Authentic Summer Research Experiences for STEM Pre-Service Teachers

The project aims to serve the national need of preparing high-quality STEM teachers equipped with research experience. Research experiences are important for building teachers' knowledge of STEM content and careers and their research and teaching skills. Unfortunately, many teacher education programs cannot provide STEM research opportunities due to a lack of funding and lab availability.

This project will address this need by offering a summer program at Georgia Tech in which prospective secondary teachers will engage in authentic STEM research experiences. Participants will gain first-hand experience in university labs working with experienced researchers. They will then develop and implement lesson plans based on their research experience.

The expected outcomes include improved STEM content knowledge, research practices, and teaching skills, contributing to stronger teacher retention. This project is important as it aims to produce teachers who are well prepared to teach effectively and inspire the next generation of STEM professionals.

This project at Georgia Institute of Technology includes partnerships with Clayton State University, Mercer University, and local school districts. Project goals include developing a sustainable STEM Research Experience for Pre-Service Teachers (REPST) summer program, enhancing pre-service teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical skills through mentoring and research experiences.

Undergraduate and master's level pre-service teachers from diverse backgrounds will be recruited and provided with six-week research experiences. The theoretical basis of the project is grounded in the Communities of Practice framework, which supports collaborative learning and professional development. Participation in these experiences has been shown to improve teachers' STEM knowledge and experience, scientific research practices, career awareness, and STEM self-efficacy and identity, which in turn leads to persistence in teaching and teacher retention.

The evaluation questions focus on the impact of the REPST model on pre-service teachers' STEM content knowledge, teaching practices, and ability to transfer their research experience to teaching. The project's intellectual merit lies in its innovative mentoring model, which pairs pre-service teachers with research and teaching mentors. The broader impacts include the potential to scale the REPST model to other teacher education programs nationwide, contributing valuable insights to STEM teacher education literature.

The evaluation will also assess the program's scalability, feasibility, and impact, ensuring effective dissemination of findings and best practices. This Research Experiences in STEM Settings (RESS) project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce) and in part by funds from Micron Foundation. 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.