Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA is providing scholarships to 27 African American and other underrepresented minority male students majoring in STEM fields and obtaining Georgia Teacher Certification. These students are committed to teaching at Georgia critical-needs high schools. This DREAMS II program emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches for learning science and mathematics. Moreover, the program integrates inquiry-based learning, technology, and problem solving, which are concepts and skills stressed by the state's national recommendations for teaching. Innovative teaching methodologies include online learning communities, scholar-supervised research activities, interdisciplinary applications and one-on-one mentoring activities across the curriculum. These activities strengthen future teachers' ability to integrate interdisciplinary ideas and strategies across the curricula. This program has the potential to transform the national educational agenda by providing empirical data on best approaches to recruit and maintain male STEM students from underrepresented groups for careers as pre-college teachers. In addition, the project provides data on best practices to encourage and retain underrepresented STEM majors using diverse strategies that include targeted recruitment, enhanced mentoring, research training, and community building.
