STEM Education (K-8)

Effective teachers are leaders who make a positive difference in classrooms, schools, and society.  Education professionals explore what it means to be a teacher leader in today's diverse and changing educational landscape, while gaining expertise in current research-based educational advancements.  They examine their values, beliefs, vision, and mission, and they explore teacher effectiveness in relation to their role in the larger context of the teaching profession. They collaborate in professional learning communities and advocate for students and other educators in order to promote positive social change. They synthesize their learning throughout the course and use this knowledge to enhance professional growth and development.

Education professionals ensure continuous improvement for student learning through attention to the relationship among classroom curriculum, instruction, and assessment in standards-based educational systems. They explore learning theory, learner variables, and the need for differentiation to meet diverse learning needs. Education professionals design educational experiences for P–12 students using data-informed practices in order to promote student learning, critical thinking, and real-world application of knowledge and skills in technology-rich environments.

To foster high levels of learning and achievement in math, teachers must first have a deep understanding of mathematical concepts and know how best to teach them. In this course,  teachers of K—8 mathematics are introduced to exciting ideas and practices to address their own learning and teaching of mathematics. Authentic and engaging mathematics experiences, including modeling, representing mathematical ideas in multiple ways, and identifying and addressing student misconceptions, are emphasized. Educators engage in effective practices for fostering students' ability to reason, analyze conceptual relationships, and persist in solving challenging problems. Connections across mathematics topics, skills, and levels as well as educational policies that impact the learning and teaching of mathematics are emphasized in this course. The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, including the Standards for Mathematical Practice, and the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) practices are frameworks for addressing fundamental principles and skills.

Education professionals examine the value of adapting the learning environment for multiple diverse populations within the classroom. They explore their attitudes, beliefs, and biases regarding diverse students, families, and communities, and they learn approaches for working together to ensure high levels of learning for all students. Through real-world application, they assess and implement high-quality learning experiences that provide equitable access to promote positive social change. Education professionals incorporate their students' background experiences and differentiate instruction using effective practices so all P–12 students have the opportunities and resources to learn.

Education professionals can investigate the nature and history of science and the role science plays in 21st-century life. They can discover unifying themes across all areas of science such as scientific inquiry, systems and energy, models and scale, constancy and change, ecology and the environment, and form and function. Education professionals can explore environmental science and apply the scientific tools of inquiry, discovery, hypothesis, and theory to facilitate their own learning in science and to foster engaging and motivating scientific learning in their students.