Capacity Building Towards Development of a Graduate Teaching Certification Program for STEM Graduates and Professionals

为 STEM 毕业生和专业人士制定研究生教学认证计划的能力建设

• 批准号: 1439768
• 负责人: Earl Blodgett
• 金额: $ 29.96万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-River Falls
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2016-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1439768&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Capacity; Building; Towards; Development; Graduate

Developing more, highly qualified science and mathematics teachers is a national priority. Through funding from the National Science Foundation's Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, this Capacity Building grant will support the development of an innovative and financially self-sustaining Graduate Teaching Certification (GTC) program that will provide initial STEM teaching certification to an unreached and underserved population of recent STEM graduates and STEM professionals with relevant science and/or mathematical expertise. This project is responsive to a persistent concern at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls (UWRF) related to the traditional undergraduate teacher certification pathway. The issue is that completing the coursework for earning both a baccalaureate degree in a STEM major and completing requirements for teacher certification as an undergraduate is extremely difficult. This problem of completing both a major and earning certification is found in many institutions across this nation, therefore, what is learned from this work at UWRF will have implications for other institutions facing similar challenges.During the two years of this Capacity Building grant, UWRF will build upon what has been learned in the UTeach program for undergraduates at the University of Texas-Austin. However, UWRF will focus on the graduate level as it designs a UTeach-inspired Graduate Teaching Certification program with an optional Master's degree. This project will develop the GTC curriculum, recruitment strategies, and marketing activities. Among the recruitment strategies will be the implementation of learning assistant internships and the development and implementation of a novel undergraduate STEM education course to "try out teaching," with the added advantage of meeting a university communications undergraduate course requirement. Field experiences will include both urban and rural schools and schools with different compositions of students, with an emphasis on learning about and experiencing different learning styles and the importance of cultural context first hand. Ultimately, the new GTC program will expand and diversify the pool of teacher candidates as it will actively seek to offer high quality academic instruction to a broader population, including adult learners and recent UWRF and University of Wisconsin System graduates. Success of this effort will be evaluated by the UTeach Institute at the University of Texas-Austin. The evaluation plan will map to the UTeach Elements of Success (distinctive program identity, cross-college and school district collaborations, long-term institutional and community support, active student recruitment and support, a dedicated Master Teacher, rigorous research-based instruction, early and intensive field experiences, and continuous program improvement).

培养更多、高素质的科学和数学教师是国家的优先事项。通过国家科学基金会罗伯特·诺伊斯教师奖学金计划的资助，这笔能力建设赠款将支持一个创新的、财政上自给自足的研究生教学认证(GTC)计划的发展，该计划将为未获得和未得到充分服务的新近STEM毕业生和具有相关科学和/或数学专业知识的STEM专业人员提供初步的STEM教学认证。这个项目是对威斯康星大学河瀑布分校(UWRF)对传统本科教师认证途径的持续关注的回应。问题是，完成获得STEM专业学士学位和本科教师认证要求的课程是极其困难的。这个既要完成专业认证又要获得认证的问题存在于全国的许多机构中，因此，从UWRF的这项工作中学到的东西将对其他面临类似挑战的机构产生影响。在这项能力建设赠款的两年时间里，UWRF将以德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校本科生UTeach项目所学到的知识为基础。然而，UWRF将把重点放在研究生水平上，因为它设计了一个受UTeach启发的研究生教学认证计划，其中有一个可选的硕士学位。该项目将开发GTC课程、招聘战略和营销活动。在招聘战略中，将实施学习助理实习，开发和实施一门新的本科STEM教育课程，以“试行教学”，并增加满足大学传播本科要求的优势。实地体验将包括城市和农村学校以及学生构成不同的学校，重点是了解和体验不同的学习风格和文化背景的重要性。最终，新的GTC计划将扩大和多样化教师候选人的人才库，因为它将积极寻求为更广泛的人群提供高质量的学术指导，包括成人学习者和最近从UWRF和威斯康星大学系统毕业的学生。这一努力的成功将由德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的UTeach研究所进行评估。评估计划将映射出UTeach成功的要素(独特的项目身份、跨学院和校区合作、长期的机构和社区支持、积极的招生和支持、敬业的硕士教师、严格的研究型教学、早期和密集的实地经验，以及项目的持续改进)。