The Mathematics\/Science\/Technology (M\/S\/T) program was renamed the iSTEM Education program (iSTEM is short for integrative Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), a change that was made to keep the program\u2019s nomenclature consistent with national trends in STEM education. When the major was first proposed in 1998, \u201cIt was likely the first of its kind in the country\u2014a pre-service training program for K\u20135 teachers that emphasize all areas of STEM,\u201d Steve O\u2019Brien<\/b>, director for TCNJ\u2019s Center for Excellence in STEM Education, said.<\/p>\n
Today, the iSTEM program enrolls more than 150 students, nearly all of whom also complete middle school endorsements in math, science, or both. Its graduates account for one-third of TCNJ\u2019s K\u20135 education graduates, O\u2019Brien said. \u201cThis results in 35-to-50 program graduates per year going into elementary and middle schools, who know how to effectively teach and integrate STEM and non-STEM content,\u201d he said. Research shows that K\u20135 students whose teachers are STEM-literate are less likely to develop anxiety about STEM subject areas, increasing competency and interest in STEM fields.<\/p>\n
TCNJ\u2019s iSTEM program has been so successful that institutions around the country have asked the College\u2019s technological studies department for help developing similar offerings, O\u2019Brien said\u2014a development that will keep TCNJ at the forefront of STEM education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TCNJ\u2019s iSTEM program has been so successful that institutions around the country have asked the College\u2019s technological studies department for help developing similar offerings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":8209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2013","category-on-campus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}