By Tony Murphy, March guest blogger
In the last entry, I talked about the situation with STEM in our schools and now I want to offer one solution to how we keep up kids’ interest in these fields. Although there are many strategies available, teachers need to play an important role in a solution.
We know that effective teachers and content knowledge in science and mathematics can play key roles in student achievement. At the high school level, STEM teachers have a graduated with a major in their subject area. At the middle school level, teachers have the equivalent of a minor in their subject area. At the elementary level though, teachers are generalists and they typically major in education.
We know from research that the elementary grades are critical in maintaining student interest level in STEM. Yet, if teachers at the elementary level are generalists, are they prepared effectively to teach this way? Do they have the STEM knowledge and the teaching skills to do this? Research shows that many don’t. In fact, elementary teachers often express anxiety teaching the STEM areas.
At St. Catherine University’s National Center for STEM Elementary Education, we have developed a program that helps elementary teachers overcome this anxiety. All of our elementary education majors are required to enroll in a STEM certificate consisting of three courses: biology, chemistry and physics/engineering. The latter course is a unique part of the certificate. All are rigorous courses that meet various sets of state and national standards. They are co-taught by STEM and education faculty who have worked together as a team to create a positive and productive learning environment for the majors.
The certificate gives the elementary majors the content, but they also need an experience teaching science. This comes in the form of a program called Eco-STARS, which occurs prior to student teaching. Teachers in partner schools mentor the elementary majors in an active and engaging way. Our education faculty are also in the schools with the elementary majors when they are teaching science. The St. Kate’s faculty, elementary education majors and school teachers have all undergone training in a specific science program so that all are on the same page in relation to the content being covered.
St. Kate’s elementary majors emerge from this experience more confident and comfortable in teaching science. In fact, many of them are being asked in their student teaching to teach science and engineering — something that is new.
We are now working with local school districts to offer a Graduate STEM certificate for both elementary and Montessori teachers. This is a professional development sequence of courses with implementation and support for the teachers.
The need is clear. If we want to create a strong and wide pipeline for STEM, we need to begin at the elementary level. This is the aim of the programs at the National Center for STEM Elementary Education. What other successful efforts to prepare elementary teachers to effectively teach STEM are you aware of?
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