University of Maryland Noyce Scholars Program for Science Teachers

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To meet the acute need for highly qualified science teachers in the Prince George's County Public Schools, the University of Maryland is recruiting and training students majoring in chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering to earn secondary or middle-school teaching certification. Two avenues offer such students opportunities to test their interest in teaching: tutoring in middle school and serving as Learning Assistants (undergraduate teaching assistants) for introductory university science courses. Opportunities for summer internships in Washington-area science agencies or in research on science education are also available. Students availing themselves of these opportunities are then eligible to apply for scholarship support in their junior and senior years of study. A total of between 22 and 25 new teachers are thereby produced. The teacher education program is likewise enhanced through this project. Noyce Scholars take a supplementary seminar introducing them to strategies for successful teaching in high-need schools; they are supported in attending science education conferences or workshops each year; and they have the opportunity for further professional development in teaching English-language learners. Once they have graduated, new teachers continue to be supported in their early years of teaching through regular meetings, mentoring, and coaching visits with an experienced master teacher.