Thanks for creating a video that really highlighted how your Noyce projects expanded over the past decade or so. The mentoring aspects shown in the video focused on larger group sessions with Noyce teachers and experienced teachers or university researchers serving as session leaders/mentors.  I am wondering about the success of your approach.

What were the impacts of mentoring for your Noyce teachers with respect to their classroom practices and retention in teaching?

Was there any 1-1 mentoring that occured in teachers' classrooms or at their schools? If so, what did this look like?

I love the initiation of the mentoring community-- it's so helpful for prospective and future teachers to have that genuine ecosystem or network for their long-term growth and to have a quick resource should roadblocks arise. The duration of your success speaks to the tremendous support system and high quality program that you've created. Kudos!

Thanks, Christine! We've learned over the years from our Noyce Scholars what they need. From what we've observed and learned is that novice STEM teachers benefit from having multiple mentors, so introducing them to that type of support early on (as undergrads) helps set them up for success once they are teachers. We also hope it encourages novice teachers to feel like they can develop and implement innovative curriculum or instructional approaches.

I like the personal stories/experiences streamed through the video. How many scholars have been able to benefit from this program? Do you know if/how the mentoring has impacted retention in teaching? 

Our Noyce team would like to hear about mentoring programs at the university and K-12 schools where you work. What has been effective at engaging students and supporting their learning?

Thanks for creating a detailed video to highlight your funded program to recruit and prepare talented STEM students for a career in teaching. I think having multiple mentors can be helpful for a new teacher so they can learn from different perspectives. How are the mentors and the STEM teachers recruited?

Are you using any specific tools/rubrics to support the impact of the mentoring? I am also wondering how you aligned to PD to align to the local school district goals and supports.

Thanks,

Beth

I really agree with your efforts to leverage resources from a variety of sources in an effort to magnify the impact and range of outreach of the Noyce projects you have completed and continue to operate. My own experience over the years has proven that this leveraging of resources approach leads to greater institutionalization of project outcomes as well. Nice job!

David

Thanks, David. Our intentions are that developing and novice STEM teachers realize that there are many resources and mentors who can support them when they are in the classroom. From our interactions with them after they graduate from CSU and begin their teaching careers, this is what we are finding! Some Noyce Scholars are more resourceful than others, but, in general, they are willing to connect with former professors, local organizations, mentor teachers, or peers at conferences.

I appreciate that you are learning what is needed from the Scholars, themselves, and I enjoyed hearing their voices. Consider nominating an outstanding Noyce alum to be profiled here: https://www.nsfnoyce.org/noyce-alumni-where-are-they-now/.

Thanks for suggesting that we highlight our outstanding Noyce schollar alumni. In fact, we nominated three this year!  I love hearing from the scholar alums once they are teachers each year at the Noyce PI Summit.

I really loved reading about all the ways different programs are supporting their practicing Noyce scholars through a variety of mentoring. I think the question was raised above, and I love for Noyce programs as a collective to help investigate the ways in which mentoring may impact STEM teacher retention. We all know that attrition is a huge issue. Such longitudinal studies would really help Noyce programs make effective and efficient choices in mentoring strategies.

Thank you for your comments, Hollylynne. I agree - longitudinal studies would help STEM teacher educators develop a better understanding of how we an support novice teachers, as well as veteran teachers, who are considering leaving high-needs schools (both urban and rural schools). The research on the importance of mentoring for STEM teachers is, indeed, compelling. We suspect that a combination of mentoring, social justice awareness, and building capacity for becoming part of a new community are all important, along with the skills to make STEM concepts and content engaging for students.

For those interested in learning more about our structured professional development program for pre-service STEM teachers/Noyce Scholars, please visit the our site (https://noyce.colostate.edu/noyce-professional-...).

Plus, I want to acknowledge that our video was made by Bradley Whitaker, an undergraduate biology major in the teacher licensure track and a Noyce Scholar. :)

Great to see this kind of PD what connects peers and brings metacognitive considerations of and in stem.  Earlier in this discussion, evaluation data is mentioned.  Can you expound on this data? Types? What theoretical constructs the data center around? How you analyze the data? Are there any resources you can share regarding program development and evaluation?