- Year 2022
- NSF Award #2050588
- Registration PI
- First Name Cherie
- Last Name McCollough
- Discipline Biological Sciences, Mathematics, Physics
- Institution Texas A&M University Corpus Christi
Abstract
The following project, STEM INSPIRES (Infusing Social Programs in Residential Education Scholars) is gathering research that informs pedagogical strategies and environments in grades 6-12. The project incorporates the cultivation and measurement of changes in self-efficacy among preservice teachers by incorporating social justice in STEM disciplines. STEM attrition points to the fact that there is a recognized need for research-informed instructional approaches and strategies for increased STEM engagement to promote self-efficacy among teachers of grades 6-12 students. In addition to increasing self-efficacy in the STEM INSPIRES program, a social justice piece is being incorporated that is based on children’s lived experience in the social, political, and cultural landscape and moving beyond the school classroom and/or the university classroom environment. By reaching out to the key community members and not only including them in the educational experience of teacher candidates, program components are also helping students become an integral and specific part of that education. The STEM INSPIRES project is resulting in a model that can be adopted and replicated through region-wide resources, shared expertise, and challenge projects for grades 6-12 students by using the following critical issues that lead to operational goals, objectives, expected outcomes and impact.
