LRS 210. Applied Scientific Approaches for Future Teachers (3)

Prerequisite: Liberal Studies ITEP-Freshman Option students only. Corequisites: LRS 200 and LRS 200L. This course provides aspiring elementary school teachers with a philosophical understanding of key facets of science including argumentation and evidence, explanations, models, and empirical investigations. In tandem, students think about the pedagogical and cognitive underpinnings of these facets of science. The course will also look at the nature of some of students’ alternative conceptions in science and strategies for assessing and addressing children’s existing beliefs. As a corequisite of LRS 200L and LRS 200, this course will have a focus on physical science in particular and deal with ways of applying and contextualizing knowledge of physical science in the elementary school classroom. Students are required to connect theory with practice and complete up to 10 hours of observation and/or participation at local elementary schools.