Initiative on K-12 Teacher Preparation

1. Initiative on K-12 Teacher Preparation Natasha Speer, Univ. of Maine Tim Scott and Omah Williams, Texas A & M Noah Finkelstein, Univ. Colorado-Boulder

2. The challenges • National need for more and better-prepared K-12 STEM teachers. • Disconnect between content courses and the work of teaching. • Need for productive collaborations between educators of K-12 teachers and content faculty.

3. The goals of the Initiative • Increase grads-through-faculty awareness of roles they play (and/or could play) in K-12 teacher preparation. • Enhance grads-through-faculty capacity to participate in teacher preparation. • Equip grads-through-faculty with knowledge and tools to improve teachers’ content preparation. • Encourage grads-through-faculty to portray K-12 teaching as a rewarding, valued career choice.

4. Three central activities • What can we learn from what others have done? • What can we learn from what we are doing? • What do STEM grads-through-faculty know about teacher preparation and K-12 education?

10. Activities and evaluation plans– Colorado – • Course: Teaching and Learning Physics • Readings, physics content, teaching experiences • Graduate and undergraduate students • Products • Instructional materials from the course • Model for such courses, customizable to other disciplines • Evaluation • Track dissemination of materials • Track use/customization of materials

11. Activities and evaluation plans– Colorado – • Seminar: Preparing Future Physics Faculty • Voluntary • Teaching, education, other topics • Products • Sample of content and organization of such a seminar • Example discussion topics, useful resources • Reports of evaluation of usefulness of the seminar • Evaluation • Potential site for use of project materials • Track dissemination of materials

12. Activities and evaluation plans– Colorado – • Research: Faculty teaching practices • Peer instruction • Tutorials • Examining faculty conceptions and actions • Products • Findings about implementation of popular instructional activities • “One-pagers” about the use of these instructional activities • Evaluation • Track dissemination of materials • Track use/application of materials in grad student and faculty professional development activities/programs

13. Activities and evaluation plans– Texas A&M – • Research: Biology Courses for K – 12 Pre-/In-Service teachers • NSF funded programs as primary focus • Collect and summarize common themes, best practices, and less successful strategies • Products • Literature review/summary of highlighted programs • Presentation of highlighted outcomes • Evaluation • Track dissemination of materials • Collect feedback from CIRTL reviewers

14. Activities and evaluation plans– U. Maine – • Survey development: To gather information about STEM grads-through-faculty familiarity with teacher prep • Generating questions • Pilot/validity testing questions • Products • Survey that can be customized to other fields • Findings from administering survey • Evaluation • Findings from pilot/validity testing • Track dissemination/use of survey