Project Title

STEM Certificate Course Development

Name of Award

Curriculum Development Award

Date Awarded

11-2015

Department/School

Education

Project Description

Natasha Yates, Assistant Professor of Education, received a $2,033 Curriculum Development Award to examine course requirements as they relate to the needs of K-6 elementary education majors.

The Minnesota Department of Education requires that elementary school teachers from pre-school through sixth grade (K-6) are required to teach science, engineering and math. Yet, primary school teachers have limited science and engineering knowledge, resulting in minimal confidence in their ability to teach science, let alone engineering. When teachers in the K-6 departments, 71% agreed that elementary teacher education programs should require their undergraduates to take more coursework in science and science teaching methods.

In 2004, the Minnesota Board of Education informed St. Catherine University that our teacher candidates were not taking enough science: in response, an interdisciplinary STEM minor was designed based on the MN Board of Teaching standards.

St. Catherine University students working towards a K-6 teaching license are required to take three science courses: Environmental Biology, Chemistry of Life, and Engineering in Your World. The courses were designed to, meet the Minnesota Board of Teaching Science & Engineering Standards that institutions of higher education are required to teach their K-6 elementary education majors.

Dr. Yates study will measure how the SCU undergraduate STEM Certification is correlated to the hiring of students in the competitive job market.

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