Portland State University (PSU) is collaborating with the Beaverton School District (BSD) to prepare 30 teachers to provide project-based science inquiry in high-need elementary and secondary schools. PSU's Robert Noyce Scholarship Program brings together the expertise of faculty from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), the Graduate School of Education (GSE), and master teachers from the BSD. Beaverton is Oregon's second-largest and fastest-growing public school district, with an increasing enrollment of Hispanic students and English language learners. Project recruitment targets highly qualified candidates at the undergraduate and post-baccalaureate levels from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, who have proficiency in Spanish or one of the other major languages other than English represented in local high-need schools. The program for a cohort of 15 future elementary teachers includes an undergraduate senior capstone course involving science projects with bilingual students and their families in Beaverton elementary schools, followed by work toward a Master of Education in the PSU Graduate Teacher Education Program (GTEP). The cohort of 15 future secondary teachers work toward a Master of Science Teaching degree within the PSU CLAS, followed by the GTEP coursework required to be recommended for licensure in Oregon. Both cohorts spend one to two weeks as counselors at BSD summer science camps and one week at a summer workshop on Technology-Enhanced Science Inquiry hosted by Vernier Software & Technology, a local probe-ware manufacturer. The project's intellectual merit includes its involvement of 30 in-service teachers and 12 STEM professionals as ongoing research mentors. Noyce Scholars complete a thesis incorporating original research on learning and teaching science, such as literacy or technology integration or culturally appropriate assessment, which is appropriate for publication and presentation. Annual evaluation reports and summer research conferences help sustain the professional learning communities created among participants and disseminate resulting scholarship and products, such as classroom lesson plans, work samples, and science inquiry assessment tools.
