James Madison University's EPIC (Expanding Pathways, Identity and Capacity (EPIC) for Preparing Science Teachers) project, a Capacity Building project funded through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program, addresses the demand for highly qualified secondary science teachers by creating new, more flexible pathways for STEM undergraduates to pursue teaching careers. The project will (i) build institutional capacity by creating additional curricular on-ramps for the science teacher education program leading to licensure; (ii) offer experiences that explicitly develop pedagogical content knowledge early in the undergraduate career; (iii) recruit, retain, and mentor a community of preservice teachers engaged in early teaching experiences that build their identity as secondary science teachers; and (iv) increase the number of students participating in the preservice teaching curriculum as well as informal teaching experiences. In the long term, the project will lead to an expanded pool of well-trained MAT candidates who will be prepared to enter the workforce as secondary science teachers.
A team of faculty members representing the College of Education and the four science disciplines (Biology, Chemistry, Earth science/Geology, and Physics) housed within the College of Science and Math, with the support of the Administration, will develop two additional credit-bearing pathways leading to science teacher licensure that supplement the existing program at James Madison University. Instruction will focus on science-specific pedagogical content knowledge developed through early teaching experiences, courses targeted at science secondary education students, and mentoring by instructional coaching teams consisting of both a science content and pedagogy expert. Additional elements include active recruiting of potential teacher candidates, targeted advising within the science disciplines, establishing a freshman learning community, offering summer teaching opportunities, and building community across the 5-year BA/BS/MAT program through an active National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) student chapter. Through these efforts to provide early teaching experiences, community building, and additional curricular pathways incorporating mentoring by coaching teams, the investigators aim to understand the role that these experiences play in the development of science teacher identity, demonstrating pedagogical competencies, the construction of pedagogical content knowledge of secondary science education students, and their persistence in a rigorous program of professional preparation. By assessing outcomes for populations following each distinct track, the role of these varied experiences in teacher preparation both in developing pedagogical content knowledge and producing critical incidents leading to science teacher identity will be characterized. Data will include qualitative and quantitative analysis based on individual case studies.
