This Phase II project is supporting a total of 75 Noyce scholars to become science and mathematics teachers. Boise State University is partnering with the Caldwell, Vallivue, Nampa, Joint No.2 School Districts and the Independent School District of Boise City. The project is providing summer internships to spark STEM undergraduate majors interest in STEM teaching as a career, providing scholarships for students completing their teacher preparation curriculum, and sustaining ongoing professional development to assure Noyce alumni success. Noyce alumni are being provided with opportunities to attend professional conferences, tuition assistance for continuing education, peer mentoring, and access to communities of practice. These project activities are accompanied by a rigorous plan of research that looks at factors that influence the multiple stages of STEM teacher education. Building on the Noyce I results with mathematics education, this project is also exploring the influence that Co-PIs from chemistry and engineering have on the number of physical science education majors graduating from Boise State.
The project is providing a model for holistically approaching the multiple stages of teacher preparation and development. The research and instrument development are expected to provide both a framework and the tools necessary to investigate the effectiveness of similar programs.
