Elementary Education (ELEM)

This course will facilitate the acquisition/attainment of knowledge necessary for educators to support and meet the health, nutrition and LOCOMOTOR/PHYSICAL needs of the elementary students with whom they will work/educate.

This course will provide students with the knowledge and understanding needed to select appropriate techniques to support elementary students in the creative arts. Students will use the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills to develop activities that support personal expression through visual arts, music, creative movement, dance, and theatre.

This course provides the conceptual framework for exploring EC-6 mathematics integrated with engineering for deeper understanding, connections, and communication. Formal and informal geometry and measurement concepts and skills will be developed through problem-solving scenarios in collaborative groups. Manipulatives and technology will support the problem-solving approach.  This course is designed to emphasize in-depth basic understandings of geometry and measurement, which is a core idea in the EC-6 mathematics curriculum. Communicating concepts, processes or solutions effectively, in oral and written forms, will be emphasized.

A study of assessment for children EC-6 utilizing both formal and informal instruments will be addressed. A knowledge of choosing, administering, and reporting developmental assessment will be explored with an emphasis on assessment tools that can be used by teachers of young children. Principles of designing and using assessment and evaluation techniques that are culturally fair, intellectually sound, reliable, and content-valid for young children. Differentiation among criterion-referenced, norm-referenced, individual, informal, authentic, and group assessments will be emphasized. Students will review strategies for using assessment data to design instruction, and match assessment techniques to individual children and learning situations.

This course will expose students to skills and concepts taught in the Social Studies curriculum in the elementary school. Developmentally appropriate strategies, concepts, and curricular materials used in teaching the Social Studies will be emphasized.

Prerequisite: EDUC 1354.

This course prepares preservice teachers to construct a comprehensive understanding of effective mathematics instruction in grades K-6. The course includes content, methods, and materials of elementary school mathematics instruction.

Prerequisite: EDUC 2211 and SMTE 3352.

This course provides the conceptual framework for exploring EC-6 science with deeper understanding, connections, and communication. It is designed to provide preservice teachers with a global understanding of teaching science in the EC-6 school setting. The major goal is to prepare teachers who can educate students to become scientifically literate. This aim requires preservice teachers to learn about the nature of science, to engage in science investigations, and to construct understanding of natural phenomena, forming an elaborate cognitive framework of scientific concepts. Students' prior knowledge from previous courses will be essential to their performance in this course, namely: technology in the classroom, lesson planning, curriculum organization, and student assessment.