- Year 2023
- NSF Noyce Award # 1758507
- First Name Ann
- Last Name Cavallo
- Discipline Chemistry, Computer Science, Geosciences, Life Sciences, Mathematics, Physics, STEM Education (general)
- Co-PI(s)
Gregory Hale, Ramon Lopez, Carter Tiernan, Melissa Hulings
- Presenters
Ann Cavallo, Gregory Hale, Ramon Lopez, Carter Tiernan, Melissa Hulings
Need
The collaborative team at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) has managed and conducted research and evaluation on the impacts of our Robert Noyce Scholarship programs over the past 15 years. The research and evaluation informs efforts on recruiting, preparing, inducting, and supporting Noyce Scholars in urban, high-need school districts. The results will be shared with the Noyce community as we work together to build and maintain successful Noyce programs.
Research Questions
1. What are the critical elements to support the successful implementation of the Noyce program? 2. What practices were most successful in recruiting, preparing, inducting, and supporting Noyce Scholars in high-need urban school districts? 3. What were the most critical challenges in administering the Noyce Scholarship program and how were challenges overcome? 4. What research is needed to inform the field of STEM education and provide continued support for our teachers?
Approach
This poster will present our recruitment, preparation, induction, and continued support strategies for the Robert Noyce Scholarship program at UTA. We will discuss successes and challenges, and present results of our evaluation and research programs. Methods for collecting data include maintaining a database on Scholars that tracks demographic information, such as year of graduation/program completion, STEM subject area, GPA upon graduation, along with the schools, districts, and high-need data where Scholars are teaching. In our research program we administer surveys and gather open-ended information from our Noyce Scholars and possible shifts on math and science teaching self-efficacy, primary teaching practices as inquiry based versus didactic, and views of the nature of science and mathematics at three points in time: pre-program, mid-program (at graduation), and post-program (after teaching at least 1 year). Our team also collects program evaluation data from Scholars, and school-based Mentor Teacher evaluations of the Noyce Scholars in their first years of teaching. Results of our work to date will be presented, as well as implications to Noyce Scholarship programs and the STEM education community.
Outcomes
The findings from research and evaluation of the Robert Noyce program embedded in our STEM teacher education program demonstrated a 3-5-fold increase in recruitment through graduation of STEM teachers. Research and evaluation have allowed us to focus on continuous improvement of our Noyce programs, such that we have built a successful induction program as reported by Scholars and school-based Mentor Teachers. In addition, our research program measuring 1) self-efficacy toward teaching math or science, 2) primary teaching procedures (as inquiry versus didactic), and 3) views of the nature of science and math as being evidence-based and using reasoning and problem solving rather than opinion, all show positive increases from pre-program to mid-program (upon graduation); however decreases from graduation to at least year of classroom teaching. We continue to examine shifts in these variables, particularly with respect to explanations for observed patterns. The data analyses, interpretations, and explanations will guide our continued research and provide insights for new and ongoing Noyce programs.
Broader Impacts
Broader impacts include sharing research and evaluation results of four Noyce Scholarship programs in an urban university, with 195 Noyce Scholars who have graduated and are teaching in high need schools. These teachers are now positively impacting the STEM education of tens of thousands of economically disadvantaged students each year. Findings from our research and evaluation program will be shared with other Noyce programs to inform and improve practices. Results will provide insight into key positive outcomes of STEM teacher education programs and the extent to which they are sustained in classroom teaching. The presentation will address possible explanations and present directions for continued and future research on the connections and/or possible gaps between teacher education programs and classroom teaching.
