Education–Elementary

(2 credits) This course provides philosophical, historical, social and economical foundational background for students considering the teaching profession. Note: This course includes a field experience. Students must earn a C- or better in order to fulfill program requirements for elementary licensure.

(1 credit) This course requires 30 clock-hours of field experience with a certified teacher in an area school. Prerequisite: EDU102. (Note: Graded on a pass/no pass basis.)

(3 credits) This course provides an overview of the history of special education up to and including present day trends and practices in education students with exceptionalities. Various areas of exceptionality are explored, including ways to support students with diverse learning and behavioral needs in inclusionary environments. Note: This course includes a field experience. Students must earn a C- or better in order to fulfill program requirements for elementary licensure.

(2 credits) This course enables students to develop proficiency with a variety of technologies available for classroom instruction. It also provides insights and tools that would apply to 1:1 classrooms, flipped classrooms and online learning. Most of the coursework is based as students demonstrate basic working knowledge of various tools and equipment.

(3 credits) This course is designed to provide basic skills for integrating music, theatre, art, and physical education in the elementary school classroom as well as strategies for cooperative opportunities with the specialized teachers. We will concentrate on effective teaching strategies, which include planning, implementing, and evaluating the teaching process. Course content will include practicing teaching techniques and learning pedagogy related to the integration of these specials in the elementary classroom.

(2 credits) The application of psychological principles to the learner, the learning process and the learning situation. This course not only explores learning theories that impact education today, but also has an emphasis on developing appropriate motivation techniques, creating developmentally appropriate and productive learning environments, developing classroom management, as well as developing authentic and appropriate evaluation and assessment. Prerequisites: EDU102, and PSY221SS or 224.

(2 credits) This course is designed to provide an overview of various models for classroom and behavior management. The course will emphasize both theoretical and practical dimensions of behavior and social concerns. Note: This course includes a 10 hour field experience. Prerequisite: EDU206.

(3 credits) A foundational course for the teaching of mathematics at the elementary and middle school levels. Candidates will understand and utilize materials, lesson design, methods and procedures to teach basic math properties, functions and formulas. Prerequisite: Admission to the Teacher Education Program. Note: This course includes a field experience. Students must earn a "C" or better to fulfill program requirements for elementary licensure.

(3 credits) A foundational course for the teaching of language arts at the elementary and middle school levels. Candidates will understand and utilize materials, lesson design, methods and procedures to teach reading, writing, spelling, handwriting and grammar. Prerequisite: EDU206. Note: This course includes a field experience. Students must earn a "C" orbetter to fulfill program requirements for elementary licensure.

(3 credits) A foundational course for the teaching of science at the elementary and middle school levels. Candidates will understand and utilize materials, lesson design, methods and procedures to teach earth and space science. Prerequisite: Admission to the Teacher Education Program. Note: This course includes a field experience. Candidates must earn a "C" or better to fulfill program requirements for elementary licensure.

(2 credits) A foundational course for the teaching of social studies at the elementary and middle school levels. Candidates will understand and utilize materials, lesson design, methods and procedures to teach economics and civic literacy. Prerequisite: Admission to the Teacher Education Program. Note: This course includes a field experience. Students must earn a "C" or better to fulfill program requirements for elementary licensure.

(3 credits) This course addresses major issues and concepts associated with living in a culturally diverse society and/or teaching in culturally diverse settings. Students will consider ways in which ethnicity, gender/sexuality, social class, and religion intersect and influence beliefs and behaviors. Note: This course includes field experience.

No course description available.

(2 credits) The liberally educated Christian teacher is the knowledgeable servant of God and society and this course examines the reasoning behind policies and methods of teaching, learning and schooling. Various schools of thought are discussed, including a distinctively Christian perspective, to prepare students to serve as professional teachers. This course is the NWCore course for education students. Note: Advised to be taken the term before student teaching.

(4-16 credits) This experience will include the observation, engagement and instruction of an elementary classroom for 4-16 weeks while under the supervision of a licensed, qualified teacher. Exact number of weeks/credits required will be determined by student teacher coordinator and department chair. Candidates will draw from and develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions in planning, instruction, assessment and professionalism learned and assessed throughout the elementary education program. Candidates are expected to model "Teacher as Servant" throughout the experience by serving God and society in diverse classroom settings. Note: Graded on a pass/no pass basis. Successful completion of student teaching is a necessary step towards licensure; a passing grade for student teaching does not guarantee licensure recommendation from department.

(3 credits) (NWCore option under Quantitative Reasoning) MAT107QR is a study of the topics necessary and helpful for competent and enthusiastic teaching of mathematics in the elementary school. The course topics include numbers and operations, number bases, fractions, decimals, ratio, measurement, geometry, number theory, data analysis, and probability. The goal of the course is to develop conceptual understanding of these topics through the 5 process standards proposed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: problem solving, reasoning and proof, communication, connections, and representations as well as the Standards for Mathematical Content and Practice from the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. While not used exclusively, this course emphasizes inquiry-based activities that will help you to analyze and understand children's ways of thinking, effective communication of mathematical ideas, and use of appropriate manipulatives and technology for teaching. Course enrollment is limited to Education majors and does not count toward a math major or math minor. Prerequisite: Prerequisite: ACT math score of 20 or above (SAT 510 or above), ALEKS placement exam score of 46 or above, concurrent enrollment in MAT100, or grade of C- or better in MAT100 (taken concurrently with MAT127 in a prior semester). Note: Course enrollment is limited to elementary education majors only and does not count toward a math major or minor.

(3 credits) MAT127 is designed to help you understand and teach the aspects of algebra that are highly relevant to elementary and middle school classrooms. Throughout the course, topics are explored through rich problems and investigations, enabling you to deepen your conceptual understanding of algebraic concepts and to enhance your pedagogical practices. Course discussions, activities, projects, and explorations will focus on the following topics: *Problem Solving *Solving Equations *Patterns & Sequences *Representing Functional Relationships *Quadratic Functions *Exponential Functions *Properties of Numbers and Operations *Algebraic Proof. Prerequisite: ACT math score of 20 or above (SAT 510 or above), ALEKS placement exam score of 46 or above, concurrent enrollment in MAT100, or grade of C- or better in MAT100 (taken concurrently with MAT107QR in a prior semester). Note: This course is limited to elementary education majors only. Does not count toward a math major or minor.

(4 credits) (NWCore option under Historical Perspectives) This course surveys United States history until the Civil War. It gives students a broad exposure to significant trends and competing narratives in the first half of U.S. history through an integration of lectures, discussions, readings and activities with primary and secondary sources. We will examine the encounter between people from the Americas, Europe, and Africa, the creation and development of the American nation state, immigration, ethnicity, and the shifting definitions of what constitutes an "American", movements promoting reform and social justice along the lines of race, class, and gender, and demographic and economic changes. We will also consider how Christians in America challenged and critiqued American life, culture, and policy.

(4 credits) (NWCore option under Self and Society) (American politics) A broad survey of the major political and governmental institutions in the United States, this course examines how citizens attempt to influence their government and how the government responds. The course also develops the foundations for a biblical perspective on the role of government and the role of citizens.

(4 credits ) (NWCore option under Self and Society) This course explores the development of the child from the prenatal period into adolescence. Children's physical, cognitive, emotional, personality, social, moral and faith development is examined. Psychological research methods for studying children are covered.

(4 credits) (NWCore option under Literary Contexts) ENG250LC offers students an introduction to literary study. The topics of individual sections vary by instructor and term. After completing this writing-intensive course, students will be able to imagine other lives, times, and places by reading a variety of texts; empathize with characters who have diverse stories and perspectives; analyze different genres of literature using the tools of literary study; craft a coherent essay with a clear thesis and careful textual analysis; articulate ways that literature speaks to and informs their own lives; express delight in God through the beauty of language and literary text; and witness God?s presence in the world through literature. Topics include: American Literature and the Rhetoric of Freedom: Americans often regard freedom as the defining characteristic of both their nation and themselves. This course examines how the rhetoric of freedom has been a force in American literature. We will complicate our understanding of American freedom by examining how it has been continually redefined throughout the nation?s literary history. We will consider how minority and oppressed groups have used the rhetoric of freedom to advance their own liberation and how Christian religions concepts and language have contributed to this rhetoric. Students will practice reading and writing critically and become familiar with a variety of literary genres, including historical narrative, autobiography, poetry, drama, essays, short stories, and novels. Literature in the World: This course teaches students to appreciate the aesthetic value of literature and consider its cultural contexts. The course explores the beauty of language, the importance of understanding the self and others, and invites readers to consider how literature contributes to our contemporary culture. The course is arranged thematically and content varies from year to year. Themes may include, but are not limited to: immigration, war, poverty, the power of metaphor, and visual art and literature. Literary Imaginations: For literature to be more than ink stains on white paper, we must use our imaginations to give it life. In this course we shall read works from throughout human history and around the world (India, Greece, Italy, England, Russia, Nigeria, Ireland, Japan) to imagine and understand the world that people have believed in, created, and inhabited. The Lives of Others: This course explores 4000 years of stories, from ancient Mesopotamia to the American South. Plays, poems, epics, and autobiographies broaden our perspective on the world and deepen our understanding of being human. Two central themes of the course are perceptions of difference and expressions of faith. Strangers, Gods, and Monsters: As careful, critical readers, we will come face to face with all sorts of strangers, gods and monsters (both mythic and modern) as we journey through New Mexico deserts, English monasteries, modern day American prisons, contemporary Nigerian villages, Aboriginal healing ceremonies, and deep into the heart of Japan?s 17th century Samurai culture. Disney: What do a pocket-sized dragon, a talking willow tree, and a confused rooster have in common? Their characters debuted in film. Disneyâ??s Mushu, Grandmother Willow, and HeiHei were not in the original stories from which Disney drew inspiration. This course is an introduction to the art of adaptation and explores many of the literary contexts upon which the Disneyâ??s storytelling empire was built. Students will learn how to research, analyze, and discuss written and visual texts, and to create their own adaptations of literature through papers, storyboards, and multimedia projects.

(2 credits) This course focuses on the history of children's literature and its uses in the classroom. This course provides an introduction to the criteria and selection of Children's literature for elementary school students. Various genres are detailed, and ideas for curriculum integration are discussed. A study of illustrations and authors is included. Note: This course includes field experience.