Four mathematics and mathematics education faculty describe the development of a community of practice and the impact on them and their university.
Service Learning Within a Secondary Math and Science Teacher Education Program: Preservice MAT Teachers’ Perspectives
This study adds to the literature around the benefits of service learning experiences for preservice science and math teachers. It follows Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) students’ views of their service learning experiences throughout their MAT program and first two years teaching. Data sources included audiotaped individual interviews, focus group field notes, and surveys with seven preservice teachers over a three-year period.
Recruiting, Preparing, and Retaining High Quality Secondary Mathematics and Science Teachers for Urban Schools: The Cal Teach Experimental Program
This article focuses on the design of the Cal Teach program compared to the traditional pathway through which teachers are prepared. It focuses on challenging issues in recruiting strong candidates (i.e., STEM majors) and how they are addressed, the preparation of candidates, problematic aspects of traditional teaching education programs and how Cal Teach is modeled and designed to overcome these problems. Mechanisms used to help retain graduates in the teaching force are described.
Recruiting Science Majors into Secondary Science Teaching: Paid Internships in Informal Science Settings
Over 3 years, 34 college science majors and undecided students were recruited into paid internships in informal science settings to consider secondary science teaching as a career. Analysis of interns’ subsequent career plans revealed the internships were not effective in recruiting the interns into the secondary science teacher education program.
In Pursuit of Sustainable STEM Certification Programs
This article investigates the impact of a prescholarship internship available to freshman and sophomore science majors exploring the possibility of becoming secondary STEM teachers. Based on positive results with a limited number of students, recommendations are made on how a university-based certification program can better accommodate STEM undergraduates who want to explore teaching as a career possibility.
