Uncover Interests in Teaching PI: Dionne B. Jackson (Education) - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Using Field Experiences to Uncover Interests in Teaching

PI: Dionne B. Jackson (Education) Co-PIs: Liz Gron (Chemistry) Todd Tinsley (Physics) James Jennings (Education)

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Hendrix N-STEAD

Hendrix Noyce - STEM Teacher Education in the Arkansas Delta

Program Goals to: Recruit Develop Support highly qualified STEM teachers for the Arkansas Delta Currently starting our 4th year of a 5 year $1.1 Million Noyce Grant

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Content Specialists Teaching “Experts” and Sensitive to Culture

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The Arkansas Delta

zeemaps.com

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National Teacher Shortage

Need between 2.3 – 4.5 million new teachers from 2009 – 2020* Legislated Mandates:

• TEACH campaign (2009) – US Dept of Education; Microsoft & State Farm

Recruit and maintain one million new teachers

• America COMPETES Reauthorization Act (2010) – STEM initiative

including 100,000 new k-12 STEM teachers by 2020

* Aaronson et al (2009) Economic Perspectives, 33(4), 2-15. Jackson et. al. (2015) ArATE - Arkansas Association of Teacher Educators, Electronic Journal 6(1),March.

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Hendrix College Fast Facts

• College: Four-year, private, liberal arts college affiliated

with the United Methodist Church

• Students: 1,338 – lots of strong science students
• Academic profile, class of ’19: midrange scores: 1100-

1320 SAT and 25-32 ACT, and 3.58-4.31 GPA

• Faculty: 107 full-time and Majors: 34 undergraduate
• Student/faculty ratio: 11:1 and Average class size: 17
• Athletics: NCAA Division III, Southern Athletic

Association

Table 1: 2011-2012 Enrollments in Introductory STEM Majors’ Courses (first majors course only) Department Student % based on entering class

(absolute number)

Chemistry (CHEM 110) 48% (180) Biology (BIOL 150) 46% (173) Mathematics (MATH 130 – Calculus I) 38% (142) Physics (PHYS 210 or 230) 26% (96) Computer Science (CSI 230) 3% (12)

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Hendrix College Fast Facts

• College: Four-year, private, liberal arts college affiliated

with the United Methodist Church

• Students: 1,338 – very few science teachers

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Table 2: STEM Major Outcomes - 2002 to 2011 Current Status Student %

(absolute number)

Earned or enrolled science Ph.D. or MD-Ph.D 18% (105) Earned or enrolled clinician (MD, DDS, DMD, DVM) 36% (210) K-12 STEM teacher practitioner or candidate 0.7% (4) Unknown 32% (188) Students pursuing other options 13% (77) Total Majors 584

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N-STEAD Program Components

• N-STEAD Internship - summer internship to introduce first

and second year students to STEM teaching. Interns receive an $1,800 stipend

• N-STEAD Scholars Program - up to $15,000 per year in

scholarship support (renewable once) or tuition free for post- baccalaureate STEM Majors with:

• 1. Junior or senior status with a minimum GPA of 3.0.
• 2. A commitment to work in high-need schools, and
• 3. Potential for success in a high-need school command of

science and science education (academic potential).

Special consideration is given to underrepresented minorities and/or students with high financial need.

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3-Year Program Outcomes

• Increased ratio of STEM / total licensure candidates from

33% in year 1 to 50% in year 3 of the grant.

• In 2015 - 75% of STEM licensure candidates were N-STEAD

Scholars.

• Awarded 3 scholar positions – Two now teaching in the

Little Rock Public School system.

(1 traditional and 2 post-baccalaureate)

• Awarded 9 intern positions (filled by 7 individuals)

increasing awareness of the program and the benefits of becoming licensed to teach STEM

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Hendrix N-STEAD Scholars

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Six Factors Important for Entry into Teacher Education

• D. Jackson et al ArATE Online Journal, 6(1), March 2015

Dispositions & Experiences that Promote entering Teaching:

• Desire to Work with Young People (Curtis, 2012; Olsen, 2008)
• Social Justice (Curtis, 2012; Olsen, 2008)
• Role Models and Mentors (Abell et al., 2006; Curtis, 2012; Olsen, 2008)

Activities that can effect Consideration of Teaching:

• Remove Preconceptions about Teaching (Swanson, 2011)
• Provide Informal Teaching Internships (Schuster, 2013; Worsham et al., 2014)
• Offer Financial Support (Liou et al., 2010)

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Four Implications for Recruitment

Build a program that pulls together:

• Field Experiences (Olsen, 2008; Schuster, 2013; Worsham et al, 2014)
• Address Students’ Prior Experiences & Preconceptions

(Olsen, 2008; Swanson, 2011)

• Allow for Networking (Abell, 2006)
• Illustrate the opportunities for Social Justice (Liou, 2010)

Important for our scholar and internship program.

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Proposed Plan for Internship (from grant)

Interns would teach within an informal STEM context. Specifically interns would:

• Align our Ridin’ program activities with state standards
• Organize program with Hendrix and community partners
• Assist N-STEAD scholars with the development and teaching of

new STEM activities

• Lead activities during the Ridin’ Dirty program
• Develop assessments for Ridin’ and Ridin’ on the road.

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Internship Centerpiece

On-site summer science camp known as Ridin’ Dirty with Science*.

• 1 week program; two 2-day sessions; 16 STEM major volunteers
• ~50 children, rising 3rd - 6th graders, from the Boys and Girls Club

13 *Pop Song “Ridin’” by Chamillionaire, 2005.

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Intern Timeline

Interns Selected February 2012 Interns Selected March 2013 Interns Selected March 2014

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Initial Model (2013) –

Undergraduate Laboratory Research Model

• Start in Literature –
• Read papers on assessments of informal science education
• Connect state teaching standards to the camp activities
• Redesign past experiments –
• Read past evaluations and discusses project weaknesses
• Re-design projects or create replacements
• Execute new experiment - once

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Initial Model – Weaknesses

Quotes from intern exit surveys

• “The least valuable part of this internship is that it has not lead me to

enter into the career of a teacher.”

• “For a brief period of time, research was involved. It took days and

involved long hours. The research information was indeed relevant, but with the importance of putting the Ridin’ Dirty with Science program together, we didn’t really get around to it.”

• “Regretfully using the common core standards, at first, to design our
• activities. Though it was a necessary tool, I felt I did not learn anything, I

felt we were more productive after we stopped looking at them so much, but they were necessary.”

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Present Model 2015 –

Engaging in the Teaching

Ridin’ Dirty is still the “capstone” experience, but the Internship is about developing the interns as prospective teachers

• Observation of teaching
• Training in teaching
• Execution of teaching

Active informal mentorship: Weekly lunches with the scholars and PIs Formal article discussions Ice cream breaks Group dinner Lunch with scholars and working teachers

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The Hendrix N-STEAD Internship

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Activities - Observation of Teaching

1.

Visited /Observed at a variety of public school settings

• Suburban – 6th grade, Bob Courtway Middle School, Conway, AR
• Rural, high minority Delta – KIPP Delta Collegiate School, Helena, AR
• [Urban – Cloverdale Magnet Middle School in Little Rock]

2.

Observed the children at the the Boys and Girls Club

• Saw the “target audience” for

the science camp

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Each intern picked a Ridin’ Dirty activity that needed refining. This activity was the touchstone they used when observing/ interacting / relating with other activities.

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Activities – Training in Teaching

Engaging with Off-campus Science Teaching Professionals

1.

Museum of Discovery

2.

STEM Teacher Workshop ** interns were uniformly enlivened by conversations with teaching professionals outside of their “regular” faculty ** Outreach Events

1.

30 min Science Demonstration at Boys and Girls Club Aka lessons in how to hold an audience 2.

Ridin’ on the Road - 2 hour play date McGehee – Desha Alumni Center 14 children, grades 1 – 8; using the simplest of the Ridin’ Dirty activities. ** shocked by the very real lack of exposure to “common” science ideas ** (low science literacy) ** surprised at the continuing racial divides **

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Thomas Lipham, Program Director at The Museum of Discovery

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McGehee-Desha Alumni Community Center

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Activities – Executing Teaching

Need to solve the problem that Ridin’ Dirty only runs once. “Practice” Teaching

1.

Formalize teaching the activities to each other

2.

Invite Ridin Dirty Volunteers to laboratories for a “play date” - interns in charge! ** low play-date turnout , but enough to force interns to be in charge ** Real Teaching - Ridin’ Dirty 2015

1.

Interns prepared the laboratories and the materials

2.

Interns trained the 16 volunteers on their own section

3.

Executed their section for ~25 children and 16 peers.

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Ridin’ Dirty 2015 – Annie Meek with Magnets

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Sarah Webb, Ridin’ 2015, with handheld motors

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Circuits with John Gann at Ridin’ 2015

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Other Recruitment Events (Non-Internship)

Insert science education into existing activities!

• valuable but unintentional strategy
• join existing “things” and then infest (enhance) with science education
• Science department outreach activity –Ecofest – community

festival – use it as another platform to honor and discuss science teaching.

• Field Experiences as part of Education department

courses Educational Psychology Students are placed with a teacher and

• bserve this teacher for one hour at a time for ten times.

Inclusive Education Students are placed with a teacher, and weekly

• bserve his/her teaching and progress to teaching three lessons through out a
• semester. One lesson is recorded and one is observed by a faculty member.

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Internship Change in focus

• Initial program design – too much like a laboratory science,
• too little engagement with children and teaching as a

practice.

• Current internship model: observation of teaching, training

in teaching, and executing teaching.

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Internship Lessons Learned

Initial model had the informal teaching and financial support pieces right. Add components to feed their needs!

• Illustrate that teaching is working on social justice & to “making-a-difference”
• Provide meeting with professionals working hard to make a difference in

education and in STEM  Mentors and Exemplars

• Address preconception about teaching
• Time in the Arkansas Delta
• Time with peers and professionals to build networks & relationships
• Within N-STEAD team,
• Ridin’ Dirty volunteers,
• STEM learning
• Delta community members.

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Acknowledgements: The N-STEAD Team

• Dr. Dionne Jackson
• Dept. of Education

Principal Investigator

• Dr. James Jennings
• Dept. of Education

Co-Principal Investigator

• Dr. Liz Gron
• Dept. of Chemistry

Co-Principal Investigator

• Dr. Todd Tinsley
• Dept. of Physics

Co-Principal Investigator

• Mrs. Susan Ablondi

Hendrix N-STEAD Noyce Program Manager 30

NSF Grant Number 1239539

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Questions?

Questions: Liz Gron, Ph.D. (chemist) gron@hendrix.edu 501-450-3811 Answers! Dionne B. Jackson, Ed.D. (educator!) jackson@hendrix.edu 501-450-3824 www.hendrix.edu/n-stead

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