The Developing STEM Master Teachers to Lead Digital Conversion in K-12 Schools Noyce project is preparing a cadre of 20 “digitally-rich” master teachers.  Our goal is to leverage the potential of digital technologies to improve STEM teaching, while also capitalizing on K-12 districts’ interest in instructional technologies as a catalyst for change.  To maximize their impact on systemic reform, participants come from seven high-need districts within the K-12 Digital Consortium - a partnership between the Center for Learning in the Digital Age at the University of Rochester (UR), local BOCES and over 20 school districts committed to technology integration. The project also benefits from a partnership between the Rochester Museum & Science Center and the UR education school and STEM departments.  

The project’s first two years were devoted to preparing Fellows to leverage technology in ways that truly transform their STEM classrooms.  To achieve this goal, we designed a sequence of three semester-long graduate level courses, along with a Practicum experience supported by mentors.  The sequence purposefully started with a course revisiting foundational goals, principles and practices about learning and teaching STEM.  The second course focused on using digital technologies to enhance specific teaching practices, with a focus on assessment, conveying content, making thinking visible, promoting collaborative learning, and differentiating instruction. The third course aimed at uncovering the power of specific technologies to transform not only how we teach, but also what we teach in STEM.  Our video features this course sequence, bringing in both designers and participants’ perspectives.

NSF Awards: 1758243