Underrepresented Engineers as Mathematics Teachers in Their Home Communities

华盛顿州立大学（Washington State University）向12名代表性不足的工科学生提供1万美元的奖学金，以鼓励他们在学校多待一年，获得教师证书，然后回到家乡当高中数学教师。因为他们是工程师，所以在高中教数学所需的增量教育相对较少，他们可以用工程实例为数学的学习提供动力。新老师作为榜样，能够鼓励更多的学生追求科学和工程方面的职业生涯。该项目的工程专业学生来自华盛顿中南部。与华盛顿州居民相比，该地区居民的平均收入要低得多，持有学士学位的可能性也要小得多。此外，来自该地区的学生更有可能是西班牙裔，并进入高需求学校。许多学生希望回到他们的家乡社区，华盛顿教师的工资相对较高，以及在教师职业生涯关键的头两年有效地使教师留在课堂上的支持功能，这些都促使他们从事教师职业。这个项目的一个独特之处在于，教师们被安排在暑期带薪实习工作中，以增加他们的工资，并使他们在工程专业中保持活跃。该项目的一个重要成果是增加了西班牙裔学生的教育机会。在这个项目中接受培训的12名新教师中的每一位（从项目的第2年到第4年每年4名）每年影响120名学生。在补助金要求的四年服务期间，这些教师将影响近6000名学生。此外，学生将受益于更相关的教育（因为工程师每天都使用数学，可以为课程主题提供真实的背景），并接触到他们以前可能不知道的专业机会。

Washington State University is offering scholarships in the amount of $10,000 to twelve underrepresented engineering students to encourage them to remain in school an additional year to earn a teaching certificate and return to their home communities as high school math teachers. Because they are engineers, the incremental education needed to teach mathematics in high school is relatively small and they can use engineering examples to provide motivation for the study of mathematics. The new teachers serve as role models and are able to encourage more of their students to pursue professional careers in science and engineering. The engineering students in the program are recruited from south central Washington. The average resident of this area has a substantially smaller income and is much less likely to hold a BS degree than the average Washington State resident. Further, students from this area are more likely to be of Hispanic ethnicity and to attend high needs schools. They are motivated toward a teaching career by the desire of many students to return to their home communities, the relatively high pay for teachers in Washington, and support features that are effective at keeping teachers in the classroom during the critical first two years of their careers. A unique aspect of this project is the placement of the teachers in paid internship summer jobs in industry to augment their salary and keep them active in the engineering profession.A significant result of this project is enhanced educational opportunities for students from Hispanic backgrounds. Each of the 12 new teachers trained in this program (four each year in years 2 through 4 of the program) influences 120 students per year. Over the four years of service required by the grant, these teachers will influence nearly 6000 students. Moreover, students will benefit from more relevant education (because engineers use math on a daily basis and can provide a real context for lesson topics) and be exposed to professional opportunities that they may not have known about previously.