If you build it, they will come.
(Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams, 1989.)
The newly-funded National Science Foundation (NSF) project in the Noyce Scholarship teacher preparation program at University of North Texas aims to serve a national need for building pathways for engineering students to become grade 6-12 STEM teachers in high-need schools.
With a one-year planning and capacity building grant, the project will develop a framework for recruitment, retention, and reshaping of graduate teacher certification specifically for engineering students to become STEM teachers.
This effort is a collaboration between UNT’s College of Engineering and the College of Education. The project will collect data by yours truly from engineering majors and advisors about interests in and barriers to careers in STEM teaching through surveys and focus groups.
Additionally, we will collaboratively analyze this evidence in the context of current research on STEM teacher education and model post-baccalaureate teacher induction programs. The expected outcomes are to develop recruitment plans that will identify engineering majors and then lead them to become STEM teachers. The team will then apply for the Track 1 Noyce Scholarship grant.
Looking forward to working as the grant evaluators with the PI and Co-PI teams at the College of Education (Dr. Colleen Eddy) and the College of Engineering (Dr. Zhenhua Huang).
PC: UNT website.
