Drexel University, the State University of New York College at Cortland, and the University of Massachusetts Boston are organizing two annual conferences for Noyce Scholars, Fellows and faculty from Noyce programs located in the Northeast United States. The conferences are designed to advance the content knowledge and pedagogical practices of STEM teachers with a focus on teaching in high-need schools. Successful teaching in high need schools is dependent upon STEM teachers who have a wide repertoire of pedagogical practices for teaching conceptually difficult content. The conferences are enabling participants to learn about, discuss and practice the latest methods for teaching STEM content to students who face the challenges common in high-need schools. To this end, the conference aims to integrate the intellectual and conceptual aspects of STEM teaching with the practical application of STEM concepts in the classroom. Noyce programs from the Northeast region are coming together to learn about and share the latest content from STEM fields and the best teaching practices. The conferences provide a platform for them to inspire one another, to address the national needs of supporting high quality, innovative and transformative mathematics and science teaching and to advance education in high need schools. Noyce scholars and teachers receive professional development that directly impacts their teaching. The conferences are providing opportunities for Noyce scholars and teachers to collaborate, share experiences, expertise, and skills with peers and colleagues and to continue to maintain the connections beyond the conference through on-going networking. The goal is to advocate for strong content knowledge and teaching practices in mathematics and science and include researchers, teacher educators, K-12 educators, school administrators, and policy makers who can support teachers and work to positively transform practices and policies to better support science and mathematics learning for students in high need schools.
