This project establishes CalTeach:Physical Sciences and Engineering (CTPSE). The project team includes faculty from the College of Engineering as well as the Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Physics, and Education; high school teachers and principals from two STEM Academies in the high-needs Santa Barbara Unified School District; and program directors and community leaders from UCSB's Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement program, the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy Foundation, and the Santa Barbara County PreK-20 STEM Council. The project is preparing 24 highly qualified and diverse physics and chemistry teachers. These teachers are implementing the National Research Council's Framework for K-12 Science Education in high-needs secondary schools, specifically, to teach science and engineering core ideas and practices to underserved students. The project team is tracking the professional trajectories of the Teacher Scholars to evaluate their effectiveness as beginning teachers in high-needs schools and to strengthen CTPSE program components in light of evaluation findings.
The broader impacts of this project include increasing UCSB's production of thoroughly trained, highly motivated physics and chemistry teachers by 140%. Strategies found effective in preparing science teachers to integrate engineering and science, and to actively engage students in solving engineering problems and investigating natural phenomena are being widely disseminated. The CTPSE project is improving the teaching of chemistry and physics to underserved students in California, providing more Latinos/as, low-income students, and English learners with access to an excellent and equitable physical science education.
