September 26, 2024
Department of Mathematics Education, Science Education and Instructional Technology Updates (2023-2024)
Science teachers to receive fully funded master’s degrees
Ten Pitt County middle grades science educators will receive fully funded master’s degrees in science education from East Carolina University as part of a new partnership between the College of Education and Pitt County Schools.
The 10 teachers will be part of a cohort, taking classes together throughout the master’s process, which will start this summer. The degree program is designed to sharpen instructional expertise, develop research skills, promote leadership and deepen science knowledge, especially in the biological, physical and earth systems sciences.
While the Master of Arts in education in science education degree is typically 100% online, Dr. Tammy Lee and Bonnie Glass, ECU science education faculty, will cater the program more to the needs of the Pitt County educators.
“We want to make sure that we are catering to whatever initiatives are going on in Pitt County in the coursework, because we have new science standards that just came out from the state,” Lee said.
Lee and Glass have modified the order of the curriculum slightly to make sure that students will not be taking more than one class with face-to-face meetings at a time. Tailoring the classes to the district’s needs will help students feel like classes are not simply an extra thing to do but will enable them to readily put into practice what they are learning.
“I wanted to get my master’s for a while, but it’s not really something I felt like I could pursue because I didn’t have the monetary support and guidance to do that,” said Ashley Jones, a science teacher at Grifton School and future master’s student. “When the opportunity floated by, I immediately grabbed it. I’m really excited to be an ECU student again since I’m a Pirate alumna. I’m excited I get to do this with my people, people that I’ve worked in PCS with for years already and that I know are good science teachers and we can learn together.”
Grant provides scholarships
Three East Carolina University faculty members have been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to address the shortage of secondary math and science teachers, especially in rural, high-need school districts, and investigate the use of microcredentials in teacher education.
The $1.4 million grant is part of the NSF’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, named after the famous physicist who advocated for improving public education in mathematics and science. Over five years, the grant will support 30 scholarships for ECU students to earn a degree and teacher licensure in mathematics or science.
“The ECU Noyce Scholars program serves the critical needs of our rural partner districts in math and science education,” said Holly Fales, the assistant dean of undergraduate affairs and educator preparation in the College of Education. “This program represents the commitment that the ECU educator preparation program has in producing high quality STEM educators and plays a vital role in our continued mission of regional transformation.”
Charity Cayton, associate professor of mathematics education and the grant’s principal investigator, will be joined in the research by Maureen Grady, a mathematics education associate professor, and Heather Vance-Chalcraft, an assistant professor in biology.
In addition to receiving a scholarship, Noyce Scholars will receive mentorship from previous scholars, and support and training for themselves and their mentors in rural, high-need schools. To recruit scholars, ECU will collaborate with Greene County Schools and Pitt County Schools. Partnerships with community colleges, such as Pitt Community College, are also integral to creating a model to recruit, support and retain transfer students as members of the program. This is the third Noyce grant awarded to ECU. The first two grants produced 73 math and science teachers from 2009 to 2022.
Slagter Van Tryon a leader in field of instructional technology
Dr. Patricia Slagter Van Tryon, instructional technology professor, is celebrating a year of successes.
During International Education Week, ECU recognized faculty, staff and students for their outstanding work in pursuing international opportunities during the International Awards Ceremony. Slagter Van Tryon received the Award for Achievement in International Research and Creative Activity.
One of the reasons for this award being bestowed on her is her role as a co-founder of the Center for Open-Education Research. The center was established in 2018 at the University of Oldenburg and builds upon research in the areas of open education, educational technology, lifelong learning and international education.
The center has launched an open access journal — the Journal of Open, Distance, and Digital Education (JODDE) — of which Slagter Van Tryon is the chief editor from the United States. She is joined by editors from Germany, Canada, South Korea, Malaysia, South Africa and China.
As part of her role with the center, Slagter Van Tryon is currently a co-principal investigator on a project titled, “Prospects for the Future of Learning, Artificial Intelligence Applications in Higher Education,” that is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. This project aims to explore global perspectives on the current and potential use of artificial intelligence in teaching and learning across five countries/regions (Germany, China/Japan/South Korea, USA, Spain and Turkey) and in two subject areas (social sciences/humanities and STEM).
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