The California State University has received a grant from Chevron to expand its pioneering initiatives that integrate engineering design into K-12 teacher preparation. Since 2014, Chevron has provided funding totaling more than $1.75 million. This new grant will fund a project that will continue CSU leadership in preparing K-12 teachers to be effective in – and capable of – becoming school site leaders in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The CSU project will contribute to California’s implementation of the innovative standards developed to improve science education for all students.

“This support from Chevron will help CSU prepare K-12 teachers who will make the Next Generation Science Standards central in their classrooms—inspiring a new generation of scientists and engineers,” said CSU Assistant Vice Chancellor Marquita Grenot-Scheyer.

California faces a looming shortfall of new mathematics and science teachers. The CSU – the state’s largest producer of teachers – prepares nearly half of California’s new teachers in these fields and is working with partners to increase preparation of new teachers.

“Chevron is proud to partner with CSU to ensure teachers have the resources and training they need to provide engaging science and engineering education to all grade levels.” said Blair Blackwell, manager, education and corporate programs at Chevron.

The new project – CSU Pathways to New Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Teacher Excellence: Addressing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the Engineering Design Process – includes four components that together make a major contribution to the state initiative.

One component, the STEM Teacher and Researcher (STAR) program, prepares future teacher leaders. It places outstanding beginning science and math teachers in California’s foremost federal research laboratories and in frontiers of science and engineering.

A second component prepares teachers for the “Makerspace” movement, which equips them to support students as they invent, tinker, explore and discover using a variety of tools and materials and incorporate engineering design practices as they create.

The third component makes the Next Generation Science Standards a central feature of Better Together: the California Teacher Summit. This free summer day celebrating teachers will next be held on July 28, 2017. Chevron’s support enables the NGSS to be a featured component across the state.

The fourth component is a collaboration between Chevron and CSU using sports to inspire students to pursue STEM. It enables future CSU math and science teachers to serve as instructors and develop informal science skills at Chevron’s, interactive STEM Zone. CSU instructors staff the STEM Zone and showcase real world applications of STEM, such as basic principles of gravity and aerodynamics, and create awareness of how STEM is connected to everyday lives.