Hi Sheila, it was great to hear about your recruitment efforts for pre-service middle school STEM teachers. What would you say is your biggest barrier to recruiting students for your preparation program? What has been successful in convincing STEM majors to consider a career in teaching?

I'm curious what grade level you target.  I would guess that typical STEM majors are pretty locked into their academic track in their freshman and maybe sophomore years.  There might be a lot more soul searching after freshman year and the students who have an interest in STEM might not be as certain they want to commit a lifetime to a particular STEM field.  As a principal, I found scientists who had been in the field just a year or two were sometimes looking for teaching positions, but, of course, they didn't have teaching credentials.  There might be similar angst around the end of sophomore year.  Just a thought.  

Dear Sheila and Team,

This is such important work!

Reaching out to groups on campus and increasing teacher prep program awareness are important (so I'm great to hear you are serving as a network hub between programs and departments). One thing I've learned about K-12 STEM teaching recruitment, however, is that the contents of the messaging is also really important.

For example, many STEM majors are interested in teaching, but often choose against the field because of particular misconceptions or incomplete understandings (not realizing the job benefits -- including financial benefits -- of teaching, not understanding comparisons between private STEM sector jobs and teaching, etc.).

So, in this vein, how do you combat the negative perceptions of K-12 teaching that some undergraduates might have about STEM teaching? 

Additionally, I would encourage you to take a look at GetTheFactsOut.org, which is working in parallel with your efforts, but is specifically focused on changing conversations around STEM teacher recruitment by addressing misconceptions of STEM faculty. (Far too often, we find that the negative perceptions of K-12 STEM teaching are unfortunately fostered by some faculty who feel it is a "lesser" option that going into research).

Hi Jonathan, thank you for your question. I would say that the major barrier to our recruiting is that there is another Noyce project which was supposed to recruit Engineering students but is recruiting Mathematics and Science students because they were unable to get Engineering students. This cuts into our recruitment as we are both trying to recruit from the same limited numbers. We are now working together and telling students about the two separate programs. What has been successful is the teaching course we are offering - which students seem to enjoy and are asking questions about going into teaching. 

Dear Sheila and Christopher, 

Thanks for both of your responses! Having a limited population from which to draw is always problematic, and it seems as though math and science are always competing with engineering. In this case, have you looked at expanding your pool to include area high schools? It seems to me that it would possibly more effective to work with incoming seniors, to help them consider a career in teaching before they even declare a major. Some students don't want to study technical STEM fields, but might be drawn to them because of the opportunity to become a teacher. 

Talking about perceptions, not only do we find that STEM faculty often promote myths about K-12 teaching, but we also find that secondary STEM teachers sometimes discourage their students from considering a career in teaching because they themselves don't know what other job markets or working conditions are like. (What I'm saying is that it's extremely productive to get K-12 teachers in the same room with private industry folks -- in our experience, teachers often walk away surprised with how satisfied they are with their jobs. I realize this is NOT always the case, but these conversations are absolutely worth having).

I'm originally from Illinois, and at one point the state physics and chemistry teaching organizations banded together to create simple brochures and booklets for teachers to put in their classrooms on the board for students to take. I had two students who eventually became science teachers, in part, I believe, because we were able to have conversations that were spurred by those recruitment materials.

Interesting work - we have a Noyce research project that has involved surveying and interviewing Noyce teachers all over the country to learn about their personal networks, self-efficacy, and retention. I wonder if your work has led to any insights into the motivation of potential STEM teachers - any thoughts on the factors STEM students consider most important when deciding to teach?  Any ideas about what typically dissuades potential STEM teachers who ultimately decide not to become teachers? 

The work of recruiting passionate STEM educators for the critical middle school years is vital! Thank you for addressing this problem. 

Important that we recruit and cultivate future #stem teachers.  This @nsf project reminds me of how important this is. Solid engineering teachers are especially tough to find. You got a vote from me via: https://twitter.com/mrscottbot/status/1259920494897303552