Developing Identities in STEM to Cultivate Opportunities that Validate, Empower, and Retain Teachers

该项目旨在满足国家培养高质量、高效的中学STEM教师的需求，这些教师将在高需求的学区任教。“发展STEM身份以培养认可、授权和留住教师的机会”项目，即DISCOVER，旨在解决弗吉尼亚联邦青年STEM教育的一些障碍，包括许多学生在科学和STEM职业领域的后续入学方面的学术成就受到限制，特别是那些有色人种和低收入青年。DISCOVER项目将为未来的教师提供一个为期四年的途径，从广泛、基础广泛和影响深远的招聘举措开始，旨在增加中学STEM教师的多样性。教师候选人将通过课堂内和课堂外的经验来探索教学，并参与导航社区建设和定制课程，以更好地了解和理解高需求学校的独特背景和挑战。DISCOVER将增加未来教师对科学和数学本质的理解，使他们更好地准备与文化、种族和语言不同的学生一起工作。玛丽华盛顿大学（UMW）与德国社区学院合作的这个项目包括与弗雷德里克斯堡市、奥兰治、斯波特西瓦尼亚和斯塔福德县公立学校的合作。项目目标包括培养学者在STEM学科中的身份认同，并为学者展示文化能力意识做好准备，以有效地教授STEM课程。DISCOVER将为18名攻读STEM学科学士学位的本科生提供奖学金，为期5年，他们将获得学习循证教育实践的支持，并获得中学教师认证。四个目标将指导这个项目。首先是从广泛的基础上招聘，以扩大STEM教学人口的多样性。二是提高准教师对STEM的认识，使其具有良好的学科教学认同。第三是为未来的教师提供机会，让他们与来自不同背景、对STEM有不同才能/态度的人一起工作。第四，也是最后一点，通过课堂教学和公众参与，提高未来教师理解和促进对STEM健康态度的能力，培养STEM素养。该项目将研究内容和教学法之间的联系对STEM教学质量的影响，特别是在高需求学校。此外，本项目将调查STEM教师文化响应教学法对STEM教师文化能力的影响。DISCOVER将有助于更好地理解如何在本科课程的第一年探索STEM教学作为一种职业选择，并通过建立一个强大的专业学习社区与社区学院协调，有可能导致STEM教师数量的增加。STEM教师参与招聘、建议和指导角色是DISCOVER的一项有影响力的举措。本项目由Robert Noyce教师奖学金项目（Noyce）资助。Noyce计划支持有才华的STEM本科专业和专业人士成为有效的K-12 STEM教师，并支持经验丰富的模范K-12教师成为高需求学区的STEM大师教师。它还支持对高需求学区K-12 STEM教师的有效性和留任率的研究。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。

This project aims to serve the national need for preparing high quality, effective secondary STEM teachers who will teach in high-need school districts. The Developing Identities in STEM to Cultivate Opportunities that Validate, Empower, and Retain Teachers project, a.k.a. DISCOVER, intends to address some of the barriers related to STEM education for youth in the Commonwealth of Virginia, including that academic achievement in science and subsequent matriculation in STEM career fields has been limited for many students, particularly those of color and low-income youth. The DISCOVER project will present a four-year pathway for prospective teachers beginning with extensive, broad-based, and far-reaching recruitment initiatives, aimed at increasing diversity among secondary STEM teachers. Teacher candidates will be supported in exploring teaching through in- and out-of-the-classroom experiences and engaging in navigated community building and customized coursework to better know and understand the unique context and challenges of high-need schools. DISCOVER will increase prospective teachers’ understanding of the nature of science and mathematics to better prepare them to work with culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse students. This project at the University of Mary Washington (UMW) in collaboration with Germanna Community College includes partnerships with Fredericksburg City and Orange, Spotsylvania, and Stafford County public schools. Project goals include cultivating Scholars’ identities in their STEM discipline and preparing Scholars to exhibit cultural competency awareness to effectively teach STEM curricula. DISCOVER will provide scholarships to 18 undergraduates pursuing baccalaureate degrees in a STEM discipline over five years who will be supported in learning evidence-based educational practices and become certified as secondary teachers. Four objectives will guide the project. First is to recruit from a broad base to expand diversity among the STEM teaching population. Second is to increase prospective teachers’ understanding of STEM to have sound disciplinary teaching identities. Third is to provide opportunities for prospective teachers to work with individuals from diverse backgrounds with varied aptitudes/attitudes toward STEM. Fourth and finally is to enhance prospective teachers’ abilities to understand and promote healthy attitudes towards STEM and foster STEM literacy through classroom instruction and public engagement. This project will study the effect of increased and deliberate attention to the connections between content and pedagogy on the quality of STEM teaching, particularly in high-need schools. Further, this project will investigate how an increased STEM-specific focus on culturally responsive pedagogy impacts the cultural competency of STEM teachers. DISCOVER will add to an improved understanding of how exploring STEM teaching as a career option in the first years of an undergraduate program and coordinating with community colleges by establishing a robust professional learning community has the potential to lead to an increase in the number of STEM teachers. The involvement of STEM faculty in recruiting, advising, and mentoring roles is an impactful initiative of DISCOVER. This Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the effectiveness and retention of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts.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.