B.A./M.A. in Educational Innovation — Secondary Education
Degree Requirements
In addition to the requirements below for the B.A. in Educational Foundations, students need to satisfy the general requirements for a bachelor’s degree.
To graduate with a a B.A. in Educational Foundations and an M.A. in Educational Innovation (Secondary Track) students must complete the following courses (Total of four semesters: 68 credits).
Core courses in Educational Foundations, taken as a 4th Year Student
- ED 400 Theory and Practice of Consciousness-Based Education
Consciousness-Based Education is the approach developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to restore knowledge of the knower as the foundation and the goal of education. The course introduces the principles, practices, and a broad overview of the research on this approach to education. (2 credits)
- ED 420 The Neurophysiology of Learning and Development
This course has two parts: the first deals with theories of human development; the second deals with theories of learning, both introduced in the context of neurophysiological development. The first part of the course looks at theories of both cognitive and affective development and deals with topics such as factors influencing development, endpoints of development, and the nature of intelligence. The second part of the course focuses both on cognitive and behavioral views of learning. Topics include classical and operant conditioning, social learning, information processing, problem solving, creativity, and constructivism. (4 credits)
- ED 407 Stability and Change in American Education
Explores the history of American Education, its traditions and its efforts to reform and improve. Students also learn about Consciousness-Based Education as a part of this reform effort. They study research on educational innovations with promise for improving school performance. Other topics include school law, structure of American education, major legislative initiatives, basics of reading educational research.
- ED 430 Technology in the Service of Learning
Introduces students to the range of educational technologies being used in schools today and a number of technologies that have not yet made their way into common use. Technologies studied include the interactive whiteboard, video capture of lecture or student presentation, podcasting, social media, and various Web 2.0 resources. Students add technologies to their existing repertoire and learn to evaluate the appropriateness of technologies for educational goals. (4 credits)
- ED 440 Building Community
Introduces the sociology of community life and the factors that affect the health of communities. Students learn about strongly and weakly cohesive communities and strategies that schools can adopt to strengthen a community and support students and their families. Topics include the indicators of stress and health in a community, service learning, ecology of learning, and coherence of collective consciousness. (2 credits)
- ED 460 Consciousness-Based Curriculum and Evaluation Design
Students learn to plan a unit of instruction using the approach of “backward design,” in the context of Consciousness-Based Education. The primary tools of CBE learned are the Unified Field Chart, the main point chart, and the course overview chart. The course also introduces the fundamental principles and methods for creating classroom assessments. (4 credits)
Courses for the Secondary School Teacher
- ED 470 Mastering Classroom Management
Students learn the fundamental principles and strategies of classroom management in the context of American schools. Students learn to respond quickly and intelligently to common dilemmas of classroom life, both in written form and in role playing scenarios. Topics include the rationale for classroom management, building relationships, getting organized, planning the first month, motivation, addressing minor and major infractions, and addressing chronic behavior problems.
- ED 480 Secondary Methods
This course requires that students investigate the planning, teaching, and assessment strategies that are appropriate to their intended teaching area. Students spend a good portion of their time observing and assisting in a secondary school classroom. They prepare and teach one or more lessons. Specific topics include national standards, scope and sequence in their subject, clinical interviews of students, main concepts of the discipline, and design of main points and Unified Field Charts. (4-6 credits)
- ED 426 Teaching with Learner Differences in Mind
Several kinds of differences are introduced in this course, but the two explored in most depth are differences of gifted and handicapped students, and differences due to ethnic and social backgrounds. The course meets the Iowa topics to be covered as part of a Human Relations component, including the values, life styles, history, and contributions of various identifiable subgroups in our society; federal and state civil rights legislation, and legislation protecting the rights of exceptional children. (4 credits)
Student Teaching and Final Project
- ED 569 Student Teaching in the Secondary School
Through daily observing, course planning, teaching, and evaluation, students come to assume the responsibility of the full-time teacher. Critiques by supervising and cooperating teachers and by the student teacher, weekly seminars, regular observations, and written student analyses of their teaching promote comfortable and efficient growth toward effective teaching, educational evaluation, and school leadership. Students gain experience at both the middle school and high school levels. (28 credits)
- ED 593 Capstone Project in Educational Innovation
Students work with an advisor to plan and execute a final project, which may be focused on library research on a particular educational innovation in greater depth, or on the design of an educational program or institution applying a set of educational innovations. Each final project is presented to the community in a multi-media presentation at the end of the course. (8 credits)
The content of this page was reviewed in October 2011.
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