Northwestern Secures $1.2 Million Grant to Train STEM Educators
Northwestern University received a $1.2 million award from the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program to provide scholarships to undergraduate STEM majors who want to pursue teaching in high needs school districts.
The grant funding, which will support 16 students over two years, offers an accelerated path to teaching licensure with virtually no additional tuition costs. In addition to the School of Education and Social Policy, the the project is supported by the McCormick School of Engineering's Department of Computer Science.
With a focus on justice, computer science, and a teaching model that recognizes student’s backgrounds and identities as strengths, “grant recipients undergraduates will be uniquely qualified to teach STEM with an equity lens,” said principal investigator Kavita Kapadia Matsko, associate professor and associate dean for teacher education with the Teaching, Learning, and Education Program (TLEP) at Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy.
“We hope that the financial support from Noyce will also help to attract candidates from historically underserved groups into teaching.”
The STEM+ teaching pathway targets a longstanding problem in education: a shortage of computer science educators and the need for new models of teacher education to support their growth.
The program, called STEM + Computer Science + Justice = Teaching for Transformation, will provide scholarships of $45,528 during the 2024-25 school year (and $48,004 for 2025-26).
Once students complete the requirements, they’ll have an Illinois elementary or secondary teaching license in a STEM area, a subsequent endorsement in computer science, a Master of Science in Education (MSED) degree from Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy, and two years of post-graduate support.
Matsko’s team includes co-principal investigators Mike Horn, professor of computer science at the McCormick School of Engineering and professor of learning sciences at SESP; and Paula K. Hooper, a learning scientist and assistant professor of instruction and student advisor.
Collaborating With Evanston/Skokie School District 65
The idea to open a new pathway for teaching grew from work by Horn and associate professor Marcelo Worsley, who both lead computer science initiatives in Evanston/Skokie School District 65.
As part of Horn’s Computer Science Practicum course, Northwestern undergraduates work with elementary students on computer science and computational thinking. Between five and ten percent of these undergraduates want to explore K-12 teaching, according to end-of-year surveys.
Building on work already underway by other School of Education and Social Policy faculty members, STEM+ will deploy youth mentors in summer enrichment programs serving Black and Latinx middle-school youth in Evanston and Chicago.
These programs will include training and ongoing research investigating ways of teaching that embrace a student’s background and culture. During the academic year, the residents will be placed in classrooms to work alongside experienced classroom teachers who act as mentors.
Undergraduates with computing experience who are pursuing STEM majors in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University, are especially encouraged to apply.
For more information, contact Caitlin Dunlap Sikes at msedprogram@northwestern.edu.