Project led by:

Sheila Vaidya, PhD
Mary Jo Grdina, PhD
Shari Moskow, PhD
Donald McEachron, PhD

The National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Scholarship program is a $1.2 million grant awarded to Drexel to address a local and national shortage of strong STEM teachers. Scholarships are awarded to 24 Drexel students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in a major related to science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) subjects who earn pre-service teacher certification in middle grades (4-8) science or mathematics through Drexel’s DragonsTeach Middle Years program. Each scholarship recipient will receive $15,000 annually applied to their tuition for up to two years or $30,000. In return, each scholarship recipient will agree to serve as a STEM teacher in a high-need school district for at least two years.

The program participants will be immersed in pedagogical experiences related to their discipline and to teaching in high-need urban schools. Funded by NSF’s Robert Noyce program, these Noyce Scholars will continue to receive mentoring during their first three years of teaching from the University’s newly established Early Career Practitioner Institute. The project will use recent scientific, mathematical and educational knowledge to prepare and support the twenty-four pre-service teacher candidates with an emphasis on understanding the culture and life experiences of students in high-need schools. In addition, a small sub-group will be followed to study the process of “becoming a teacher” and developing a teacher identity.