Creating a Minor in Education as a Pathway for Science, Math, or Computer Science Majors to Obtain Teaching Licensure

This project aims to serve the national need of preparing highly effective science, math, and computer science teachers for high need middle and secondary schools. It will do this through creation of a new pathway toward teaching licensure for STEM majors. Significant to this project is the realization that many students do not begin college knowing their long-term career aspirations.

This project intends to lay the foundation to enable students who decide to become teachers later in their college years to successfully pursue teaching certification without significant additional time to degree. In addition to providing the principal investigators with information they can use to create and submit a Noyce proposal, this Capacity Building project may yield information to encourage similar efforts across Wisconsin and the nation.

This project is a partnership between St. Norbert’s College, a four-year private Catholic Liberal Arts College, and Northeast Wisconsin Technical School (NWTS), a two-year public college that prepares students for careers in science and technology. The project goals include development of: (1) a pathway for geology, physics, mathematics, computer science, environmental science or chemistry majors to obtain an undergraduate minor leading to Wisconsin state education licensure; (2) a general education introductory course that satisfies licensing requirements, with a teaching-focused field experience; (3) a strong partnership with NWTS leading to transfer students matriculating to St.

Norbert's College; and (4) strengthening community partnerships to increase the number of qualified STEM teachers. This Capacity Building project proposes to build a pathway to teaching for STEM majors starting at NWTS. In addition to creating a minor in education, the project’s intellectual merit includes the creation of a single class that satisfies general education requirements, provides foundational knowledge on adolescent development requisite for licensure, and provides students with an extensive internship experience to aid them in discerning if STEM teaching is an appropriate career trajectory.

The project’s broader impacts include the creation of a model that can be adopted by other institutions for the purpose of providing a low-risk entrance into STEM education experiences. The work will be evaluated through targeted formative and summative evaluation that involves qualitative and quantitative approaches. Work will be disseminated through national, local and regional channels for institutions with similar licensure requirements.

This Capacity Building 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 persistence, retention, and effectiveness 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.