ICHE awards STEM Teacher Recruitment Grant for 4th time to College’s CATALYST
For the fourth time, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE) awarded a STEM Teacher Recruitment Grant to the Center for Advancing the Teaching and Learning of STEM (CATALYST) for innovative programming in the Purdue University College of Education.
The focus of the two-year grant is to recruit, prepare, place, and retain elementary and secondary educators in schools with teacher shortages in STEM via CATALYST’s 21st Century STEM Teachers Scholarship Program, according to Lynn Bryan (PI), executive director of CATALYST and professor Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the College of Science’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.
The two-year grant is titled, “Strengthening Indiana’s Future through 21st Century STEM Teachers Scholarship.” It is funded for $360,000 and will run from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2025.
The two Co-PIs are both faculty members in the College of Education: Selcen Guzey, CATALYST’s associate director of research initiatives and professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the College of Science’s Department of Biological Sciences; and Nathan Mentzer, professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the Purdue Polytechnic Institute.
The project will help fund Purdue’s teacher candidates to make STEM learning more concrete and relevant to K-12 students. Candidates learn how to plan and implement high-quality, evidence-based STEM instruction in classrooms and to connect STEM concepts using engineering design as an integrator.
“K-12 Indiana students learning in the classrooms of 21st Century STEM Teachers will benefit from instruction that actively engages them in STEM practices and helps them deepen their understanding of not only the core ideas of STEM disciplines but also the cross-cutting concepts that are shared among STEM disciplines,” Bryan said.
The 21st Century STEM Teachers program is another example of how Purdue’s College of Education is helping meet the education needs of Indiana and the nation.
“There is a growing need in Indiana for talent within STEM fields,” said Chris Lowery, Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education. “To ensure alignment between our talent pipeline and high-demand career opportunities, it is imperative that we advance the quality of STEM instruction throughout the state. The recipients of the STEM Teacher Recruitment Grant will help us reach this important goal.”
The 21st Century STEM Teachers Scholarship offers rolling admissions to applicants, who may apply at https://education.purdue.edu/catalyst/scholarship-information/twentyfirst-century-stem-teachers/
Source: Lynn Bryan, labryan@purdue.edu
The Indiana Commission for Higher Education has awarded over $10.5 million to 19 organizations and colleges to support programs which recruit, prepare, place and retain educators in schools with teacher shortages in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subject areas. Since the STEM Teacher Recruitment Grant was created by the General Assembly in 2013, it has supported thousands of current and new STEM educators in Indiana. This is the sixth round of grant funding.