The Noyce Teacher Scholar Program at Bridgewater State College (BSC) in Massachusetts includes as partners Massasoit Community College (MCC), and four districts: Brockton Public Schools, Randolph Public Schools, Fall River Public Schools, and Freetown and Lakeville Public Schools. The Science Teachers Scholars program is providing 2-year scholarships to 40 pre-service undergraduates during their junior and senior years, as well as summer internships to 24 freshmen or sophomores. At least 6 of the Scholars have transferred to BSU after two years at MCC, and 6 of the Interns are current MCC students. The project is focusing on STEM majors in biology, chemistry, physics and geology, with a special emphasis on chemistry and physics. Twenty-eight of the STEM majors are preparing to become secondary education teachers and twelve are preparing to become elementary education teachers. Because MCC serves a very diverse population, the project is enabling students pursuing a STEM degree and with a variety of backgrounds and experiences opportunities to become highly-qualified STEM teachers at the K-12 level. Master teacher-mentors from each of the partner school districts work with the Science Teacher Scholars throughout their education and beginning year of teaching and provide mentoring in relation to teaching science in high-needs schools.
The project is utilizing the Center for the Advancement of STEM Education at BSU where interns work with existing biotechnology, chemistry, environmental, or astronomy projects to engage STEM majors in delivering inquiry pedagogy. STEM majors help design and run after-school science enrichment programs as another recruiting experience. Scholars pursuing an elementary education career are enrolled in a traditional STEM major and in the early childhood or elementary education major leading to an initial license. Students intending a middle or high school teaching career are enrolled in a traditional STEM major and the secondary education minor, again leading to an initial license. New 1-credit Science Education Workshops are being developed to address topics that are not currently covered in the Scholars science or pedagogical courses but that the teacher-mentors deem important for future science teachers to know, particular those useful in high-needs schools. During their first years of teaching, Science Teacher Scholars participate fully in the New Teacher Partnership, a pair of programs offered at BSC to new teachers throughout the local area. The first is the New Teacher Academy, a two-day event each August, and the second is the New Teacher Seminar Series, a monthly program during the Academic Year that focuses on teaching in general as well as teaching science. Research involves a study of the effectiveness of recruitment efforts along with the effectiveness, confidence, and retention of the Science Teacher Scholars compared to non-scholarship recipients.
