NATS 106 - Natural Science for Elementary Ed

Minimum Credit(s) Awarded: 4
Maximum Credit(s) Awarded: 4

This course is for Elementary Education majors only, to fulfill the science content requirement for elementary and middle school teaching licensure. This course works to integrate major scientific principles, concepts, and practices from life, physical, earth/space, and environmental sciences. Utilizing an anchoring phenomenon to more deeply explore big ideas in science, students will delve into science content to prepare them to teach elementary and middle school science. The course focuses on three major elements of science as a discipline: 1) the nature and scope of science (science as a “way of knowing”; what science is and how it works; what makes science different from other disciplines), 2) the relationship between science and society (science and technology; the usefulness and limitations of science in society), and 3) the practice of science (hypothesis-testing and theory formation; experimental design; data collection and analysis). All three of these elements are approached using specific science content from different sciences, including biology, ecology, environmental science, chemistry, physics, earth science, and astronomy. The course does not serve as a prerequisite for other courses in chemistry, biology, or geoscience, except by special permission of the instructors. This course is meant to be taken alongside the Science Teaching Methods course (ED 426 ), allowing students to learn the science content, then engage in practices around how to teach that content to elementary and middle school students.

Offered Fall

Prerequisite(s): A declared major in Elementary Education