Noyce Capacity Building Project: STEM Teach VI

In this Capacity-Building Noyce Scholarship Program, STEM Teach VI, the University of the Virgin Islands is establishing the curricular framework and institutional collaborations to support training of STEM majors to become high-school science teachers. The Virgin Islands has great need for such a program. Student performance on tests of proficiency in science and mathematics shows that education in these areas lags behind many other regions of the United States. In preparing to remedy that need, the University of the Virgin Islands is creating a new teacher preparation program. Faculty in the School of Education, the College of Science and Mathematics and the College of Liberal Arts and Social Science have identified existing courses and established new ones to supplement the major studies of future teachers with the needed theoretical and practical education training. Most interesting, STEM Teach VI proponents recognize that aspects of the program must relate to the cultural and contextual uniqueness of the Virgin Islands, so they are studying the site-specific factors that influence learning both for the high school students and future educators. Noyce Scholars are recruited early in their academic careers not only from STEM majors but also from students strongly interested in STEM and education careers. Not only does this project address a serious need for well prepared science and mathematics teachers, it also serves a population dramatically underrepresented in the STEM disciplines: 81% of the population is African American and 15% is Hispanic. Once the two-year planning period is complete, the structures will be in place to support a dynamic and forward-looking program for STEM teacher preparation.