UNO Noyce scholars present at regional conference
"These students will walk out of UNO not only thinking of themselves as future teachers, but as future leaders."
Seven UNO students had the opportunity to present at the 2023 Midwest Annual Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program Conference in St. Louis recently.
The three-day conference showcased evidence-based learning communities among Noyce scholars and teachers while growing personal and professional connections among the participating colleges and universities. Drs. Michael Matthews and Janice Rech attended with the students and presented as faculty.
The students, Kenzie Bias, Dani Ellis, Sydney Fuhrman, Parker Lingelbach, Tanner Pfeil, Emi Rupp, and Nathan Walther, are part of UNO's Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, a National Science Foundation grant that seeks to encourage talented science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors and professionals to become K-12 mathematics and science teachers. The program provides funds to students to major in one of the science fields, earn a teaching credential, and commit to teaching in high-need school districts. During their time at UNO, Noyce students make a commitment to leadership in science education through a variety of activities, including NE STEM 4U and other campus outreach efforts.
The seven-student group, led by Bias and Fuhrman, presented on developing a growth mindset using inspirational stories like that of Katherine Johnson, of Hidden Figures fame, who overcame sexist and racist environments to become “a human computer” for NASA.
Ellis, along with Catherine Althoff, a Noyce scholar from Rhodes College in Memphis, presented on connected innovative problem sets they studied while attending the Budapest Semester in Mathematics Education and studying alongside Dr. Lajos Pósa, a renowned Hungarian math educator.
"I heard several people afterward tell me how inspired they were by the students' presentations and how they were definitely going to take some of these ideas back to their classrooms," Matthews said.
"To be able to watch that type of impact coming from a talk/workshop given by UNO students who themselves are still preparing to be teachers is a great experience. These UNO students will walk out of UNO not only thinking of themselves as future teachers, but as future teacher leaders, which is a powerful mindset to walk out with."
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DUE-1659058. The conference was supported by NSF DUE #2001058.