Mission and Philosophy

 
Mission Statement:
The mission of the Natural Science Program at the University of New Mexico is to provide pre-service elementary and middle school teachers with the understanding of science content and processes necessary to teach science confidently and competently in their future classrooms.  This is accomplished by addressing diverse learning styles and guiding students to build scientific concepts in personally meaningful ways through modeling of effective teaching techniques in our classrooms. What this means specifically includes the following items and goals:
  1. We teach fewer things with greater focus on concepts and student exploration.
  2. We stress hands-on, inquiry-based activities to fortify in-class discussions and lecture.
  3. We encourage students to do the teaching through in-class presentations.
  4. We use a variety of assessment tools including testing, oral re-tests, student projects, class presentations, etc.
  5. Where possible, we use field trips to strengthen student understanding.
 


 
 
 

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