Through the Learning Assistants Become Teachers (LABT) project, the University of Montana (UM) in partnership with the Missoula County Public Schools is recruiting thirty individuals to complete baccalaureate degrees in mathematics, chemistry, biology, geosciences, environmental science, computer science, or physics and providing them up to three years of scholarship support to complete their STEM degree and earn secondary teacher licensure.
The LABT project is designed to transform the culture of mathematics and science teacher preparation on the UM campus through the recruitment of STEM undergraduates to become assistants in large section mathematics and science courses. The students work in pairs, and with faculty and graduate assistants, to engage other undergraduates as peer tutors and this provides them with experiences as facilitators of learning in anticipation of becoming teachers in middle and high school classrooms. Additionally, the Learning Assistant model is being extended into elementary and secondary schools where the Noyce Scholars assist master teachers in high-need school districts. Noyce Scholars are being prepared to work in western Montana communities, which are rural and represent a diversity of cultures, including different Native American tribes.
The goals of the LABT project are to: 1. design a recruitment and Noyce Scholarship award strategy that increases the number of middle/high school mathematics and science teachers entering the profession prepared to teach effectively in rural and frontier areas; 2. improve the quality of education for Noyce scholars by instituting a summer field science workshop and an academic year pedagogy seminar; 3. improve the quality of education for both Noyce scholars and undergraduate students in targeted mathematics and science courses by using Noyce scholars as Learning Assistants (peer mentors using supportive teaching strategies); and 4. establish a culture at UM that engages faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates in the learning of mathematics and science content through research-based teaching.
The LABT is characterized by freshmen and sophomore summer internships, modifications to courses in which Learning Assistants work, pedagogy seminars, mentoring by master teachers, and online wiki and Moodle mentoring of Noyce Scholars as they transition into the early years of their teaching careers. Freshmen and sophomore summer internships in ecological field placements serve as a first exposure to teaching, while serving as one recruitment mechanism for Noyce Scholars. Semester-long pedagogy seminars for all Learning Assistants, graduate teaching assistants, and faculty interested in the model or teaching within the targeted courses will be provided. STEM courses in which Learning Assistants are used are being customized to include greater use of small-group work and questioning techniques that encourage mathematical and scientific discourse, including challenging assumptions, revealing contradictions and constructing new understandings. Participating faculty recruit Learning Assistants from the best and brightest former students so that subsequent course offerings become transformed through the use of these Noyce Scholars.
Increasing the number, quality, and diversity of mathematics and science teachers with majors in STEM disciplines ensures a depth of content knowledge which, when linked to the skill set developed as Learning Assistants, provides novice teachers with a solid foundation for success in the teaching profession. As the LABT project focuses specifically on preparing future mathematics and science teachers for success in rural/frontier areas of the west, and high-need reservation areas, persistent patterns in which these areas are educationally underserved are being thwarted.
