National calls for improved education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) point to the challenges of an ever-changing, increasingly global society. In line with this, there is an identified need for integration of multiple STEM concepts across disciplines to solve complex, global problems. Based on this situation and with funding from the National Science Foundation's Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, this Noyce Capacity Building project will address the national shortage of high quality STEM teachers, and especially teachers who can teach across disciplines. Investigators at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) will build capacity to contribute to STEM teacher workforce development by creating and implementing two teacher preparation programs at UNCW that will provide participants with an ability to teach integration of important concepts across STEM disciplines. The overall programs will integrate engineering and technology, interdisciplinary STEM material, critical thinking, problem solving, and inquiry in science to enhance teacher training, which, in turn, will help future teachers prepare students to enter the workforce as problem solvers, innovators, inventors, and logical thinkers, who will be self-reliant and technologically literate.
These discipline integrated programs to be developed will consist of: (a) an undergraduate STEM teaching certification program for students majoring in a STEM discipline and (b) a graduate STEM teaching certification program for individuals who already hold a STEM degree. The intentional integration of the STEM disciplines in the curriculum, new teacher preparation practices, and other components of the UNCW certificate programs will be designed to serve as a catalyst to: (i) increase the number of STEM majors; (ii) encourage and train STEM majors to become effective K-12 STEM teachers; (iii) provide opportunities for current K-12 educators to improve overall teaching practices; (iv) provide a pathway for mid-career STEM professionals to become effective K-12 teachers, and (v) provide the participant preservice teachers, current teachers, and mid-Career professionals with the background and ability to teach K-12 students the integration of important concepts across STEM disciplines. Evaluation and collaborative research will be conducted to address the effectiveness of the curriculum and the overall design, implementation, and results of the INCISE program.
