"Communities & Pathways": Cultivating Science Educator Identity for Undergraduates through an Inclusive Physics Learning Assistant Program & STEM Teacher Certification Alig

该项目与邻近的两所两年制大学圣安东尼奥学院和奥斯汀社区学院合作，为德克萨斯州立大学圣马科斯分校（西班牙裔服务机构）的诺伊斯奖学金项目建设能力。该项目培养了一个蓬勃发展的大学生社区，他们认为自己是科学教育者。该社区通过两个主要机制建立和支持：“社区”组件，这是物理系的一个扩展学习助理（LA）计划；以及“路径”部分，即将STEM学位与教师证书相结合。初等教育人群对这个项目特别感兴趣，因为大约750名初等教育学生每学期在德克萨斯州学习物理课程。这些学生被包括在LA项目中，该项目提供了一个机制，使学生组成一个多元化的社区，所有学生都关注K-16物理教育的各个方面。该项目通过考察学生作为STEM教育者身份的形成，研究多样化的STEM教育实践社区对教师招聘的影响，以及对STEM中代表性不足的少数民族的代表性和成功的影响，有助于增加关于有效教师培养模式的知识库。该项目的重点是招聘和培训K-12 STEM教师，以解决全国合格物理教师的短缺问题，并在德克萨斯州中部建立当地基础设施，为正式、持续的K-12物理教师准备和提高。

This project builds capacity for the Noyce Scholarship track at Texas State University-San Marcos (Hispanic Serving Institution), in collaboration with San Antonio College and Austin Community College, two neighboring two-year colleges. The project fosters a thriving community of undergraduate students who identify as science educators. The community is built and supported via two major mechanisms: the "Communities" component, which is an expanding Learning Assistant (LA) program in the physics department; and the "Pathways" component, which is the alignment of STEM degrees with teacher certifications. The elementary education population is of special interest in this project, as approximately 750 such students take a physics course each semester at Texas State. These students are included in the LA program, which provides the mechanism for composing a diverse community of students all concerned with various aspects of K-16 physics education. The project is contributing to a growing knowledge base about effective models for teacher preparation by examining students' formation of identity as STEM educators, and by research into the impact of a diverse STEM-education community of practice on teacher recruitment and on the representation and success of underrepresented minorities in STEM. The project's focus on recruitment and training of K-12 STEM teachers addresses the national shortage of qualified physics teachers and builds a local infrastructure in Central Texas for formal, sustained, K-12 physics teacher preparation and enhancement.