Outreach: First Year Odyssey seminar introduces STEM majors to the teaching profession
A new First Year Odyssey (FYO) seminar from the Mary Frances Early College of Education brings prospective science teachers straight to the source: science classrooms at Clarke Central High School.
Fourteen University of Georgia students meet once a week at Clarke Central to learn background information on teaching and observe STEM teachers in action, to create a pipeline of teacher candidates into the College of Education who will go on to teach science in the Clarke County School District and beyond.
The seminar is co-taught by Kevin Burke, a professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education, and Julie Luft, Athletic Association Professor of Science Education and Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies Education.
Across eight weeks, the UGA students—mostly non-education majors majoring in STEM disciplines—come to class having read an education-focused reading and ready to observe a STEM class offered at the high school level. Classes they observed so far include astronomy, biology, entomology, environmental science, and zoology.