Life Sciences Education
Associate Professor: Joan Swanson, John Villemaire
Assistant Professor: Dale Boyle, Elizabeth Lapon
Certification in Life Sciences Education is for grades 7-12. In addition to completing the General and Liberal Education Core requirements, students in this program complete a major in either Biology or Environmental Science designed for certification candidates, and complete the required education courses listed below. Students in this certification program may have requirements that non-certification students do not have. Program completion could require overloads, summer school, or a fifth year because of the total number of credits.
In addition to the required education courses listed below, students must meet with both the education advisor and their science major advisor to select courses. This dual advising system is critical to ensuring that they are meeting all of the relevant content certification standards within the content major.
Required Education Courses for Life Science Education
ED105 Educational Psychology
ED112 Teaching and Learning in a Democratic Society
ED224 Design and Management of the Learning Environment 30 hours
ED308 Introduction to Assessment
ED312 Understanding and Teaching Exceptional Learners 15 hours
ED314 Scientific Inquiry and Teaching Methods 15 hours
ED350 Teaching Literacy across the Curriculum 15 hours
ED360 Best Practices in a Secondary Context 30 hours
Total field hours prior to student teaching 105 hours
ED487 Secondary Student Teaching Seminar
ED492 Student Teaching 16 weeks
Specific Testing for Certification
• Basic Academic Skills Assessment (BASA) and Subject Area Testing in Life Science
Biology Education Track
BI101-102 Biology I and II (laboratory) (counts toward GLE core) 8 credits
BI211 Genetics (laboratory) 4 credits
BI319 Cellular Biology (laboratory) 4 credits or
BI325 Microbiology (laboratory) 4 credits
BI215 Biology and Health Sciences Seminar 3 credits
BI218 Ecology or 4 credits
BI241 Evolutionary Biology (laboratory) 4 credits
CH101 General Chemistry I (laboratory) 4 credits
CH102 General Chemistry II (laboratory) 4 credits
Two semesters of Math at the MT151 level or above 6-8 credits
(First semester counts as core requirement, second semester counts towards major)
BI460 Internship in Biology or
BI480 Senior Seminar in Biology/Health Sciences or
BI481 Invited Senior Research 3 credits
Note: Students wishing to complete the Secondary Teacher Certification may substitute ED487 Secondary Student Teaching Seminar (1 credit), and ED492 Secondary Student Teaching (14 credits), for Biology Seminar and Biology Thesis.
Environmental Science Education Track
BI218 Ecology (laboratory)
CIT222 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems: ArcView
ES103 Introduction to Ecosystem and Wildlife Conservation
ES104 Introduction to Natural Resource Conservation
ES108 Nature and Culture
ES210 Evolution of Environmental Thought
ES480 Junior Seminar in Environmental Science
ES490 Environmental Issues: Senior Capstone Project
GL205 Environmental Geology (laboratory)
Math MT151 or higher
Environmental Science Education Track Electives Requirements
In addition to the Environmental Core Requirements, choose at least 3 from the Human
Society Electives list, and at least 1 from the Natural Science Electives list. (Minimum
of 12 credits). Note: No course can count for two requirements in the major.
Recommended Curriculum Guide – Life Sciences
First Year |
|||||||
Fall Semester |
Credits |
Spring Semester |
Credits |
||||
ED112 or ED105 |
Teaching and Learning in a Democratic Society/ Educational Psychology |
3 |
ED112 or ED105 |
Teaching and Learning in a Democratic Society/ Educational Psychology |
3 |
||
______ |
Primary Major |
3 |
______ |
Primary Major |
3 |
||
______ |
Primary Major |
3 |
MT151 or MT260 |
GLE Mathematics Elective |
3 |
||
GLE101 |
First-Year Inquiry Seminar |
3 |
______ |
GLE Social Science |
3 |
||
GLE110 |
First-Year Composition |
3 |
______ |
GLE Humanities |
3 |
||
|
Total |
15 |
|
Total |
15 |
||
Second Year |
|||||||
Fall Semester |
Credits |
Spring Semester |
Credits |
||||
ED224 |
Design and Management of the Learning Environment |
3 |
ED350 |
Teaching Literacy Across the curriculum |
3 |
||
______ |
Primary Major |
3 |
______ |
Primary Major |
3 |
||
______ |
Primary Major |
3 |
______ |
Primary Major |
3 |
||
______ |
GLE Natural Science |
4 |
______ |
GLE Natural Science |
4 |
||
______ |
GLE Social Science |
3 |
GLE230 |
Second-Year Composition |
3 |
||
|
Total |
16 |
|
Total |
16 |
||
Third Year |
|||||||
Fall Semester |
Credits |
Spring Semester |
Credits |
||||
ED308 |
Introduction to Assessment |
3 |
ED312 |
Understanding and Teaching Exceptional Learners |
3 |
||
______ |
Primary Major |
3 |
ED314 |
Scientific Inquiry and Teaching Methods |
3 |
||
______ |
Primary Major |
3 |
______ |
Primary Major |
3 |
||
______ |
GLE Art and Design |
3 |
______ |
Primary Major |
3 |
||
______ |
GLE Humanities |
3 |
______ |
GLE Art and Design |
3 |
||
|
Total |
15 |
|
Total |
15 |
||
Fourth Year |
|||||||
Fall Semester |
Credits |
Spring Semester |
Credits |
||||
ED360 |
Best Practices in a Secondary Context |
3 |
ED492 |
Secondary Student Teaching |
14 |
||
______ |
Primary Major |
3 |
ED487 |
Secondary Student Teaching Seminar |
1 |
||
______ |
Primary Major |
3 |
|
|
|
||
______ |
GLE Humanities |
3 |
|
Total |
15 |
||
|
Total |
12 |
|
Total Credits: |
120 |
||