Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota was once again proudly represented at the Midwest Noyce Conference in St. Louis, Missouri a few weeks ago. The theme of the Midwest Noyce 2024 Conference was Fostering STEM Futures: Resiliency and Assessment Practices. Those attending were Assistant Professor, School of Education, Susan Baloun along with undergraduate Noyce Scholars Hope Clegg (Life Science) and Julia Langworthy (Mathematics) and MAT Scholar Sam Gerdts (Life Science). The conference included various professional development opportunities for both faculty and students including networking events for scholars. Some of the attended sessions were Ideas for Curriculum Enhancement and Skill Building in Math Education including Standards-Based Instruction and Assessment, How to Build a Thinking Classroom, Incorporating Culturally Responsive Teaching in Native American Science classrooms, Giving Life to Biology and Incorporating Immersive Technologies into STEM Classrooms. In addition to informative sessions to enhance professional knowledge for effective teaching in STEM fields, attendees also were provided opportunities for site visits around St. Louis for additional teaching resources.
Under the National Science Foundation programming, Saint Mary’s University received the Inclusive STEM Teacher Education Pipeline Noyce Scholarship (ISTEP) grant which supports both undergraduate and graduate students who are entering the teaching profession in the Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) fields. Preservice teachers that are supported through the Noyce program receive scholarships and in turn agree to teach in high needs Minnesota school districts in STEM fields following completion of their programs.
