- Year 2018
- NSF Noyce Award # 1758238
- First Name Jeffrey
- Last Name Choppin
- Discipline Other: STEM, STEM
- Co-PI(s)
Raffaella Borasi, University of Rochester, rborasi@warner.rochester.edu Michael Daley, University of Rochester, mdaley@warner.rochester.edu David Goldfarb, University of Rochester, david.goldfarb@rochester.edu April Luehmann, University of Rochester, aluehmann@warner.rochester.edu
- Presenters
Michael Daley, University of Rochester, mdaley@warner.rochester.edu
Need
This project intends to advance, apply, and disseminate knowledge about innovative strategies for the recruitment, preparation, induction, and retention of highly-qualified STEM teachers for high-need schools, with a focus on digital transformation efforts to increase student learning and engagement. As more districts throughout the country move toward digital conversion, a clear need exists to prepare teachers who can thoughtfully integrate technology in the classroom to promote learning and student engagement, particularly in ways that can make mathematics and science more interesting and accessible. This project is poised to contribute evidence about preparing teachers to incorporate high-quality, digitally-based curriculum and instruction in high-need schools.
Goals
Consistent with the mission of the Noyce Scholarship Program, our main goals for this project are to continue to increase the number of highly-qualified mathematics and science secondary teachers serving students in high-need school districts, engage Scholars in the effective use of technology in the classroom, create a network of Scholars throughout NYS to provide support and share resources, and gain a better understanding of what it takes to prepare these future teachers most effectively so as to impact STEM teacher preparation programs nationwide. Therefore, building on our previous success and lessons learned, we seek to (a) attract, prepare, and support a new group of highly-qualified STEM majors and/or professionals committed to teaching in high-need schools (for a total of 26 over a 4 year period), (b) train this group of Noyce scholars in leveraging technology to effectively implement Common Core and Next Generation standards and improve student STEM learning, leading to a NYS-approved additional certificate in Digitally-Rich K-12 Teaching, and (c) conduct a longitudinal and more in- depth evaluation of program impact on all UR Noyce Scholars.
Approach
UR Noyce Scholars will attend the rigorous and innovative teacher preparation program offered by the UR Warner School of Education. The program has four identifying characteristics. First, more than a fourth of the coursework is specific to the teaching and learning of mathematics or science so as to address the specific learning needs of reform-minded mathematics and science teachers. Second, the program prepares to teach high-need students and includes required courses on diversity, youth culture, teaching students with disabilities, and serving English Language Learners in content classrooms. Third, the program has a focus on technology-rich teaching to enhance student learning. Fourth, the program integrates rich internships including 100 hours of field experience and 2 student teaching experiences. The internships will take place concurrently with key courses so as to provide opportunities for field-based assignments and shared reflections from experiences in the field.
Outcomes
We plan to monitor the impact of the project on increasing the number of mathematics and science teachers going into high-need districts, as well as continuing to measure the effectiveness of previous UR Noyce Scholars as beginning teachers. Another important goal of our evaluation study will be to identify common challenges that novice reform- minded STEM teachers are likely to encounter and ways to support them in constructively addressing these challenges – so as to inform teacher education programs and practices nationwide. Another key deliverable includes contributing to the interactive website created to feature all of our Noyce programs. This website includes descriptions of each previously awarded program, and noteworthy highlights of participants or evaluation outcomes, with growing spaces for collaborative conversations and sharing of resources and materials. For this project, the website will feature resources for districts interested in digital conversion.
Broader Impacts
The proposed project will not just continue to work toward alleviating the teacher shortage in NYS, but will also prepare teachers in a new way to address student learning and engagement by effectively integrating technology in the classroom. This is particularly important for high-need districts in NYS, as graduation rates and test scores lag behind other districts without the same issues (e.g., concentrated poverty, high teacher turnover). This project directly connects to the Noyce program’s role as central to discovering, studying, and promoting pathways for STEM teacher education through research and development, supporting the development of a strong STEM workforce by preparing additional reform-minded math and science teachers, and by increasing student engagement, comfort, and competence with technology that they will carry beyond high school.
