Middle School Education Mathematics (5-8) Initial Teacher Licensure Concentration, Mathematics, BSE

Major
On Campus, Day
Mathematics
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In Short

Middle School Education Mathematics combines core courses in mathematics, 5-12 education, and licensure specific coursework with multiple field-based experiences in middle school settings.

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What will I do?
  • Develop effective thinking and communication skills
  • Learn to link applications and theory
  • Learn to use technological tools
  • Develop mathematical independence and experience open-ended inquiry

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Program Overview

Students within the Mathematics Middle Level (5-8) Education concentration may pursue initial teacher licensure as a middle school mathematics (grades 5-8) teacher by completing a Mathematics major, Middle and Secondary (5-12) Education minor and a series of licensure specific courses. In this concentration students will learn the theory, research, and pedagogy necessary to teach middle school Mathematics through Middle and Secondary Education (5-12) minor and licensure specific courses, and develop mathematics content knowledge through the Mathematics major.

Throughout the program of study, students will complete several field-based experiences in middle school settings, which will be supervised by university supervising practitioners and/or university faculty supervisors.These field-based experiences will provide students with opportunities to observe and participate in middle school instruction that incorporates what students are learning in their education pedagogy classes as well as mathematics content that they are learning in their mathematics courses. Students will complete a formal practicum for their Middle School Education major as required for initial teacher licensure.

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Experiential Opportunities

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Practicum

The purpose of the student teaching practicum/internship is to provide candidates who have reached the teacher candidacy stage of their academic programs with hands-on experience in an approved school setting.
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Study Abroad

Faculty-led study abroad course opportunities increase student life-transforming experiences, as do student/faculty cooperative research projects.
Read more about: Study Abroad

Curriculum and Other Information

Develop effective thinking and communication skills.

  1. state problems carefully, articulate assumptions, understand the importance of precise definition, and reason logically to conclusions;
  2. identify and model essential features of a complex situation, modify models as necessary for tractability, and draw useful conclusions;
  3. deduce general principles from particular instances;
  4. use and compare analytical, visual, and numerical perspectives in exploring mathematics;
  5. assess the correctness of solutions, create and explore examples, carry out mathematical experiments, and devise and test conjectures;
  6. recognize and make mathematically rigorous arguments
  7. read mathematics with understanding;
  8. communicate mathematical ideas clearly and coherently both verbally and in writing to audiences of varying mathematical sophistication;
  9. approach mathematical problems with curiosity and creativity and persist in the face of difficulties;
  10. work creatively and self-sufficiently with mathematics

Learn to link applications and theory.

  1. Mathematics students should encounter a range of contemporary applications that motivate and illustrate the ideas they are studying
  2. learn to apply mathematical ideas to problems in those areas.
  3. Students should come to see mathematical theory as useful and enlightening in both pure and applied contexts.

Learn to use technological tools.

  1. Mathematical sciences major programs should teach students to use technology effectively, both as a tool for solving problems
  2. Mathematical sciences major programs should teach students to use technology effectively, as an aid to exploring mathematical ideas.
  3. Use of technology should occur with increasing sophistication throughout a major curriculum.

Develop mathematical independence and experience open-ended inquiry.

  1. A mathematical sciences major should be structured to move students beyond the carefully choreographed mathematical experiences of the classroom.
  2. A major curriculum should gradually prepare students to pursue open-ended questions
  3. to speak and write about mathematics with increasing depth and sophistication.