Through funding from the National Science Foundation's Robert Noyce Program, this Noyce Scholarship Track Phase II project will address the established and growing national need to improve quantity and increase quality of the teaching workforce in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). With the understanding that there is a significant opportunity gap for students from high needs schools compared to students from more affluent schools, Florida State University (FSU) will work closely with partner insitutions, (which include five high needs school districts, Tallahassee Community College, and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory), to address and help close this gap. In particular, the Project Team from FSU will build on lessons learned from its Phase I project and collaborate with its internal partners and partner institutions to support new teachers and attract, prepare, and support future teachers to have the background and resources to teach well, specifically with a focus on effective and reformed science and mathematics teaching in high needs middle and high school settings. The project will support a total of one hundred ten (110) potential new teachers through internships or scholarships. To foster networking and deeper understanding of needs, the multidisciplinary community associated with this project (including STEM and education faculty, interns, graduates, mentors, and teachers) will meet annually in a STEM Equity Conference. A focus of this conference will be on the various issues related to STEM instruction in high needs settings.
For recruitment, the program will offer seventy-five (75)internships through which STEM majors will explore teaching through participating in outreach that, under the guidance of a STEM faculty, will engage K-12 students from high needs settings. A comprehensive teacher preparation program will be provided for the thirty-five (35) undergraduate Noyce scholars pursuing STEM teaching. These scholars will be involved in an ongoing series of activities under the guidance of partner mentors; they will learn to navigate the difficulties associated with engaging high needs students in ambitious instruction that will be rich in STEM practices and guided by research. For support after these students graduate and receive a teaching position in a high needs school, face-to-face and virtual activities will be provided to assist them in understanding their school sites, accessing necessary resources, and honing their instruction to be both challenging and effective for their students. In addition to providing opportunities, content and pedagogical education, and support for Noyce interns and scholars, this Phase II project will feature research designed to identify and explore: (i) the dispositions and beliefs that position pre-service and novice teachers for success in delivering ambitious STEM instruction; (ii) the program supports needed to assist those novice teachers; and (iii) the school contexts that best support novices in their first years of work. Using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) as the analytical approach, investigators will analyze data from surveys, interviews, and classroom observations to move toward quantification of possible relationships between effect, belief, and practice. In turn, this research will allow results from the project to inform the efforts of others involved in the recruitment, preparation, and support of novice STEM teachers.
