Secondary STEM

Middle school and high school teachers looking to develop innovative practices in designing an inquiry-based science and/or mathematics classroom, will choose a course of study in Secondary STEM.

This rigorous curriculum challenges secondary teachers to focus their attention on the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment practices that:

• Facilitate the convergence and interdisciplinary nature of STEM as a foundation for teaching;
• Form a more holistic approach to teaching and learning about natural phenomena, teaching you to draw from multiple disciplines to help students develop rigorous explanatory practices in all subjects and make sense of complexity;
• Offer collaborative problem solving and opportunities to engage in rich discourse with instructors and other educators in your field from around the world.

Program Length

The Master’s of Education in Secondary STEM requires a minimum of 32 units of study. The program can be completed in about one year on a full-time basis or over the course of two to three years on a part-time basis.

Course Descriptions

• Framing the Social Context of High Needs Schools

EDU 516

Framing the Social Context of High Needs Schools (Social Context) prepares candidates to understand the relationship between the actions of the teacher and the extent to which students are enabled to learn in the classroom and school context. Candidates will engage in a process of critical reflection and inquiry to adjust their teaching based on student outcomes. This course introduces candidates to content and skills that will be built upon throughout the remainder of the program, and focuses on the “how” of facilitating learning at the classroom level.

Close Course

• The Application of Theories of Learning to Classroom Practice

>EDU 518

The purpose of this course is to provide a sequence of readings and learning experiences that will enable consistent application of theories of learning in designing classroom learning experiences, developing a classroom learning community, and assessing progress towards the expected student learning outcomes. We will cover the primary theories and perspectives related to learning, including behavioral, developmental, cognitive, social cognitive, sociocultural, and constructivist learning theories. In addition, we examine how these different theories address student assessment, motivation, self-regulation, and classroom management.

Close Course

• Multimedia Literacy

EDU 550

Multimedia Literacy is designed to provide candidates with the opportunities to explore an emerging body of literature where media and communication studies converge with educators, researchers, and public policy makers. This course attempts to facilitate the convergence of students’ interests in communications, cultural studies, media production, and literacy education. This course will focus on a set of specific multimedia tools and seeks to increase candidates’ multimedia literacy skills to enable her/him to facilitate student learning using these tools.

Close Course

• Academic Issues Affecting Gifted and High Ability Students

EDU 529

This course provides the understandings and competencies needed to translate political, academic, social, and personal conceptions about nurturing giftedness and talent development into specific curriculum and pedagogical classroom and programmatic practices. The major aim of this course is to facilitate the teacher’s awareness of the institutional and personal factors that inhibit the realization of potential for gifted and high-ability students and the strategies that combat these factors.

Close Course

• New Media Literacies in High Needs Schools

EDU 506

New Media Literacies in High Needs Schools is designed to provide candidates with the opportunities to explore an emerging body of literature where media and communication studies converge with educators, researchers, and public policy makers. This course attempts to facilitate the convergence of students’ interests in communications, cultural studies, media production, and literacy education. Candidates will examine curricular materials, as well as apply learning theories, content knowledge, and the pedagogical repertoire of skills acquired in concurrent courses and threaded throughout the program as the basis for decision-making to positively affect student participation, learning, and outcomes.

Close Course

• STEM Education in Secondary Classrooms

EDU 555

In this course, candidates build their understanding about the convergence and interdisciplinary nature of STEM as a foundation for teaching. The course is designed to provide candidates with the opportunities to develop innovative practices in designing inquiry-based lesson and unit plans. Candidates will learn that STEM forms a more holistic approach to the teaching and learning about natural phenomena. The philosophical underpinnings of this course are rooted in socio-cultural learning theory and brought to life by challenging students to solve real-world problems through constructive activity and modeling processes.

Close Course

• Capstone in Learning and Instruction – A

EDU 569A

This course has been designed to build candidates’ understanding of the impact of action research in education. Through completion of this course, candidates will perceive themselves as teacher researchers, able to identify an educational problem and develop an action research project to address this education-related problem. Candidates will be expected to:

• Identify a problem
• Design a research project
• Collect data
• Analyze the findings
• Present a potential and well-grounded solution to the problem to their colleagues

Close Course

• Introduction to Special Education

EDU 573

This course is designed to enhance teachers’ understanding of how to educate students with disabilities and the rationale for including students with disabilities into effective and appropriate educational settings. The course will address legal requirements, introduce diagnostic / prescriptive teaching, and examine the necessary components for establishing an inclusive classroom. Course participants will conduct observations of children with disabilities in their learning environments.

Close Course

• Discourse Analysis and Technology in STEM Classrooms

EDU 559

In this course candidates will investigate the utility of multiple assessments strategies and technology to assess student’s mathematical and scientific thinking and performance. Candidates will collaboratively engage in an Action Research Lab as a model of professional learning to understand the effectiveness of evidence-based instructional assessment practices currently used in STEM classrooms to improve student learning.

Close Course

• Capstone in Learning and Instruction – B

EDU 569B

While Capstone A focused on Teacher as Researcher as they address a problem of practice at the individual or classroom level related to Human Differences, Capstone B is designed to provide candidates with the opportunity to study and practice the role of Teacher as a Leader, on a wider scale. This includes dissemination and or implementation of the original project or design to a range of colleagues for the purpose of accomplishing change. Here the candidate recognizes and fulfills the role of teacher leader to improve the quality of education provided to all students, across educational settings. Educational change contributes to the quality of institutions and environments, and supports the development of professional knowledge teachers need in order to meet stipulated educational standards and goals. This course requires the teacher to assume the role of teacher leader by implementing a personal vision for change and accomplishing the change envisioned.

Capstone candidates will design an educational change project from their fieldwork setting, and as a participant-researcher, will carry out all steps required to implement and assess the results of the change project. They will have a clear plan for both long term and short term project assessment, and be able to set goals for the educational settings based on project results.

Close Course

• Teacher Leadership

EDU 564

The purpose of this course is to provide experienced teachers with an opportunity to lead a change effort. While the Capstone project is specifically geared to addressing problems of practice in the area of Human Differences, in this course, candidates work on a project that results in student improvement in an area of importance to them. All candidates will explore the strategies of leadership that help teachers move from influencing learning in their classroom to influencing learning across a department or even an entire school – from being a teacher to being an instructional leader.

Close Course

• Transforming STEM Education into Teaching Science

EDU 580

This course facilitates the convergence of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as a foundation for teaching science. Candidates will learn that STEM forms a more holistic approach to teaching and learning about natural phenomena.

This courses will integrate ideas from the EDU 564 Teacher Leadership course to prepare candidates to become STEM teacher leaders. Candidates also participate in the USC STEM Teacher Network to reinvigorate their STEM education, as participation in a collaborative learning community is essential for developing an innovative approach to STEM teaching. Candidates continue to shape their professional learning plan as a STEM teacher leader and delve deeper into topics from critical pedagogy to interdisciplinarity to capture the interests of their diverse learners. Finally, to become teacher leaders, candidates develop skills to improve STEM teaching locally, nationally, and globally.

Close Course

Click here to learn more about the program or to speak with an Admissions Counselor call 1.888.628.1872.