Community Programs

The Center's community programs provide science and civic education outreach services to teachers and students at the K-12 level. These programs include The Oregon Teacher Scholars Program, The Robert Noyce Scholarship Program and the Intel Northwest Science Exposition. In addition, many CSE faculty partner with local schools, non-profits, and government agencies as part of their individual course offerings. Through the CSE, many opportunities abound to fulfill the University's motto, "Let Knowledge Serve the City." The various community programs that are currently part of the Center for Science Education are listed and described briefly below.

Program Descriptions

The Oregon Teacher Scholars Program

The Oregon Teacher Scholars Program focuses on strengthening K-12 science and math education by providing teachers with professional development opportunities to improve their ability to meet the needs of diverse classrooms of learners and to provide leadership in schools working towards continuous improvement.

There are four pathways for teachers to be involved as an Oregon Teacher Scholar:

• Developing and implementing science or math education research projects
• Pursuing an additional secondary level science endorsement
• Pursuing a Masters in Science Teaching through the Center for Science Education
• Pursuing an Educational Doctorate degree through the Graduate School of Education

The cornerstone of this professional development model includes an emphasis on science and education research examining aspects of their own practice as teachers (reflective inquiry). Working in teams with pre-service teachers from the PSU Robert Noyce Scholarship program, teachers from Hillsboro and Beaverton School Districts will receive guidance and support coordinated by the Director of Research, Dr. Debby Barany. Teachers will work within a professional community of mentored “affinity groups” to develop a research proposal, implement student-centered research projects, analyze, synthesize and disseminate their findings. For those working towards a Masters degree, the final product of this research will be defended as a Masters project. For those applying this work towards their EdD.degree, this project may serve as a portion of the doctoral dissertation.

The Oregon Teacher Scholars program will offer elective courses and workshops specifically designed to meet the needs of the participants including a Methods of Science Education Research and graduate level science content courses that will include discussion on how to adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of English language learners, talented and gifted learners and other students with special needs. Drawing on a wealth of community resources, this program coordinates the involvement of industry partners such as Vernier Systems and Technology and Intel Corporation, volunteers included retired statisticians and scientists and professors who are leading the way in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math otherwise known as the STEM disciplines.

This Department of Education funded program is a partnership between Portland State University, the Hillsboro and Beaverton School Districts, Pacific University and the National Science Foundation funded Robert Noyce Scholarship Program.


The Robert Noyce Scholarship Program

The PSU Robert Noyce Scholarship program is designed for students who are passionate about teaching science or math and interested in working in highly diverse K-12 classrooms. Scholars who graduate from this two year program will emerge well versed in grounded research on pedagogical approaches to working with integrated science classrooms including working with English language learners, talented and gifted students and those with special needs. The first year of the program focuses on earning a Masters in Science Teaching degree. Students take graduate level science courses, education courses and courses designed to support the development of a science or math education research thesis project proposal. In the second year of the program, students enter the Graduate Teacher Education Program (GTEP) to complete the requirements for an Oregon teaching license. In addition to teacher preparation coursework, students will work with the guidance of faculty researchers to implement an education research thesis project. Working in partnership with in- service science or math teachers, students will integrate research into their student teaching experience. The goal of the program is to foster the development of highly qualified teachers that are well versed in scientific or math content and excited to go into teaching as a reflective practitioner.
For more information on the program, click here.


The Community Learning and Teaching West Program

Intel Northwest Science Exposition

The Northwest Science Exposition's (NWSE) mission is to develop scientific talent and promote science literacy in Oregon and SW Washington students. The NWSE is an Intel International Science and Engineering Fair-affiliated science fair held for 5th through 12th grade students every spring since 1984. Top projects in the high school division attend the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. The top middle school projects are nominated to enter the Discovery Young Scientist Challenge. Contact Stephanie Jones (nwse@pdx.edu) for more information. The NWSE website address is http://www.cse.pdx.edu/nwse/.