science Scholars worked at the CSUN PGLA Summer Institute, collaborating with CSUN science and science education faculty as well as LAUSD teachers to design and implement hands-on, inquiry-based science lessons. Our CSUNoyce Phase II will build upon both of these programs. Noyce Scholars will thereby get extensive teaching experiences which will better prepare them to enter our STEM teaching credential program (see support letters).
We also have started a small pilot project that is supporting our scholars in help implement engaging afterschool STEM programs.
(b) CSUN undergraduates who have been involved in the above mentioned program have had the opportunity to experience teaching and think about possibilities for their future career goals that might include teaching. The PGLA science and math students from the local schools have had the opportunity to be on a university campus as well as meet university students who have come from their neighborhoods.
(c) This second phase is fairly new and our dissemination has consisted of attending a regional Noyce meeting last fall and discussing our program and goals. We are hopeful that we will be able to report more on our research questions in the next year.
