Outreach and Engagement

East Tennessee STEM Hub

The goal of the East Tennessee STEM Hub is to promote and support high quality STEM education in the East Tennessee region and to leverage all available resources to amplify opportunities for all students.

For more information, visit the East Tennessee Hub website.

If you are interested in having help with a school district STEM event, contact the East TN STEM Hub at easttnstemhub@gmail.com

Growing STEM Teachers to Grow the STEM Workforce

Growing STEM Teachers to Grow the STEM Workforce with funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and Battelle. CEEMS partners with the East Tennessee STEM Hub, Fentress County Schools, and Union County Schools to develop and implement this project. To accomplish the overarching goal of workforce preparation, the project seeks to use a multi-faceted approach to recruit and prepare individuals from at-risk and distressed counties of East Tennessee to become STEM teachers in order to expand and prepare the TN STEM workforce. Currently, there is a shortage of highly qualified math and science teachers nationally and in the state of Tennessee. This project will address two gateways to becoming a STEM teacher. First, the project will support high school students, graduating seniors and/or college students by offering some curriculum to an introductory course (TPTE115) that is part of the VolsTeach STEM Teacher preparation program at UT. This will be achieved through critical event #1, a STEM Teaching Internship that will include twenty participants. Second, the project will support twenty college graduates through critical event #2, an online course that will provide a foundation for STEM teaching and successful completion of the content praxis examination requirement in secondary mathematics. The praxis mathematics exam is a requirement for the Job-Embedded Practitioner Teacher Education Program at UT and is historically one of the most challenging content exams. The East Tennessee STEM Hub will provide outlets for sharing the online Math Teaching Preparation (MTP) course (once tested and refined) through its participation in the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network (TSIN).

You can apply for the internship at https://tiny.utk.edu/GrowSTEMinternship22.

You may also contact program coordinator Dr. Nick Kim at nkim2@utk.edu.

VolsTeach for Appalachia Noyce Scholars Program

If you are a Community College student majoring in Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Mathematics, or Physics and would like to work with the next generation of students, this might be the opportunity for you. The VolsTeach for Appalachia Noyce Scholars program is focused on preparing talented community college undergraduates majoring in math and science who are interested in working with students in high need school districts.

Apply Here

Overview

The project aims to recruit 32 new STEM teachers in the next two years with the goal of:

• Increasing the number of STEM majors from community colleges that enter and remain in teaching in high-need schools in East Tennessee
• Increasing Noyce teachers’ understanding of Culturally Responsive Teaching practices
• Increasing Noyce teachers’ knowledge of pedagogical practices and content

Benefits

• Financial support which includes up to $12,000 a year in scholarship for the last two years of your program at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
  • Scholarship will need to be renewed once all requirements are met.
• Participation in a paid ($1000) four-week summer Immersion Internship.
• Enhanced field-experience teaching opportunities throughout your VolsTeach experience.
• Mentoring by university faculty as well as public, middle and high school teachers.

Eligibility

• US Citizen, national, or permanent resident alien.
• Major in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, or Mathematics
• Must have an ACT of 21 or SAT of 1020 or complete and pass the Praxis CORE exam
• Overall GPA: 2.75 
  • Content GPA: 2.5
  • Junior or Senior Standing at a local community college
• Commitment to teach in a high-need school district for two years for each year of funding for scholarship becomes a repayable loan. A high-need school district (e.g. Knox County Schools, Anderson County, Metro Nashville schools, etc.) can be defined in any of the following ways: 
  • Has a high percentage of individuals from families with incomes below the poverty line
  • Has a high percentage of secondary school teachers not teaching in the content area in which the teachers were trained to teach
  • Has a high teacher turnover rate
• Must be accepted to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville prior to June 1, 2022. 
• Priority will be given to applicants who have already been accepted to UTK at the time of application review
• Preference will be given to applicants who have achieved a junior or senior status at the time of admission to UT

Commitment to Diversity

We believe the field of STEM education benefits greatly when teachers reflect the diversity of those they teach. We highly value diversity and encourage minorities and members of underrepresented communities to apply.

Application Process due ASAP.

Complete the online application:

• • Write a response detailing your interest in teaching in a high-need school district
  • Two professional recommendations are required; they should address the applicant’s STEM background and potential for teaching.
  • Submission of Post-secondary transcripts (unofficial transcripts permitted)

Important Dates 

• December 6, 2021 – Application process opens
• February 15, 2022 – Application priority submission deadline
• Rolling Deadline – Interviews
• Rolling Deadline – Application Award Notification
• Rolling Deadline – Award Acceptance Deadline

Apply Here

For more Information:

• Dr. Lynn Liao Hodge at lhodge4@utk.edu
• Dr. Ellen Matheny at ebmatheny@pstcc.edu
• Dr. Nick Kim at nkim2@utk.edu

Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program

The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program “responds to the critical need for K-12 teachers of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by encouraging talented STEM students and professionals to pursue teaching careers in elementary and secondary schools.” It was first authorized under the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002.

VolsTeach for Appalachia Paid Summer 2020 Internship

Internship Highlights:

• When: June, 2020, from 8am – 1pm each weekday for four weeks
• What: An internship to learn about STEM teaching. You will teach and learn under the guidance of mentor teachers and UT faculty.
• Previous Experience: No experience necessary. An interest in teaching is expected.
• Who: Current Community College students
• Internship pay- $1000

For more information, contact Dr. Lynn Hodge at lhodge4@utk.edu or 865-974-8778 or Dr. Ellen Matheny at ebmatheny@pstcc.edu.

B.O.S.S. for Educators

Big Orange STEM Saturday (B.O.S.S.) for Educators is a free professional development opportunity for education professionals in East Tennessee presented by the University of Tennessee Libraries, CEEMS, and East TN STEM Hub. Visit B.O.S.S. for Educators for upcoming events and registration information.

Community STEM Nights

The Community STEM nights project is ongoing. We recently received a grant funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission to extend Family STEM nights to more rural counties of East Tennessee.

STEM Library

This is a design-based research project that seeks to understand how elementary students make sense of data through the creation of data visualizations. Seed grant funding from the UT Office of Research and Engagement makes this project possible. Joy Bertling and Josh Rosenberg, assistant professors in the Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education, are collaborators on this project.

Math Counts Projects

Provided by UT, the Math Counts Projects encompasses both Math Counts Institutes (MCI) and ITQ Math, STEM, and Modeling (MSM) professional developments. Each project has focused on providing opportunities for rural educators to discuss and improve teacher learning in both math pedagogy and content. Thus far, we have had the pleasure of working with educators from the following Tennessee counties: Anderson, Campbell, Loudon, and Scott. These projects are funded by the Tennessee Department of Education and Math and Science Partnership grants (MCI), in addition to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission’s Improving Teacher Quality grant (MSM).  The Math Counts Projects also allow for partnerships between the Tennessee counties, CEEMS, the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis.

For more information on these projects, visit Math Counts, and connect with us on Facebook.

STEM Ways with Words

The STEM Ways with Words focuses awareness on literature that supports connections between STEM and literacy. The East Tennessee STEM Hub has an ongoing weekly update on social media about relevant STEM books. In addition, we provide professional learning sessions on regular basis about STEM and literacy.

Marian E. Oates Award

CEEMS has assumed responsibility for the selection of the Marian E. Oates Teacher Enrichment Award. The award was established by UT alumnus, Marian E. Oates, to encourage education related to earth and environmental sciences and conservation. This professional development scholarship is awarded annually to an outstanding middle school science teacher from one of the following Tennessee counties: Anderson, Blount, Grainger, Jefferson, Knox, Loudon, Roane, Sevier, and Union.

Tennessee Junior Science and Humanities Symposium

The Tennessee Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (TJSHS) is an annual scientific research competition that gives high school students the opportunity to present original research in a public forum. The top three winners receive scholarships, which can be used at any college or university upon graduation, and the top two winners will receive an all expense-paid trip to attend the national JSHS Competition and compete for additional scholarships.

Science Olympiad

Science Olympiad is an international nonprofit organization devoted to improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest in science, and providing recognition for outstanding achievement in science education by both students and teachers. Teams of 15 students develop their teamwork and problem solving throughout the year in preparation for each of the events. Middle and high school teams initially compete in one-day regional tournaments that are held at several locations throughout Tennessee. The top 18 teams advance to the state tournament held at UT Knoxville in the spring. The winning team in each division then competes in the National Tournament generally scheduled in late May.