LABT-Learning Assistants Become Teachers

通过学习助理成为教师（LABT）项目，蒙大拿大学（UM）与米苏拉县公立学校合作，正在招募30名个人完成数学、化学、生物、地球科学、环境科学、计算机科学或物理学的学士学位，并为他们提供长达三年的奖学金支持，以完成他们的STEM学位并获得中学教师执照。LABT项目旨在通过招募STEM本科生成为大型数学和科学课程的助理，改变澳大校园的数学和科学教师培养文化。学生们结对工作，与教师和研究生助理一起，让其他本科生作为同伴导师，这为他们提供了作为学习促进者的经验，期望成为初中和高中课堂上的教师。此外，学习助理模式正在扩展到小学和中学，在那里Noyce学者帮助高需求学区的硕士教师。诺伊斯学者正准备在蒙大拿州西部的社区工作，那里是农村，代表着文化的多样性，包括不同的美洲原住民部落。LABT项目的目标是：1。设计招聘和诺伊斯奖学金奖励策略，增加初高中数学和科学教师进入该行业并准备在农村和边境地区有效教学的人数；2 .通过举办夏季野外科学研讨会和学年教育学研讨会，提高诺伊斯学者的教育质量；通过使用Noyce学者作为学习助理（使用支持性教学策略的同伴导师），提高Noyce学者和本科生在有针对性的数学和科学课程中的教育质量；and4。在澳大建立一种文化，让教师、研究生和本科生通过研究性教学来学习数学和科学内容。LABT的特点是大一和大二的暑期实习，学习助理工作的课程修改，教学法研讨会，大师教师的指导，以及Noyce学者在他们过渡到他们教学生涯的早期的在线wiki和Moodle指导。大一和大二学生在生态领域的暑期实习是第一次接触教学，同时也是诺伊斯学者的一种招聘机制。将为所有学习助理、研究生助教和对该模式或目标课程教学感兴趣的教师提供长达一学期的教学法研讨会。使用学习助理的STEM课程正在进行定制，包括更多地使用小组工作和提问技巧，鼓励数学和科学话语，包括挑战假设，揭示矛盾和构建新的理解。参与的教师从最优秀、最聪明的学生中招募学习助理，以便通过这些诺伊斯学者的使用，随后的课程设置得以转变。增加主修STEM学科的数学和科学教师的数量、质量和多样性，可以确保内容知识的深度，这些知识与作为学习助理开发的技能相结合，为新手教师在教学职业中取得成功奠定坚实的基础。由于LABT项目的重点是培养未来的数学和科学教师，以便在西部农村/边疆地区以及高需求保留区取得成功，因此这些地区教育服务不足的长期模式正在受到阻碍。

Through the Learning Assistants Become Teachers (LABT) project, the University of Montana (UM) in partnership with the Missoula County Public Schools is recruiting thirty individuals to complete baccalaureate degrees in mathematics, chemistry, biology, geosciences, environmental science, computer science, or physics and providing them up to three years of scholarship support to complete their STEM degree and earn secondary teacher licensure.The LABT project is designed to transform the culture of mathematics and science teacher preparation on the UM campus through the recruitment of STEM undergraduates to become assistants in large section mathematics and science courses. The students work in pairs, and with faculty and graduate assistants, to engage other undergraduates as peer tutors and this provides them with experiences as facilitators of learning in anticipation of becoming teachers in middle and high school classrooms. Additionally, the Learning Assistant model is being extended into elementary and secondary schools where the Noyce Scholars assist master teachers in high-need school districts. Noyce Scholars are being prepared to work in western Montana communities, which are rural and represent a diversity of cultures, including different Native American tribes. The goals of the LABT project are to:1. design a recruitment and Noyce Scholarship award strategy that increases the number of middle/high school mathematics and science teachers entering the profession prepared to teach effectively in rural and frontier areas;2. improve the quality of education for Noyce scholars by instituting a summer field science workshop and an academic year pedagogy seminar;3. improve the quality of education for both Noyce scholars and undergraduate students in targeted mathematics and science courses by using Noyce scholars as Learning Assistants (peer mentors using supportive teaching strategies); and4. establish a culture at UM that engages faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates in the learning of mathematics and science content through research-based teaching.The LABT is characterized by freshmen and sophomore summer internships, modifications to courses in which Learning Assistants work, pedagogy seminars, mentoring by master teachers, and online wiki and Moodle mentoring of Noyce Scholars as they transition into the early years of their teaching careers. Freshmen and sophomore summer internships in ecological field placements serve as a first exposure to teaching, while serving as one recruitment mechanism for Noyce Scholars. Semester-long pedagogy seminars for all Learning Assistants, graduate teaching assistants, and faculty interested in the model or teaching within the targeted courses will be provided. STEM courses in which Learning Assistants are used are being customized to include greater use of small-group work and questioning techniques that encourage mathematical and scientific discourse, including challenging assumptions, revealing contradictions and constructing new understandings. Participating faculty recruit Learning Assistants from the best and brightest former students so that subsequent course offerings become transformed through the use of these Noyce Scholars.Increasing the number, quality, and diversity of mathematics and science teachers with majors in STEM disciplines ensures a depth of content knowledge which, when linked to the skill set developed as Learning Assistants, provides novice teachers with a solid foundation for success in the teaching profession. As the LABT project focuses specifically on preparing future mathematics and science teachers for success in rural/frontier areas of the west, and high-need reservation areas, persistent patterns in which these areas are educationally underserved are being thwarted.