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:
-
We teach fewer things with
greater focus on concepts and student exploration.
-
We stress hands-on, inquiry-based
activities to fortify in-class discussions and lecture.
-
We encourage students to
do the teaching through in-class presentations.
-
We use a variety of assessment
tools including testing, oral re-tests, student projects, class presentations,
etc.
-
Where possible, we use field
trips to strengthen student understanding.
Back
to Natural Sciences Homepage