Curriculum: Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction

This course is part of the CI masters core. The course focuses on how curriculum and curricular activities are developed and impacted by legislative, and socio-political forces. The classwill investigate the interaction of curriculum implementation and models of instruction in respect to student learning as well as how that curriculum is shaped.

This course is a required course for middle childhood and secondary licensure. This course exposes students to the problems, issues, and experiences of students from under-represented groups based on race, ethnicity, language, socio-economic status, and sexual identity. Students will use their experiences in field placements as starting points for reflection.

This course provides an overview of the increasingly complex array of digital media and technology-based resources available for use in blended and online environments. Students will apply theory to practice to truly redefine lessons to enhance learning through technology. Students will also learn practical skills, ranging from facilitation skills needed to manage a technology-based class to troubleshooting technology problems.  The course also explores burning issues surrounding educational technology such as inequalities and accessibility issues, technology distractions, internet safety, and other ethical issues. It also examines the disruptive innovation of Generative AI on teaching and learning.

This class focuses on the historical, political, policy issues that are embedded in the development of classroom teaching and teachers in America. The course explores how teachers recreate social norms or are able to disrupt them leading to change. Participants will be expected to compare and reflect upon their own practices as teachers within our democratic society.

Students will explore the full range of educational research in current practice and develop an understanding of the role and limitations of research for informing educational practice. Students will select a topic of interestto them and conduct a literature review of this topic culminating in a final paper that demonstrates their knowledge of the literature, ability to read and synthesize research, and writeaccording to standard protocols.

Study of teacher behaviors that influence the academic achievement of students. Participants learn new effective pedagogy and implement one or more of the various strategies into their diverse clinical placements, gather data, and analyze the impact on student learning. This clinical experience can be completed in a student's current work setting or in a arranged placement determined with their advisors. Students in the medical and advanced teaching master's degree programs must participate in the field experience prior to the completion of their degree.

This course is an introduction to teaching children and youth who are gifted, creative, or talented. This course provides an introduction to the historical foundations and issues related to the schooling, learning and instruction of students identified as having special educational needs. The focus of this course is the foundational knowledge related to problems and characteristics of students identified as gifted, creative or talented.

This course addresses the issues of learning environments, classroom management, and classroom climate for students who are gifted, creative, or talented. Participants are also introduced to instructional strategies and materials to support students identified as gifted, creative, or talented.

This course addresses the nature and components ofeffective assessment of learners who are gifted, creative or talented. The candidate will be able to analyze and understand a variety of assessment tools, selecting the appropriate strategy for a designated purpose. In addition, various elements,such as the implications of effective assessment for professional development, and the role of biasand distortion in the assessment process will be discussed. After completing the course, the candidate will also be able to discuss contextual elements, such as cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity and disposition that influence assessment.

This course addresses issues of collaboration, a cornerstone of effective practice in the educationof students who are gifted, creative, or talented.This course addresses concepts and methods vital to quality collaboration, consultation, and communication. This course addresses the interrelationships among cultural, linguistic, andethnic diversity and giftedness and talent development.The primary purpose of this course, consistent with this mission, is to develop knowledge, understanding, and respect for the needs and requirements of students with diverse learning needs in varied educational settings. Critical to this purpose is an understanding the role of cultural and diversity in identifying children and youth with gifts and talents, as wellas family and cultural issues.

This practicum consists of an approved 75 hour field experience and an online seminar class. The field experience provides candidates an opportunity to practice the skills and demonstratethe appropriate dispositions for meeting the needsof students who are gifted, creative, or talented.Students apply theories and methods in the teaching of gifted, talented, or creative studentsin a classroom setting by engaging in teaching andaction research activities. Teaching is self-evaluated by the student, and reviewed by thementor and university instructor. The seminar willplace emphasis on deriving instructional recommendations from online discussion of readings, self-reflections, and teaching and assessment activities for PK-grade 12 gifted, talented, or creative students conducted as part of their action research project. The methodology of instruction will provide direct opportunities for students to apply constructs learned to their field experience. Participants will also develop, use, and publish lesson plans.

This course will provide an interdisciplinary approach to integrating STEM into practice across the disciplines. The course will involve the participation in problem-based and project-based learning activities, mathematics and science inquiries learning tasks, and using technology to gain and display information. Students will practice backwards design to develop their own STEM learning activity. Graduate students will implement their activity in a classroom and monitor student learning outcomes.

Study of teacher behaviors that influence the academic achievement of students. Participants learn new effective pedagogy and implement one or more of the various strategies into their diverse clinical placements, gather data, and analyze the impact on student learning. This clinical experience can be completed in a student's current work setting or in a arranged placement determined with their advisors. Students in the medical and advanced teaching master's degree programs must participate in the field experience prior to the completion of their degree.

This course involves writing a proposal and obtaining a master committee's approval of that project proposal. The course also involves completing research and writing for the final master's project.

Attitude formation and change theories will be studied relative to generally accepted goals of classroom instruction. Theoretically sound ideas for influencing student attitudes and the value decisions teachers must make when deciding to influence attitudes will be examined. Reactive andunobtrusive measures for assessing student attitudes will be presented. Each participant willbe required to identify a specific attitude related to classroom instruction which she/he would like to change, to review relevant research literature related to the target attitude, to formulate theoretically sound strategies and activities for bringing about the desired attitudechange, and to develop a suitable means for assessing changes in attitudes that result when the attitude change program is used in her/his setting. The focus of the course is on developing ideas that are pertinent to educational settings, but the examples and applications of attitude formation and change ideas will be suitable for other fields as well.

This course is appropriate for students who teach mathematics, science or interdisciplinary course work in a variety of school settings and grade levels, K-12. Specific strategies and general heuristics are discussed.