Boston University’s Science Education Noyce Program

 

The Boston University Science Education Program is beginning the first year of its third Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship & Stipends Award, Preparation of Noyce Science Teachers (Project PoNST, NSF Award DUE-2344739). Following Project BoNUSS (NSF Award Due-1240055) and Project PSUNS  (NSF Award DUE-1660681), we are now looking for pre-service science teachers for our Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Program to be part of Project PoNST. Project PoNST offers full tuition Noyce Scholarships for applicants who have a  science background to prepare to be biology, chemistry, physics, or middle school science teachers. In return for the Noyce Scholarships, graduates make the commitment to teach for two years in schools in districts designated as high-need.

Project PoNST targets three groups of potential science teachers:

• • Graduates in the  sciences or engineering from all colleges and universities who are committed to social justice and interested in becoming teachers are encouraged to apply to the Project PoNST MAT Program. If admitted, the PoNST Scholarship and Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education and Human Development  provides full tuition for the one-year Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree program that leads to the Massachusetts teacher’s license.

• • Science and engineering professionals interested in making a career change to science teaching, and are committed to social justice, are encouraged to apply to the PoNST Program. If admitted, the PoNST Scholarship and Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education and Human Development provides full tuition for the one-year Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree. Alternatively, the PoNST Scholarship can provide tuition for a part-time program for career changers who choose to earn the Masters in Education degree (EdM) with licensure. This option allows a career changer to continue to work until the semester of student teaching.

• • Boston University undergraduate science and engineering majors who are interested in becoming teachers and teaching in a high need district are encouraged to apply for the Noyce Scholarship during their junior year.  Partial scholarship support is available for the senior year. For more information, write to garik@bu.edu.

In return for Noyce Scholarship support, PoNST Scholars make the commitment that after completing their program at Boston University they will teach science in a high need school district for two years. More about the Noyce Scholarship Award commitments.

From 2013 through 2024, Projects BoNUSS and PSUNS provided scholarship support for 54 students to become science teachers. The graduates went on to teach in schools in the Greater Boston Area and around the nation (AK, CA, MA, MD, MO, NE, NY, WA). By discipline, nine General Science, eight Biology, fifteen Chemistry, and twenty-two Physics teachers have completed our program. Two biology PoNST Scholars are currently completing the MAT in Biology. With the growth of programs in environmental science, we welcome applicants who have a strong science background. More information on our Scholars can be found here: Profiles of Noyce Scholars.

Project PoNST  MAT students take their pedagogy courses together as a cohort (see The Project PONST MAT Program courses). Students in our programs do their student teaching in high-need schools in the Greater Boston area. Scholars have been placed for their pre-practicum and practicum in the following schools:

Boston Green Academy (Boston Public Schools)
Boston Latin Academy (Boston Public Schools)
Brighton High School (Boston Public Schools)
Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (Cambridge Public Schools)
Charlestown High School (Boston Public Schools)
Chelsea High School (Chelsea Public Schools)
Eugene Wright Science and Technology Academy (Chelsea Public Schools)
The Fenway School (Boston Public Schools)
Garfield Middle School (Revere Public Schools)
John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science (Boston Public Schools)
Josiah Quincy Upper School (Boston Public Schools)
Malden High School (Malden Public Schools)
Somerville High School (Somerville Public Schools)

If you are interested in applying, we look forward to hearing from you! If you have questions about the program you can write directly to garik@bu.edu.

Requirements and procedure for application.