Producing STEM Teachers for Urban and Rural Schools in Kentucky

Noyce Track 1 Scholars项目的总体目标是为职前STEM教育社区提供可持续的区域和国家模式，以应对为农村和城市高需求环境培训STEM教师的双重挑战。肯塔基大学正在与费耶特县公立学校合作，以实现该项目的目标，其中包括：(1)吸引更多不同的候选人进入STEM教学途径，(2)加强教育学院与艺术、科学和工程学院之间的合作，以支持STEM教育和STEM学科的双学位项目，(3)将广泛的支持服务制度化，以确保学生在双学位课程中保持和成功，(4)增加STEM教育毕业生的数量，(5)为STEM教师提供文化响应教学和强大的内容知识，包括如何在课程中整合能源和制造业挑战。该项目旨在通过三管齐下的方法实现这些目标：(1)招聘——采用多方面的方法，包括推广病毒式（易于访问的，引人入胜的在线）视频，开发明信片小册子，社交媒体广告，并与全州的教师途径项目合作；(2)合作——三所合作学院的教职员工将共同努力，为候选人提供支持，以支持尽可能高的保留率；(3)专业学习——在项目期间和进入自己的教室后，将为候选人提供学年和暑期专业学习机会。特别关注代表性不足的人群——包括少数民族候选人和第一代阿巴拉契亚候选人——将使该项目使候选人的安置与城市或农村学校环境的人口结构保持一致，使新教师成为STEM学科成功的典范。该Noyce Track 1 Scholars项目旨在招募34名候选人（STEM学科的任何专业）进入STEM教学职业。目标是让25%的候选人属于以下一个或多个代表性不足的群体：(a)有色人种学生；(b)肯塔基大学认定的第一代学生？年代定义;(c)残疾学生；和/或(d)来自阿巴拉契亚的学生。这些候选人将准备在高需求的中学教授数学、科学（生物、化学、物理、地球科学）和计算机科学。候选人将在该计划中获得独特的专业学习经验，例如在非正式的STEM学习环境中工作（例如，肯塔基大学SeeBlue STEM营地），行业实习（与肯塔基先进制造业合作），以及夏季静修课程，重点关注数学共同核心州标准或下一代科学标准。这些经验将与适当的教学方法和内容的实际应用相一致，包括能源（与应用能源研究中心合作）和制造业（与KAM合作）。培养能够满足农村和城市高需求学校需求的候选人，满足对合格计算机科学教师日益增长的需求，并开发具有独特特色的本科教师准备计划，如非正式STEM学习和行业实习经验，将是该项目对美国STEM教育最显着的好处。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。

The overarching goal of this Noyce Track 1 Scholars project is to serve as a sustainable regional and national model for the pre-service STEM education community in addressing the twin challenges of training STEM teachers for both rural and urban high-needs settings. The University of Kentucky is partnering with the Fayette County Public School to accomplish the project objectives, which include: (1) attract more diverse candidates to STEM teaching pathways, (2) strengthen collaborations between the College of Education and the Colleges of Arts & Sciences and Engineering to support a dual degree program in STEM education and a STEM discipline, (3) institutionalize wide-ranging support services to ensure student retention and success across the dual degrees, (4) increase the number of STEM education graduates, and (5) prepare STEM teachers in culturally responsive teaching and with strong content knowledge, including how to integrate energy and manufacturing challenges in the curriculum. The project aims to achieve these objectives through a three-pronged approach: (1) Recruiting--using a multi-faceted approach that will include promotion of a viral(readily accessible, engaging online) video, development of postcard brochures, social media ads, and collaborations with teacher pathway programs across the state; (2) Collaboration--staff and faculty across the three collaborating colleges will work together to provide candidates with support aimed at supporting the highest possible retention rates; and (3) Professional learning--academic year and summer professional learning opportunities will be provided to candidates while they are in the program and after they have gone into their own classrooms. The specific focus on underrepresented populations--both minority candidates and first-generation Appalachian candidates--will allow this project to align candidate placement with the demographics of either urban or rural school settings, enabling the new teachers to serve as models for success in STEM disciplines.This Noyce Track 1 Scholars project is designed to recruit 34 candidates (majors in any of the STEM disciplines) into STEM teaching careers. The goal is for 25% of those candidates to be in one or more of the following under-represented populations: (a) student of color; (b) first generation student as identified by the University of Kentucky?s definition; (c) student with a disability; and/or (d) student from Appalachia. Those candidates will be prepared to teach mathematics, science (biology, chemistry, physics, earth science) and computer science in high-needs secondary schools. Candidates will be afforded unique professional learning experiences within the program, such as work in informal STEM learning settings (e.g., the University of Kentucky SeeBlue STEM camp), industry externships (in partnership with Kentucky Advanced Manufacturing, KAM), and summer retreats with sessions focused on Common Cores State Standards in Mathematics or the Next Generation Science Standards. These experiences will be aligned with appropriate pedagogical approaches and real-world applications of content, including energy (in association with the Center for Applied Energy Research) and manufacturing (in association with KAM). Preparing candidates who can meet the needs of both rural and urban high-needs schools, meeting the increasing demand for qualified computer science teachers, and developing an undergraduate teacher preparation program with unique features such as informal STEM learning and industry externship experiences will be the most salient benefits of this project to STEM education in the United States.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.