- Year 2017
- NSF Noyce Award # 1439848
- First Name John
- Last Name Coleman
- Discipline Other: STEM, STEM
- Co-PI(s)
Franklin Fondjo, Langston University, ffondjo@langston.edu
Yvonne Montgomery, Langston University, Ymontgomery@langston.edu - Presenters
John K. Coleman, Langston University, jkcoleman@langston.edu
Need
Project is responsive to both the national and local shortage of outstanding STEM secondary teachers.
Goals
Langston University’s goal is to produce 24 new Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) teacher candidates for high-need school districts during the life of this project.
Approach
Integrate new evidence-based strategies and activities with two of its institutions core strengths: 1) decades of experience in successfully preparing new K-12 teacher candidates. Specific strategies include: Strategy #1: Aggressive recruiting programs that target 3 groups: (a) community college STEM majors, (b) existing LU STEM Scholars who indicate a preference for teaching, and (c) LU undeclared majors who indicate an interest in teaching and exhibit acumen in STEM subjects. We will also augment existing high school recruiting activity by deploying STEM and Education majors with LU’s Recruiting team. Strategy #2: Leverage LU’s decades long demonstrated capabilities as the primary training resource for Oklahoma’s African-American secondary teachers, and its track record with NSF grants (#0310321 and #0811826) to develop secondary teacher-licensed STEM majors who excel in core content knowledge, and whose skill sets support high quality learning experiences for their students.
Outcomes
LU’s Noyce program remained on target to meet its objective of
enrolling 10 STEM majors. LU’s STEM instructors, STEM department chairs, and members of LU’s
Education department , along with our community college collaborator, heavily recruited students who
showed an aptitude in STEM disciplines as well as those who declared as a STEM major. However,
despite peer and faculty mentoring of each program participant, tutoring to ensure their success in
STEM studies, extensive private and public conversations with students who have successfully
completed a degree program in STEM education and with existing successful high school teachers, we
have experienced erosion in excitement over the Noyce STEM Teacher program
Broader Impacts
Broader Impacts include contributing 24 new STEM teachers who have subject matter mastery in STEM disciplines, including real research experiences, to the pool of public school teachers in high needs school districts.
