The Secondary Science Teacher Education Program (Second STEP) at Miami University will address the preparation of teachers who are competent and willing to teach in diverse cultural and ethnic settings, assess the effectiveness of individual accumulative program activities on teaching behavior, and compare the effectiveness of an innovative program with that of two traditional teacher education programs. The Second STEP project will develop new undergraduate science content courses and revise education courses to include integrated field experiences for prospective science teachers. The program will be based on emerging research on science teaching and learning and cultivate an established liaison with a predominantly minority school system. The Program will foster the integration of content expertise, content-specific pedagogy and teaching practice. A major focus will be to establish opportunities for prospective teachers to gain early and practical experiences with diverse (racial, ethnic, or cultural) learners. Although the Second STEP Program will directly address undergraduate science teacher education, its activities are also designed to impact the professional development of both science and education faculty at Miami University as well as teachers of a major urban school district.
