Earth Science Education

A. Interdisciplinary Seminar Series:

The Nature of Science and the Human Endeavor (4 session, 0 credit requirement. See Advisor for each semester’s schedule.)

B. Required Professional Studies in Education Courses

SSE 327 Middle Childhood/Adolescent Development

SSE 350 Foundations in Education

LIN 344 Language Acquisition and Literacy Development

SCI 410 Pedagogy and Methods in Science Education I

SCI 449 Field Experience I (co-requisite SCI 410)

SCI 420 Pedagogy and Methods in Science Education II

SCI 450 Field Experience II (co-requisite SCI 420)

SCI 451 Supervised Student Teaching 7 – 9

SCI 452 Supervised Student Teaching 10 - 12

SCI 454 Student Teaching Seminar

Note: Prior to admission to student teaching candidates will be interviewed by a committee to assess the ability to speak extemporaneously about both earth science concepts and pedagogical issues. Students who are not successful in this interview will be counseled in order to remedy deficiencies. Upon completion of the remediation another interview will be held. In the event that a student is unable to satisfy the interview component, the student will not advance to student teaching until this requirement is satisfied.

** Note: 75 days of student teaching are required. Dependent on the semester and public school vacation schedules, student teaching may extend beyond the university semester calendar.

C. Field Experience

Field Experience sites for all teacher candidates are arranged through SCI 449 and SCI 450. Assignments and details are distributed in SCI 410 and SCI 420. New York State requires 100 hours of field experience in partnership schools prior to student teaching

D. State Tests, Mandated Seminars and Fingerprinting

All students must earn a passing grade on all three sections of the New York State Teacher Certification Exams (NYSTCE) prior to student teaching. Students must not only pass the Content Specialty Test (CST) in earth science, they must score at least 220 on all sections of the exam. Students with scores lower than 220 on any section of the CST must pass an alternate exam on the concepts of that section administered by the content advisor. Copies of NYSTCE applications are located in Harriman Hall 202 and the Career Development office in the Main Library.

All students must be fingerprinted and complete three mandated seminars: Training in Child Abuse Recognition, Substance Abuse Education, and School Violence and Intervention, prior to student teaching.  For further information, contact the School of Professional Development at 631-632-7550 or visit their website at www.sunysb.edu/spd.

E. Language Requirement:

New York State certification requires at least one year of college level study of a foreign language.

F. Professional Portfolio

The Professional Portfolio is presented and defended at the conclusion of student teaching. It includes many performance indicators of standards-based teaching competencies.