Project SEEEC is a National Science Foundation-funded initiative to develop community-responsive urban science teachers and leaders. Project SEEEC enriches the MEd Science Education program and the PhD Mathematics and Science Education program at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Education. Project SEEEC priorities include addressing the under-representation of African American and Latina/o science teachers and the need for more chemistry and physics science teachers in the Chicago Public Schools. Teaching Fellows are mentored during their first four years in the classroom through Teacher Inquiry Groups, which are led by Master Teaching Fellows.

Project SEEEC is a partnership between faculty in UIC’s College of Education Department of Curriculum & Instruction and UIC’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Earth & Environmental Sciences, and Physics, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), and seven non-for-profit organizations (Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Project SYNCERE, Friends of the Chicago River, Chicago Botanic Garden, Chicago Freedom School, Instituto del Progresso Latino, and Project NIA). Non-for-profit partners provide community responsive professional development that complements the coursework and experiences of all students in the MEd program.

Project SEEEC builds networks between science educators, scientists, and community organizations that will increase equity and excellence in science teaching across Chicago.