Preparing Mathematics and Science Teachers for Middle School

这个Noyce Track 1奖学金和津贴项目旨在解决国家和地方高素质中学数学和科学教师短缺的问题。德雷塞尔大学（Drexel University）打算招聘24名在STEM学科获得学士学位的人，并为他们成为城市高需求学区的数学和科学教师做好准备。预计这些STEM专业的学生将获得教育学辅修课程，并将为费城学区和费城特许学校的教师队伍做出贡献。除了招募和培养这些诺伊斯学者在城市中学取得成功的教学之外，该项目还寻求将他们留在系统中至少五年。本科课程将辅以临床领域，辅导，实习前和实习经验。该计划的参与者将沉浸在与他们的学科和高需求城市学校教学相关的教学经验和讨论中。这些诺伊斯学者将在他们的前三年教学中继续接受指导；这项指导将由该大学新成立的早期职业从业者研究所提供。为了支持Noyce学者和创建一个专业的教师学习者社区，这些学者还将有机会参加夏季研讨会，在定期实地考察期间与项目工作人员一起工作，参加专业会议，并参与为支持该项目而创建的在线社交网络。此外，学者将得到大学教师的支持和指导。通过创建和维持这个教师-学习者社区，该项目旨在为高需求的城市学校培养一支高素质的中学数学和科学教师队伍。该项目将利用最新的科学、数学和教育知识为24名职前教师候选人提供准备和支持，重点是了解高需求学校学生的文化和生活经历。该项目旨在促进社会正义教学，强调将科学、数学和工程教学与学生的个人经历和文化联系起来。这种联系可以利用每个学生为学习带来的知识资源。基于探究的教学支持这种方法，因为它通过建立一个共享知识和经验的学习社区来打开学生之间的交流。与正念和发展情商相关的研讨会将增加学者们的课程。后者将成为培养以下行为的基础：专业精神、成长心态、为所有学生服务的承诺以及文化能力。通过课程将培养的基本技能包括理解学生的文化社区，作为课堂文化的基础，建立牢固的关系，掌握学生的学习和专业成长，设定和保持高行为期望，领导严格和一致的内容教学，展示内容专业知识和教学内容知识。这些基本技能和核心能力将在向高需求学校的初中生教授数学和科学的过程中得到展示。早期经验包括将内容知识与适当的教学知识和内容知识与住院医师前和住院医师经验联系起来，旨在加强学者的内容和教学知识，同时支持进入教学世界的第一步。评估核心能力和基本技能的标准将用于收集与学者在这些方面的熟练程度有关的数据。预计将通过会议发言、项目网站和专业出版物向教育界散发项目活动的文件和确定项目执行的经验教训。该项目对社会的长期和深远的好处是有可能记录和分享可持续的方法，沉浸在社会正义的背景下，招募和培养STEM专业的学生，为高需求学区的所有初中学生提供成功的数学和科学学习。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Noyce Track 1 Scholarships and Stipends project seeks to address the national and local shortage of highly qualified middle school mathematics and science teachers. Drexel University intends to recruit twenty-four individuals earning a baccalaureate degree in a STEM discipline and to prepare them to become teachers of mathematics and science in urban high-need school districts. It is expected that these STEM majors will earn a minor in education and will contribute to the teacher workforce in the School District of Philadelphia and Philadelphia charter schools. In addition to recruiting and preparing these Noyce Scholars to be successful in teaching in urban middle schools, the project seeks to retain them in the system for at least five years. Undergraduate coursework will be supplemented with clinical field, tutoring, and pre-residency and residency experiences. The program participants will be immersed in pedagogical experiences and discussions related to their discipline and to teaching in high-need urban schools. These Noyce Scholars will continue to receive mentoring during their first three years of teaching; this mentoring will be provided by the University's newly established Early Career Practitioner Institute. To support the Noyce Scholars and create a professional community of teacher learners, the Scholars will also have an opportunity to participate in summer workshops, work with project staff during periodic site visits, attend professional conferences, and participate in an online social network created in support of this project. In addition, Scholars will receive support and mentoring from university faculty. By creating and sustaining this community of teacher-learners, the project aims to create a cadre of highly qualified middle-grades mathematics and science teachers for high-need urban schools.The project will use recent scientific, mathematical, and educational knowledge to prepare and support the twenty-four pre-service teacher candidates with an emphasis on understanding the culture and life experiences of students in high-need schools. The project intends to promote social justice teaching, which emphasizes connecting science, mathematics, and engineering instruction to students' personal experiences and culture. This connection can leverage the funds of knowledge that each student brings to learning. Inquiry-based instruction supports this approach as it opens communication among students by establishing a learning community of shared knowledge and experience. Seminars related to mindfulness and developing emotional intelligence will augment the Scholars' coursework. The latter will be scaffolded to develop the following behaviors: professionalism, growth mindset, commitment to serving all students well, and cultural competency. Essential skills that will be developed through the coursework include understanding students' cultural communities as a foundation for classroom culture and building strong relationships, taking ownership of student learning and professional growth, setting and maintaining high behavioral expectations, leading rigorous and aligned content instruction, and demonstrating content expertise and pedagogical content knowledge. These essential skills and core competencies will be demonstrated in the context of teaching mathematics and science to middle-grades students in high-need schools. Early experiences consisting of linking content knowledge with appropriate pedagogical and content knowledge with pre-residency and residency experiences are intended to strengthen the Scholars' content and pedagogical knowledge while supporting first steps into the world of teaching. Rubrics to assess the attainment of the core competencies and essential skills will be used to collect data related to the Scholars' proficiency in these aspects. It is anticipated that the documentation of project activities and identification of learnings from project implementation will be disseminated to the education community through conference presentations, a project website, and professional publications. The long-term and far-reaching benefits to society of this project are the potential to document and share sustainable approaches, steeped in the context of social-justice, for recruiting and preparing STEM majors to provide success in learning mathematics and science for all middle-grades students in a high-need school district.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.