MSEd Student Dan Voss Named Knowles Science Teaching Fellow Northwestern University

Dan Voss, a student in the Master of Science in Education Program (MSEd), was named a Knowles Science Teaching Foundation (KSTF) fellow. From a pool of nearly 200 applicants, Voss was selected as one of the exceptionally talented, early-career science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers to be awarded a 2016 KSTF Teaching Fellowship.

KSTF seeks to improve STEM education by building a network of leading teachers, trained and supported as leaders from the beginning of their careers. Through a comprehensive five-year fellowship, the KSTF Teaching Fellows Program — the Foundation’s signature program — offers stipends, professional development funding, grants for teaching materials, and opportunities for leadership development.

This fall, Voss will begin his first year of teaching at Boone High School in Boone, Iowa, his home state. He will be teaching physics and chemistry. Currently he is completing his student teaching at New Trier High School in Winnetka.

As a college student in materials engineering at Iowa State University, just east of Boone, Voss says, “I realized that as my peers increasingly relished the details engineering focuses on, I wanted to talk more about big ideas.” Finally after hearing Bill Nye talk on campus, he says, “It hit me: I wanted to teach, to inspire, to help prepare the next generation of curious and informed citizens and STEM innovators.”

For his teacher training, Voss chose SESP's MSEd program for two main reasons: the opportunities for research and the atmosphere in the program. “The people of the MSEd program made me feel at home, and I knew that this would be a great place for me to learn and grow,” he says.

As a graduate student, he has appreciated being able to work as a research assistant with SESP professor Brian Reiser, who is one of the originators of the Next Generations Science Standards, and to do curriculum design work that he tremendously enjoys.

Voss has found the research work with Reiser extremely useful as a professional. “Analyzing classroom video has helped me think about how to engage students in phenomena and get them talking about science. I've dug deep into student thinking when developing and coding assessments, which has been a boon during student teaching. And developing curricula with the NextGenStorylines.org team has not only given me practice in putting together engaging units, but I've also learned a great deal from some inspiring educators and other professionals in the process.”

The Knowles Science Teaching Foundation was established by Janet H. and C. Harry Knowles in 1999 to increase the number of high-quality high school science and mathematics teachers and ultimately, improve math and science education in the United States. Fellowships are awarded to teachers based on their potential to develop content knowledge, exemplary teaching practices and the qualities of a teacher leader, according to KSTF.