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Education Undergraduate Courses
EDC U 212 Coding for Non-Coders +
Description:
Groggily you come to. You try to move but you realize you are handcuffed and gagged. Slowly you remember being ambushed in your lab and being knocked out by a large person with a chair. ''They must be trying to get my new invention,'' you think. You suspected that once word got out, villains would want to get their hands on this powerful new tool, you just didn't think it would happen this quickly. You know you must prevent them at all costs. After all, whoever controls this new technological invention can rule the world. Your mission is to save the world, that is in the context of the game story in this class. To do so, you are not expected to begin with any coding skills but must learn basic coding concepts such as debugging, looping, and Boolean logic to solve a series of problems embedded within this game story in order to advance the storyline. Designed like a video game, it is an asynchronous online course that can be completed at your own pace. By the end of the class, you will code your own interactive game using a block-based programming language. This class is intended for any undergraduate student in any program who is interested in learning to code. More Info
Offered in:EDC U 220 Human Development for Educators +
Description:
This course examines current research and theory about human intellectual, social, and affective development through all life stages. Topics include the development of linguistic, symbolic, and quantitative systems; cognition; creativity; the developmental interactions of culture; thought, language, and learning; and the implications of current developmental theory and research for educators. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
EDC U 230 Introduction to Special Education and Inclusion +
Description:
This course examines appropriate strategies for supporting the academic, behavioral and social aspects of teaching students with moderate disabilities. Topics include legal and ethical issues in special education; assessments for students with special needs; assistive technology; 504 and Individual Education Plans; special education advocacy; the roles of various team members and team meetings; collaboration strategies; working with parents and other educators; various types of services; the history of special education; and current trends in special education. More Info
Offered in:EDC U 241 Introduction to Urban Education +
Description:
This course focuses on understanding the complexities of teaching in urban schools. We will explore the strengths, problems and issues that affect urban schools and examine how teachers can effectively respond to the issues that impact their students in this environment. The course covers four major topics. Understanding the Strengths and Challenges of the Urban Environment; Community Building and School Climate; Achievement Motivation: Working from a Strengths Based Perspective; Language Development as a Foundation of Learning. More Info
Offered in:EDC U 270 UTeach: Knowing and Learning in Mathematics and Science +
Description:
The course focuses on knowing and learning specifically within the context of mathematics and science. Students analyze domain-specific problems-solving activities and approaches in an applied fashion, such as through the clinical interview process. Students explore the implications of individual and social learning theories on the design of learning environments within classrooms and within the context of larger social justice issues. More Info
Offered in:EDC U 275 UTeach: Classroom Interactions +
Description:
This course continues the process of preparing students to teach mathematics, science, and engineering by providing opportunities to apply theories developed in Knowing and Learning in instructional settings. Students design and implement instructional activities informed by their own understanding of what it means to know and learn mathematics and science and then evaluate the outcomes of those activities on the basis of student artifacts (i.e., what students say, do, or create). An important focus of the course is on building students' awareness and understanding of equity issues and their effects on student learning. Students are provided frameworks for thinking about equity issues in the classroom and larger school settings, and they learn strategies for teaching students with learning differences and diverse backgrounds equitably. Additionally, the course introduces ways curriculum and technology are used in classroom settings to build relationships among teachers and students and provide access to learning opportunities for all.Students engage deeply with science and mathematics content, reflecting on their own and others' learning and problem solving, as well as the underlying structures of these disciplines and their relation to other fields of inquiry. In essence, Classroom Interaction is centered on a close examination of the interplay between teachers, students, content, and the world beyond schools, and how such interactions enable students to develop deep conceptual understanding. Students learn how content and pedagogy combine to make effective teaching. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
EDC U 310 Technology & Education +
Description:
This is an introduction to using computers and technology in education in responding to the ISTE National Technology Standards for Teachers and Students. The various uses of computers and K-12 educational applications in different content areas are examined. Students explore pedagogical and ethical issues that are raised by the use of computers in the classroom. In addition, students explore various criteria for effective use of technology in the classroom. Finally, the course looks at varied approaches in which technology may be used as mindful tools to facilitate changes in the ways teachers teach and students learn. More Info
Offered in:EDC U 370 UTeach: Perspectives on Science and Mathematics +
Description:
The Perspective on Science and Mathematics course explores a selection of topics and episodes in the history of science and mathematics. You will understand that these disciplines are not merely a body of facts, theories, and techniques. rather, they involve diverse processes by which knowledge is continually generated and reformulated.Sciences typically discussed in Perspectives include biology, physics, geology, astronomy, and chemistry. The course traces the development of key notions in these sciences and seeks to correct common myths or defective portrayals of history in science textbooks. We will also discuss the question of whether mathematics is itself a science. The course provides historical perspectives on how practical needs, social conflicts, and even individual personalities shaped the content and direction of the disciplines.An additional objective of the course is to convey that scientific and mathematical concepts are not static. The goal of the course is to promote among UTeach students the understanding that even the most basic ideas of science and mathematics are dynamic, despite the way this information is presented in K-12 textbooks. More Info
Offered in:EDC U 375 UTeach: Functions and Modeling +
Description:
In this course, students will engage in explorations and lab activities designed to strengthen and expand knowledge of the topics found in secondary mathematics. Students will collect data and explore a variety of situations that can be modeled using linear, exponential, polynomial, and trigonometric functions. Topics involving function properties and patterns, complex numbers, parametric equations, polar equations, vectors, and exponential growth and decay will be investigated. Explorations will involve the use of multiple representations, transformations, data analysis techniques (such as curve fitting) and interconnections among topics in algebra, analytic geometry, statistics, trigonometry, and calculus. The lab investigations will include use of various technologies including computers, calculators, and computer graphing software. Within each of the four units included in the course, the activities by which students learn are chosen and designed to do one of more of the following: 1. Take a second, deeper look at topics that have been exposed to previously;2. Illuminate the connections between secondary and college mathematics;3. Illustrate good (as opposed to the all too often poor, sometimes counterproductive) use of technology in teaching;4. Illuminate the connections between various areas of mathematics;5. Involvement as a student in serious (i.e., non-routine) problem solving;6. Engage in problem-based learning;7. Engage in non-routine applications of mathematics.This is a course designed to make students think. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
EDC U 406 Sociolcultural Perspectives: Building School, Family & Community Relationships +
Description:
Examine the interrelationships among students, schools and society. Learn about the ways in which race, class, gender, language, culture, and ethnicity influence how we define each other and ourselves within the broader culture of U.S. society. Explore the historical antecedents influencing the lives of exclusive and diverse peoples of the United States, as a foundation for understanding the policies, goals, assumptions, strategies, and practices of multicultural approaches to education. Draw on various models to construct educational curricula that are multicultural and socially re-constructionist. Within the context of public schooling today, read about how to develop students' ''cultural consciousness'' of the shared societal assumptions, experiences and/or our interactions with individuals from diverse backgrounds. Prepracticum experiences will deepen understandings of the interrelationships among students, schools and society. More Info
Offered in:EDC U 446 Understanding Reading: Principles & Practices +
Description:
Introduction to theoretical and instructional issues involved in the acquisition of literacy; provide research-based practical constructs for knowledgeable decision making; consider effective ways of creating and managing an inclusionary, balanced literacy development program, which addresses the needs of children who are culturally and linguistically diverse. Topics include: oral language and the impacts of emergent literacy development, lesson planning with particular attention to selection of appropriate literacy materials, strategies for beginning reading and writing, literacy development for English language learners, and strengthening family literacy connections. Across topics, emphasis is on teacher's roll as an observer, and the use of assessment to guide instruction. More Info
Offered in:EDC U 451 Rethinking Equity and Teaching for English Language Learners +
Description:
This course fulfills the Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) endorsement requirement for core academic teachers outlined by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as part of the Commonwealth's Rethinking Equity and Teaching for English Language Learners (RETELL) initiative. The RETELL initiative comes at a time when teachers of all students, and teachers of multilingual learners (MLLs) in particular, must be equipped to address the needs and build on the assets of a diverse and ever- changing student population in Massachusetts. The introduction of various educational reforms requires teachers to assume new roles and responsibilities in their classrooms. This course will support the professional growth of educators and the teaching and learning of all students in this time of change. More Info
Offered in:EDC U 460 Designing Curriculum and Instruction Strategies +
Description:
This course examines current theories of curriculum and instruction as well as their historical roots. Students review teaching materials and methods, design curriculum units, design assessment and evaluation instruments, and observe and critique teaching videos. More Info
Offered in:EDC U 466 Teaching and Learning in the Discipline History and Social Studies +
Description:
This course provides an introduction to the theory and practice of teaching the social studies, including history, civics and government, geography, and economics, at the middle and secondary levels. Students will design units of study, individual lessons, and assessments in social studies attentive to the increasing socioeconomic, cultural, linguistic, and ability-level diversity of students in today's classrooms. A required field experience component is included; students are responsible for securing access to a classroom at the level of licensure sought. More Info
Offered in:EDC U 467 Teaching & Learning in the Discipline English +
Description:
This course provides an introduction to the theory and practice of teaching English in middle and secondary classrooms, in particular in ways that take into account the needs and expectations of diverse learners in a multicultural society. The course focuses on participants' on-going inquiry and reflection of field experiences. Participants will connect observed teaching practices, experiences of learners within the major components of the English curriculum, and the relationship and impact of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and high stakes testing preparation on the best practices. More Info
Offered in:EDC U 470 UTeach: Research Methods +
Description:
Learning about science includes both learning material that has already been established (e.g., the structure of DNA, how to find forces on blocks being pushed up a ramp, the definition of an acid) and learning how scientists gained this knowledge (e.g., how new discoveries gain authority and are adopted by the scientific community, how to evaluate scientific claims when they conflict, how to design and carry out investigations to answer new questions). Most high school and undergraduate college science courses are devoted to presenting the first type of knowledge. Education in the second aspect of science has traditionally been left to graduate school. Research Methods simultaneously provides students specific techniques needed to address scientific questions and examples of how to provide this sort of training for students through individualized instruction. Core Components:1. The course is primarily a laboratory course in which students develop and practice skills that are fundamental to the scientific enterprise. 2. The course is organized around four independent inquiries that UTeach students design carry out. 3. The course emphasizes the use of mathematics to model and explain both the natural and man-made worlds.4. The course requires a substantial amount of writing. The written inquiries that students produce are evaluated as examples of scientific writing.5. The course emphasizes the development of skills that are directly applicable in teaching secondary science and mathematics (e.g., use of equipment, preparation of lab materials, safety issues, and use of technology). More Info
Offered in:- TBA
EDC U 475 UTeach: Project-Based Instruction +
Description:
The Project-Based Instruction (PBI) course is based on the premise that project-based instruction engages learners in exploring authentic, important, and meaningful questions of real concern to secondary students. Project-based instruction promotes equitable and diverse participation and engages high school student sin learning. They learn fundamental science and mathematical concepts and principles that they can apply to their daily lives.The overall goal of this course is to help mathematics and science pre-service teachers develop the knowledge, dispositions, and skills needed to be effective teachers in middle and high schools.A major focus of this course is in developing an approach to designing, implementing, and evaluation problem-and project-based curricula and processes by employing approaches that have emerged from collaborations between teachers and researchers. Specifically, four common design principles are emphasized: 1. Defining learning appropriate goals that lead to deep understanding. 2. Providing scaffolds such as beginning with problem-based learning activities before completing a project; using embedded teaching, teaching tools, and a set of contrasting cases.3. Including multiple opportunities for formative self-assessment. 4. Developing social structures that promote participation and revision.PBI has three essential components:Theory-driven perspective: Students learn about how people learn and how project-based instruction may be among our most informed classroom learning environments for bridging the gap between theory and practice. Instructional development: Students develop technological and pedagogical content knowledge as they work toward the design of project-based units. They continually build competency as they read about and discuss the principles of PBI, reflect on observations of project-based learning environments in high school settings, and incorporate what they are learning into the design of problem-based lessons and More Info
Offered in:- TBA
EDC U 497 Special Topics +
Description:
This course offers study of selected topics within this subject. Course content and credits vary according to topic and are announced prior to the registration period. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
EDC U 499 Practicum & Seminar +
Description:
Each practicum provides students with the opportunity to put theory and technique into practice at the level of their specialization. Students demonstrate their teaching skills in a school, with supervision by both a certified cooperating teacher and a member of the University faculty. They also attend a seminar led by the latter. The seminar provides an opportunity for student teachers to share their practicum experiences, to try out and critique plans and ideas, to air and solve problems, and to reflect on the process by which they are becoming education professionals. More Info
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