A collaboration between Colorado School of Mines and University of Northern Colorado that creates a pathway for Mines students to become STEM teachers has been awarded $140,000 by 100Kin10, a national effort to add 100,000 STEM teachers to the nation's classrooms by 2021.
Teacher Education Alliance, Mines-UNC Partnership, also known as TEAM-UP, integrates 21 credits of the professional teacher education program (delivered by UNC) into existing Mines undergraduate degrees. All coursework is online or delivered on the Mines campus, with all field experiences within 50 miles. The remaining 9 credits are taken after graduation.
The grant was one of 10 Early Childhood STEM Learning Challenge grants, totaling over $2.4 million, announced by 100Kin10 on January 24. Partners were asked to propose "moonshot" ideas to solve the following challenge: "How might we support teachers to creative active STEM learning environments in grades P-3 in schools across the country?"
The funding will support a TEAM-UP program called Partnerships for STEM Identity: 3 Populations of Active Learners, or PSI3. The program pairs teacher candidates with seasoned elementary teachers to co-design and deliver engaging STEM lessons to K-3 classrooms.
“The grant will enable us to both continue to nurture this program, while also broadening the reach of the project and expanding the number of STEM teacher candidates who are able to improve their pedagogical skills and the number of classroom teachers who receive rich, age-appropriate content," said Wendy Adams, TEAM-UP co-director and associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UNC.
Physics Teaching Associate Professor Kristine Callan is co-director of the partnership and serves on its Leadership Committee with Physics Teaching Professor Hsia-Po Vince Kuo. Other Mines faculty taking part in the project are Chemistry Teaching Professor Renee Falconer and Computer Science Teaching Professor Cyndi Rader, who serve on the advisory board.
Contact:
Mark Ramirez, Communications Manager, College of Applied Science & Engineering | 303-384-2622 | ramirez@mines.edu
Agata Bogucka, Communications Manager, College of Earth Resource Sciences & Engineering | 303-384-2657 | abogucka@mines.edu
