Engaging Low-Income African American Students and Novice Teachers in Hands-On Science Curriculum

• In Event: 52.075 - Toward Justice: An Illustrative Example of a University–School Partnership Designed to Advance an Agenda for Transforming Black Education

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe how the The Ignite! STEM program bring quality, hands-on STEM activities and professional development to formal and informal education. It is composed of NASA Ignite! (hands-on STEM curriculum), professional development of teachers and youth workers (content delivery and pedagogy) and Ignite! Scholar, an innovative approach to teacher education, recruitment, and retention. The first Ignite! program, NASA Ignite!, began in May 2011 as a dynamic partnership among the Indiana Afterschool Network (IAN), Indiana Department of Education (IDOE), and WisdomTools, Inc. Committed to delivering quality NASA Summer of Innovation programming to middle school students across the Midwest and beyond, NASA Ignite! has provided students in grades 4-9 with summer and afterschool programs focusing on science, technology, engineering, and math content (STEM). Research-based and aligned with state and professional standards, the NASA Ignite! curriculum is a hands-on program that helps students to become engaged with the content. This is part of a nationwide effort that has shown an increase in student achievement on standardized test scores and on general academic reports.

The Ignite! Scholar program was added to the Ignite! STEM offerings in 2013 with funding from the Indiana Education Roundtable and participation of two institutes of higher education – Indiana University South Bend and Marian University. This program is aimed at increasing the pool of high-quality formal and informal STEM teachers in the state of Indiana. Ignite! Scholar is working toward increasing the STEM teacher pipeline by training undergraduate students from schools of education and other academic programs and providing them opportunities to deliver hands-on, research-based STEM content in out-of-school time (OST) programs throughout the state. All recruited undergraduate students and their mentors (certified teachers) are placed in summer and afterschool programs and trained in NASA Ignite! and other STEM programming.

Results/Implications
It is anticipated that learning to teach in low-risk, high-reward environments like summer camps will increase retention in schools of education and attract new students into teacher education. Our goal is to increase self-efficacy, interest and teaching skills with hands-on, inquiry based STEM. Students spend a minimum of 200 hours per year in teaching and training, thereby vastly increasing their teaching experience before graduation. Student testing and evaluation is ongoing in this program.

Author

• Leslie Wesley, South Bend Community School Corporation