- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 2150054
- First Name Brent
- Last Name Hancock
- Registration Noyce Scholar/Teaching Fellow/Master Teacher
- Discipline Chemistry, Life Sciences, Mathematics, STEM Education (general)
- Role Principal Investigator (PI)
- Presenters
Jessica Cole, Mitchell Stanberry, and Angela West, Warden High School; Brent Hancock, Central Washington University
Approach
The WA-STELLAR Track 3 project aims to grow and support a sustainable network of STEM instructional change agents statewide. This year, our first cohort of MTFs have collaborated with other STEM teachers, administrators, and community partners to enact the first of three collective inquiry cycles. This poster showcases the accomplishments of three passionate MTFs, all from the same small, rural high school in Washington. These teacher leaders share a common vision in which every student, regardless of background, has an opportunity for success in STEM. To this end, they began by restructuring schedules and honing multi-step student placements to fast-track traditionally overlooked groups of students. Simultaneously, they worked to amplify student voices by incorporating interviews in courses integrating multiple STEM disciplines. They brought in STEM professionals to inspire the next generation by illuminating equitable pathways to STEM careers, including an assembly where a Latina alumnus presented her journey to becoming an engineer working with NASA. These MTFs also hosted a team of math educators and administrators from another high school in the region for a day of classroom observations, student interviews and panels, and meetings with key administrators. In partnership with Central Washington University, these three MTFs have welcomed and mentored preservice teachers across multiple visits to their high school, shaping equitable STEM instruction for future generations.
