In 2005, the University of California launched an ambitious system-wide program to help the State meet its shortage of STEM teachers. Each of the nine campuses in the system has implemented the program differently, but all have common elements. California Teach programs actively recruit STEM majors to consider exploring teaching careers and to support that exploration through coherent sequences of courses, which provide students with mentored field experiences teaching science and math in K-12 classrooms. California Teach programs also offer a network of support to provide a community within the cadre of students preparing for teaching careers. The UCLA program is grounded on the career development theory of �Planned Happenstance.� Pasteur's aphorism, �Chance favors the prepared mind� applies to career choices as well as science discoveries. Our goal is to provide UCLA STEM students with the knowledge and experiences that place a career in teaching alongside the other opportunities they know about in research, health care, and industry. We attribute the success of our California Teach program to three factors: many entry points for students to pursue teaching careers; a week-long paid summer internship in a high-need school the week before the fall quarter starts; and the existence of a Math for Teaching Major and a new Science Education Minor, which are integrated into the course and curricular offerings of the campus at large.

<i>California Teach</i> at UCLA: Addressing the STEM teacher shortage

247th National Meeting (2014)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.

California Teach at UCLA: Addressing the STEM teacher shortage