{"id":22150,"date":"2010-10-01T10:40:16","date_gmt":"2010-10-01T14:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=22150"},"modified":"2023-08-29T16:44:28","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T20:44:28","slug":"on-the-fast-track-to-teaching-math-and-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2010\/10\/on-the-fast-track-to-teaching-math-and-science\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Fast Track to Teaching Math and Science"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>Lorna<\/a>
Lorna Carrasquillo, a graduate student in education, is a student teacher of science classes at Newington High School. Photo by Peter Morenus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stephanie Mather Dominello and Lorna Carrasquillo, UConn graduates now student teaching in two Connecticut high schools, have a number of things in common. Both decided that they wanted to teach after looking at other career paths. Both say teaching is much busier and more challenging than they initially expected. And both want to make a difference in the lives of young people.<\/p>\n

They also say that winning large scholarships through the National Science Foundation\u2019s Robert Noyce Scholarship Program<\/a> gave them the financial boost they needed to get into the classroom.<\/p>\n

The award, funded by a $900,000 grant through the NSF, provides $15,000 scholarships to students who pass a rigorous application process and plan to teach in the STEM fields of either science or mathematics \u00a0\u2013 areas where there is a severe shortage of qualified teachers in the country. In return for accepting the scholarship, the students promise to teach in one of the disciplines, in a Connecticut school with demonstrated high need, for at least two years after earning their master\u2019s degree in education.<\/p>\n

Currently, 19 students in UConn\u2019s first class under the grant are student teaching in schools across Connecticut. Next semester, the students will switch into research mode, working on questions to which the districts where they\u2019re assigned need answers. After that, it\u2019s on to the real world, as the newly qualified teachers work to land jobs in their field.<\/p>\n

\"<p>Lorna<\/a>
Carrasquillo won a Noyce Scholarship from the National Science Foundation that enabled her to pursue a career as an educator. Photo by Peter Morenus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThere are places in the country where people with high school diplomas are teaching in STEM-related classrooms,\u201d says Michael Alfano, director of the program and an associate professor-in-residence in the Neag School of Education<\/a>\u2019s Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates. \u201cAnd there are other locations where the people teaching the STEM courses have absolutely no background in those areas. Through this program we\u2019ll be able to inject at least 50 new teachers into Connecticut\u2019s schools, teaching in areas of critical shortage, during the next five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alfano says the Neag School had initially planned to issue only 10 scholarships a year for the next five years, but the pool of applicants was so strong they decided to expand the class.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had such a robust pool we went back to the funder \u2013 the National Science Foundation<\/a> \u2013 and asked if we could expand it. They agreed,\u201d Alfano says. \u201cOur end goal is, if we\u2019re successful, we can go back after five years and apply for an extension.\u201d<\/p>\n

The class includes students between the ages of 22 and the mid-50s. Alfano says there are a handful of \u201cclassic career changers,\u201d several students moving through the normal progress of undergraduate degree to graduate level studies, and doctoral students who decided research wasn\u2019t their cup of tea.<\/p>\n

One of those is Carrasquillo, who performed research during a summer internship between her junior and senior years at UConn.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was interesting, but really what it told me was that I didn\u2019t want to make a career out of research,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

At the same time, she began tutoring other UConn undergraduates in calculus and chemistry through the Q Center. Then she started tutoring for the Upward Bound Program<\/a>, which helps underrepresented students gain the skills they need to succeed in college. That sold her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved it. It was one of the best experiences I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d Carrasquillo says. \u201cThere are so many stereotypes about these students, but they were really interested and motivated. That\u2019s when I decided I wanted to teach, and during my senior year I observed some classes and enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also is looking forward to teaching in an underperforming school after she finishes her student teaching and research project.<\/p>\n

\"<p>Lorna<\/a>
Carrasquillo, a native Spanish-speaker, hopes to teach chemistry in a school where most students don’t speak English well, so she can also help them with language issues. Photo by Peter Morenus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI want to teach in a high needs school,\u201d says Carrasquillo. \u201cI\u2019m considering getting bilingual certification. Spanish was my first language. My sister, who is Colombian, came to America when she was 11. She spoke very little English, and I knew she wasn\u2019t getting the best education she could. I\u2019d like to help students [who are in a similar situation].\u201d<\/p>\n

Carrasquillo, who is currently student teaching at Newington High School, says she would like to teach chemistry in a school where most students don\u2019t speak English well so she can help them with both the science and the language. For her second semester research project she\u2019s considering proposing a study of multicultural education, and how it can be improved.<\/p>\n

Carrasquillo and her colleagues began their journey in May, earning 21 credits during two summer sessions.<\/p>\n

The days and nights were intense, says Dominello. \u201cIt was pretty hard, busy, but I learned a lot and I thought it was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 2001 Windham High School graduate, Dominello earned an undergraduate degree from UConn in 2005 and a master\u2019s degree in 2007, studying civil engineering with a concentration in urban and transportation engineering. She then landed a job at United Research Services, a Rocky Hill engineering firm that performed work for the state Department of Transportation. Although she enjoyed the job, she also felt the pull of education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to continue to be an engineer, but I always wanted to be a teacher,\u201d Dominello says. \u201cI want students to see how much physics relates to our lives. I want to bring what I know about engineering to the classroom. I\u2019d love to somehow do both, to stay in the engineering world, but I want to help people too.\u201d Dominello is student teaching at Bacon Academy in Colchester.<\/p>\n

The grant UConn received spans several academic departments in two schools at UConn. The grant proposal was prepared by Thomas DeFranco, dean of the Neag School, and Charles Vinsonhaler, former head of the Department of Mathematics and now an adjunct professor of math in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Other faculty involved in the proposal were Fabiana Cardetti, math; Juliet Lee, molecular and cell biology; and Alfano.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new program is helping graduates qualify to teach math and science in high-needs schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1855],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[37],"class_list":["post-22150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-neag"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-26 06:14:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22150"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204128,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22150\/revisions\/204128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22150"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=22150"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=22150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}