Eastern receives grant to research STEM teacher prep in Washington

Eastern Washington University is part of a statewide $3 million collaboration grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help improve the next generation of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teacher-preparation programs in Washington.

Multiple state partners will work together to anticipate and identify the needs and challenges future teachers will face and provide effective support for those teachers.

“The unique collaborative nature of this project will allow us to share our expertise so we can impact future STEM teachers, and their students, across the state,” Kathryn Baldwin, an assistant professor of science education at EWU and one of the principal investigators, said in a news release.

Baldwin says each partner institution brings a specific strength to this project, and this shared expertise will make a bigger impact.

The NSF grant is distributed among seven state partners: Eastern Washington University, Western Washington University, Central Washington University, Seattle Pacific University, WSU-Vancouver, UW-Tacoma and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland.

Also participating in the study are faculty from the University of Washington, Washington State University, Walla Walla University, Whitman College, Heritage University, Northwest University, Western Governor’s University and Seattle University as well as a number of two-year institutions.

EWU faculty in the education department and in multiple STEM content areas are involved in the project.

“The project and EWU faculty will look at many different aspects of preK-12 teacher preparation,” Baldwin said. “One of the areas of focus for EWU research is education for sustainability in teacher preparation programs. We want to know what programs, models, strategies and resources exist that are being used to effectively prepare future teachers to teach both about sustainability and for sustainability. We want to apply what we learn to teacher preparation across the state of Washington.”

The NSF grant will be funded over a four-year period.