The Biology and Mathematics Educator Scholarship Project to Prepare Future Secondary Education STEM Teachers

在国家科学基金会罗伯特·诺伊斯教师奖学金计划的资助下，生物和数学教育家奖学金项目为未来的中学教育做准备，STEM教师将招募生物或数学专业的本科生，并为他们成为中学生物或数学教师做好准备。该项目将在五年内资助18个奖学金名额。在这个项目中，圣心大学将与两个高需求学区合作，提供准备工作，以增加生物和数学专业本科生进入中学教育的人数。项目活动将包括针对STEM的新的教师教育课程和支持，使STEM教师能够在高需求、多文化的课堂上有效地工作。这些非常合格的生物和数学专业的学生将在他们主修STEM的三年级和四年级以及在攻读学士学位后的一年内获得奖学金，同时获得教学文学硕士学位。该项目的目标是招聘、留住诺伊斯学者并使其毕业；让他们履行教学承诺；确保他们受益于当前和创新的最佳实践，使他们做好在急需的STEM教室任教的准备；向他们提供基于探究的研究经验，提高他们对科学和研究本质的理解和能力；并通过他们的学生的成功证明，使他们成为有效的教师。该项目将实施加强的课程和课外活动，以实现项目目标，即增加从圣心大学毕业的高素质生物和数学教师的数量和效率，这些教师随后在急需的中学地区任教。项目活动将在STEM教育框架内开发数学和科学相结合的本科生和研究生课程，创造研究和服务性学习机会，提供指导，并促进专业教学身份的发展，以增加持久性和避免目前合作地区所经历的教师高流动率。该机构将开发两门新课程，为学者们打破科学和数学之间的孤岛做好准备，并更好地帮助他们的中学生了解不同环境之间的知识转移。这将特别有利于多元文化和高需求课堂上的学生，他们需要多角度和强化来提高数学和科学技能。这些课程的其他重点将是教授以项目为基础的探究性学习和以社区为基础的相关应用程序的基础教学。在同行支持下参与STEM研究将提高学者对科学和数学实践的理解，提高他们沟通和教授探究性活动的能力，服务学习将促进社区参与。长期的指导关系和额外的职业认同发展将巩固学者的自信，并帮助他们在具有挑战性的职位上坚持下去。项目评估和研究将产生支持新课程的证据，以及学者参与STEM研究、服务学习、指导和职业认同发展的证据。

With funding from the National Science Foundation's Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program, the Biology and Mathematics Educator Scholarship Project to Prepare Future Secondary Education STEM Teachers will recruit undergraduate majors in biology or mathematics and prepare them to become secondary biology or mathematics teachers. The project will fund 18 scholarships over five years. In this project, Sacred Heart University will collaborate with two high-need school districts to offer preparation that will increase the number of undergraduate biology and mathematics majors entering secondary education. Project activities will include new STEM-specific teacher education curricula and supports that will enable STEM teachers to be effective in a high-need, multicultural classroom. These exceptionally qualified biology and mathematics majors will receive scholarships during their junior and senior years as a STEM major and during one post-baccalaureate year while they earn a Master of Arts in Teaching. The project's objectives are to recruit, retain, and graduate the Noyce scholars; to have them fulfill their teaching commitment; to ensure they benefit from current and innovative best practices that prepare them to teach in high-need STEM classrooms; to provide them with inquiry-based research experiences that improve their understanding and ability to teach the nature of science and research; and to prepare them as effective teachers as evidenced by their students' success.The project will implement enhanced curricular and extracurricular activities to achieve the project goals of increasing both the number and effectiveness of highly qualified biology and mathematics teachers graduating from Sacred Heart University who subsequently teach in high-need secondary school districts. Project activities will develop undergraduate and graduate courses integrating mathematics and science within the framework of STEM education, create research and service-learning opportunities, provide mentoring, and foster the development of a professional teaching identity to increase persistence and avoid the high teacher turnover currently experienced by partnering districts. The institution will develop two new courses to prepare the scholars to break down silos between science and mathematics and to better prepare their secondary students to understand knowledge transfer between settings. This will particularly benefit students in multicultural and high-need classrooms who need multiple perspectives and reinforcement to improve both mathematics and science skills. Additional foci of these courses will be on teaching project-based inquiry learning and grounding instruction in relevant, community-based applications. Participation in STEM research with peer support will improve the scholars' understanding of science and mathematics practices and their ability to communicate and teach inquiry-based activities, and service learning will promote community engagement. A long-term mentoring relationship and additional professional identity development will cement the scholars' self-confidence and help them persist in a challenging position. The project evaluation and research will generate evidence in support of the new curriculum, as well as scholar participation in STEM research, service learning, mentoring, and professional identity development.