Recruiting STEM Students into Middle/High School Teaching

The STEM acronym – which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – has become popular and is commonly used in both the media and education arena. The STEM subjects are considered to be the focal point of attention to a 21st century education. Most colleges and universities, regardless of their Carnegie ranking, offer outreach programs in STEM, which are designed to draw student interest to these important fields. Recently, the University System of Georgia has approved XXX University to offer STEM tracks. The degrees offered include: BS Civil Engineering Technology (Technology Education track), BS Electronics Engineering Technology (Technology Education Track), BS Mathematics (Secondary Teacher Education track) and BS Biology (Secondary Teacher Education Track). To enhance the newly formed programs, XXX University received a five year Robert Noyce Scholarship grant to recruit, mentor, educate, and certify students to become highly qualified STEM middle school and high school teachers to meet the workforce shortages in this area of national need. This paper will describe the learning methodologies introduced to potential student teachers, as well as the specific lesson plans, hands-on activities selected to encourage interest in teaching Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). At XXX University four week summer program was conducted for teaching STEM activities and lessons plans geared towards Middle/High School Teaching. The main focus of the summer enrichment program was to encourage students to enter the STEM teaching profession as Middle/High School teachers. Three primary areas selected to build enthusiasm for teaching STEM were Electronics Engineering Technology, Civil Engineering Technology and Mathematics.