Noyce Scholars attend National Science Teaching Association Conference

Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota is continuing the tradition of exceptional scholarly development while at the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Annual Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The thematic strands of the NSTA Annual Conference 2025 were Assessment in STEM education, Resilience in Teaching and Learning,  Sensemaking and 3D Learning, Research to Practice, Trending in Science Education and Leadership for Science/STEM leaders. Those attending were Associate Professor and Department Chair of Chemistry, Dr. Nathan Lien, along with ISTEP-Noyce MAT Scholars Sam Gerdts (Life Science), Matison Matz (Life Science) and undergraduate Scholar Hope Clegg (Life Science).   The conference included various professional development opportunities for the students including a plethora of content-specific sessions aimed at providing Science/STEM enhancements for their future classrooms.  Some of the attended sessions were Just Breathe: Finding your calm in the classroom!, Science From Space: Lessons Learned, Geology, Meteorology, Climate and the Earth Sciences for Today’s Classrooms (Simulation Curriculum), Collaboration over compliance: How to Effectively Engage Students in an Interactive Science Classroom Through Student Decision-making, and sessions focused on AI issues such as Surviving, Thriving, or ??? the AI-pocalypse Education.  In addition to informative sessions to enhance professional knowledge for effective teaching in STEM fields, attendees also were provided opportunities for site visits around Philadelphia for additional professional team building experiences with fellow science teachers.  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.