Preparing future teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is critical for the development of a high quality STEM workforce and a STEM literate populace. The Western Regional Noyce Initiative (WRNI) is providing professional development opportunities for Noyce projects located in the western region of the United States through conferences, summer institutes and webinars, enabling Noyce Scholars and Noyce Teachers opportunities to share their experiences and to learn new research-based approaches to teaching. WRNI is helping to increase the number of future STEM leaders in the region's schools; leaders who are prepared to effectively implement the Next Generation Science Standards and/or the Common Core State Standards as more Western Region states fully adopt or include them in their STEM curricula. For Noyce leaders, there are opportunities for a better understanding of the Noyce program evaluation efforts both nationally and locally. Research findings are shared and those campuses that have had years of successful Noyce programs mentor newer campuses, broadening the impact of this initiative.
This two-year initiative provides an opportunity for over 320 Noyce Scholars, Fellows, and Teachers from up to 90 campuses throughout the Western Region to share experiences, learn new teaching strategies and upgrade content knowledge through an annual two-day conference in each year of the two-year project. The conferences are based upon current trends in education (e.g., new standards, recent research in cognitive science, and emphasis on differentiated instruction and English Language Learners) and are based on prior conference evaluations. The conferences expose participants to resources and professional development training in methods that employ proven practices in teacher preparation and induction. Participants are able to collaborate and share experiences, expertise, and skills with their peers and colleagues through presentations, concurrent sessions, person-to-person interactions, and follow-up online networking. The annual conferences also include special sessions for Noyce Leaders focusing on critical elements of project programming and evaluation protocols and outcomes from veteran programs. The science institutes incorporate the Hestenes Modeling approach to teaching with an emphasis on Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Math summer institutes focus on using the Lesson Study approach with an emphasis on Math Common Core Standards. The project emphasizes these emerging standards as important to STEM teaching with the understanding that not all of the states in the Western Region will have adopted the standards during the WRNI project. The summer institutes provide an opportunity for approximately 140 Noyce Scholars and Teachers to attend a professional development program at a Noyce campus in each of two summers (2014 and 2015).
