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Undergraduate Course Descriptions 2009-2010
Last updated 10/20/2009


01984/Science Education, Secondary (SC ED-S)

 

Upper Division Courses

2189. Classroom Interactions (3 s.h.)

Prerequisite: Education 2179: Knowing & Learning in Mathematics & Science. Special authorization required for all students. This course is restricted to students enrolled in TUteach.

Cross Listed with M ED-S 2189.

This course continues the process of preparing students to teach mathematics and science in upper elementary and secondary settings. The specific objectives of this course are to: 1) demonstrate to students how learning theories (from the Knowing and Learning course) manifest themselves in instructional settings (usually classrooms), allow students to design and implement instructional activities from their own understanding of knowing and learning mathematics and science, and evaluate the outcomes of those activities based on evidence from student artifacts, and 2) provide students with frameworks for thinking about equity issues in the classroom and larger school setting and their effects on learning and provide students with strategies for teaching diverse students equitably. The culminating activities of the course are the opportunities for students to teach in a high school and to learn whether they enjoy and are good at it. While in Knowing and Learning students study the meaning behind understanding a particular content area from an individual perspective, in Classroom Interactions the perspective shifts to studying how classroom events might promote or discourage learning mathematics and science and student equity. A major component of the Classroom Interactions course is the opportunity for students to reflect on and evaluate their own work as teachers.

3146. The Teaching of Science in Secondary Schools (3 s.h.) S.

(Formerly: SC ED-S 0355.)

Prerequisite: Must be admitted to the Teacher Certification Program.

For students beginning their classes in science teaching at the secondary level. This course must be taken before student teaching. Role of science education in the secondary curriculum, and sources of material and content for teaching physical, biological, earth sciences and environmental sciences are covered.

4189. Project-Based Instruction (3 s.h.)

Prerequisite: SC ED-S 2189: Classroom Interactions. Special authorization required for all students. This course is restricted to students enrolled in TUteach.

Project-Based Instruction (PBI) is the capstone course in the sequence of required education courses and is required before TUteach students take Education 4688: Student Teaching in Secondary Education. PBI is the course in which the major themes of the TUteach program – integrated content of mathematics and science learning, infusion of technology in representation, analysis, modeling, assessment and contextualization of the content, field-based experiences, and equity – converge into an exciting and intellectually challenging culminating experience. When students complete PBI, they are fully prepared for Student Teaching. Whereas in Classroom Interactions, students gain experience designing a sequence of several lessons that they teach to a high school class, in PBI, students design full units of connected lessons – a skill that is required in Student Teaching. PBI also provides students with the experience of managing lessons and students outside a classroom, in a field setting. Despite its name, PBI emphasizes choosing from a variety of appropriate teaching styles, depending on the type of material and the learning objective, with project-based instruction being just one possible alternative. In addition, PBI requires students to incorporate various technologies into the units they plan.


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Last updated 10/20/2009