- Year 2019
- NSF Noyce Award # 1758325
- First Name Lynn
- Last Name Hodge
- Discipline Biology, Chemistry, Math, Physics
- Presenters
Lynn Hodge, The University of Tennessee, lhodge4@utk.edu; Shande King, The University of Tennessee, nking5@vols.utk.edu; Nick Kim, The University of Tennessee, nkim2@vols.utk.edu
Need
Relatively little is known about effective recruitment efforts in STEM education, particularly the role of concrete experiences such as internships. Historically, most internships related to STEM teaching focus on STEM research experiences in lab environments or volunteer outreach experiences. The focus of our STEM Teaching Summer Internship is on all aspects of the teaching process and building an understanding of working with students and their families with an attention toward community interests/assets.
Goals
The practical inquiry guiding our work includes the following questions: (1) What recruitment role does a summer internship about STEM teaching serve? (2) What are interns’ views of STEM teaching following the internship?
Approach
Jackson, Gammill, and Spatz (2015) conducted a review of literature and found six themes in understanding why individuals chose to pursue teaching. These six themes include: a desire for social justice, a desire to work with young people, the influence of role models and mentors, the influence of informal teaching internships, preconceptions about teaching, and financial support. These themes feature prominently in our recruitment efforts. In this poster presentation, we will focus on the role of the STEM teaching internship. The Internship is designed with the following key components: (1) Kids U, a summer camp for youth already provided by UT. Through a Hands-On STEM! Camp as part of Kids U, groups of interns will engage in activity planning and instruction of the
middle school and elementary campers on STEM themes of their choice. (2) The Muse, a STEAM-themed museum, will provide opportunities to design and implement STEM activities for families.
Outcomes
The anticipated outcomes/deliverables include: A preliminary analysis of interns’ views of STEM teaching and their own identities related to STEM/Teaching. A preliminary analysis identifying key resources/components that contributed to the interns’ views of STEM/Teaching.
Broader Impacts
The broader impacts of the project include development more effective recruitment practices for STEM teacher candidates. The implications for STEM teacher education include an understanding of the key experiences that contribute to particular views about STEM/Teaching. Our next steps are to continue with recruitment and build to the next iteration of the Summer STEM Teaching Internship, including the selection of our Noyce Scholars cohort.
