Broadening Participation Reseach Grant: The Impact of Engagement, Capacity and Continuity in Preparing Elementary Education Pre-Service Teachers for Science Teaching.

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The Virginia State University HBCU-UP Broadening Participation Research in STEM Education project is entitled The Impact of Engagement, Capacity and Continuity in Preparing Elementary Education Pre-Service Teachers for Science Teaching. The proposed effort is a partnership between the School of Engineering, Science and Technology and the School of Education and is designed to use the Engagement, Capacity and Continuity (ECC) theory to determine the impact of the current elementary education program on preservice teachers' interest, motivation, and confidence to teach science. The objectives are (1) to examine and enhance innovative instructional practices for preservice elementary education students in order to increase their scholarly interest, awareness, and motivation to teach science; (2) to examine and enhance innovative instructional practices for preservice elementary students in order to increase their capacity as scholars; and (3) to examine the institution?s current systematic practices and underlying support systems for elementary preservice education teachers.Using the ECC Trilogy for Student Success as the conceptual framework, the study proposes to validate and expand the ECC model for determining the essential program components to prepare highly qualified and successful minority elementary preservice science teachers and to retain them in the profession. The model has been validated with pre-college populations but not with the targeted population for this study. The study builds on existing knowledge about the difficulties beginning teachers encounter when faced with the realities of teaching and how habits of mind can negatively impact K-6 science teaching and further acerbate the achievement gap. The aim is to produce new knowledge to predict the success of preservice teachers for science teaching. The study can potentially enhance the preparation of underrepresented preservice teachers and build capacity in the teaching and learning of science.