Emphasis is placed on plant and animal phyla, organs and organ systems of both plants and animals. Three lecture/discussion periods are held weekly.

Offered spring semester. Concurrent registration in B121 is required.

Laboratory studies complementing B120 include plant and animal hormones and reproduction, bacterial techniques, and phylogenetic investigations. The lab meets for one three-hour session each week. Offered spring semester.

Concurrent registration in B120 is required.

This course serves as an overview of American history for elementary education majors. It is organized around the social studies standard defined by the Minnesota Department of Education, and as such stresses, in the context of United States and Minnesota history, (1) concepts of the ways human beings view themselves in and over time, and (2) concepts of people, places, and environments. The course pays special attention to the various periods into which historians divide American history; the racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity that has marked American society throughout its history; the creation and development of the United States’ political and economic institutions; the role the United States has played in the world; and the ways in which changing interpretations of their own history has shaped Americans’ understanding of their identity.

Offered spring semester. Class is available only for elementary education.

Prerequisites:

AC223 Financial Accounting Principles

This course includes concepts essential to mathematics and is required for elementary education majors. Topics include: set theory, numbers and numeration, operations, number theory, rational numbers, and problem solving. This course is open only to elementary education majors.

Offered spring semester. Prerequisite: mathematics competency.

This course includes concepts essential to mathematics and is required for elementary education majors. Topics include: informal geometry, measurement, problem solving, descriptive statistics, and elementary probability. This course is open only to elementary education majors.

Offered fall semester. Prerequisite: mathematics competency.

This course examines physical, geological, and astronomical processes involved in shaping the Earth and other planets. The geological processes acting on the Earth and the natural history of the Earth are studied first, and then used to examine the other bodies of the solar system, studying how the physical characteristics of the planets influence and are influenced by the same basic processes operating in different ways. Topics include: the properties of Earth materials, the evolution of the Earth and geological structures, matter and energy in the Earth system, the Earth in the solar system and the universe, fundamental issues of planetary science, and fundamentals of observational astronomy and objects in the sky (moon phases, properties of orbits, etc.).

Offered every spring. Prerequisite: mathematics competency.

This course is intended for elementary education majors as well as other non-science majors. It examines the conceptual frameworks that underlie physics, including mechanics, heat, electricity and magnetism, and light. Two hours of lecture and one two-hour lab per week.

Offered every spring and in alternate fall semesters. Prerequisite: mathematics competency.

A basic course on the nature and purpose of our U.S. political system; includes the Constitution, institutions, processes and persons that combine to form our federal government. The student is exposed to a variety of approaches to political study.

General Psychology provides an overview of the methods, fundamental principles, and major perspectives which define the discipline of psychology. Intrapersonal and/or interpersonal psychological processes involved in the biological basis of behavior, sleeping and dreaming, conditioning and learning, cognition, lifespan human development, abnormal psychology, and psychological treatment. Classical and contemporary research and perspectives including the biological, cognitive, behavioral, psychodynamic, humanistic, sociocultural and evolutionary perspectives are explored. Students are actively involved through application, interactive exercises, simulations, and projects.

First Year Seminar provides new students at Saint Mary’s University with an integrated, initial academic experience that enables them to successfully begin the process of developing a Lasallian identity as educated and compassionate adults committed to ethical participation in our global society. To facilitate a practical transition from high school to college, emphasis is placed on developing the academic skills and attitudes necessary for students to think critically about those questions that help shape their identity as young adults: who am I?, what can I become? and how can I become that person?

This first-year seminar provides an initial university experience that enables students to begin the process of developing a Lasallian identity: educated, compassionate, and engaged in their local and global communities. To facilitate a successful transition to Saint Mary’s University, emphasis is placed on developing critical academic skills and attitudes, learning about our Lasallian mission and Winona’s natural environment, and forming a community of honors students. Students encounter foundational heroic myths and sacred narratives from several cultural traditions, including those unique to the Upper Mississippi River region and to Lasallian education. The life of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, the epic poems Gilgamesh and Homer's Iliad, selected books from the Hebrew scriptures, and other texts both ancient and modern, serve as points of departure for understanding our intellectual, environmental, and spiritual traditions. This course also includes an Artscore component; students’ attendance at several performances at Page Theater allows the students to reflect on the nature and value of music, theatre, dance, and visual art in human culture.

This senior-year colloquium provides a capstone experience in which students explore the four spheres of adult life: citizenship, work, marriage and the family, and faith. Students are challenged to engage these themes through close reading and discussion of texts, reflection on their education in the Lasallian Honors Program, and service learning. The purpose of this course is to prepare students to live out the Lasallian charism in the contemporary world. Texts used in the course may include Tocqueville's Democracy in America, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, essays by Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton, and short stories by a variety of American authors. The course includes a service-learning component, in which students work at the Catholic Worker houses in Winona.

This course prepares students to make effective informative and persuasive presentations incorporating audio-visual enhancements, and to utilize active listening techniques. The responsibilities of both the speaker and the listener are stressed. Practical experience in preparation, delivery/participation, and evaluation are provided.

This course provides a general introduction to human relations, cultural diversity and Indian cultures as these concepts relate to teaching and learning in the K-12 classroom. Emphasis is placed on providing the students with additional knowledge, expertise or skills in creating a classroom learning climate conducive to supporting differences in cultural, ethnic, racial and gender backgrounds. Special emphasis is placed on gaining as understanding of Minnesota and Wisconsin Indian cultures.

The initial focus of this course emphasizes historical, philosophical, and sociological foundations of education. Students examine connections between theory and practice on topics within the above mentioned areas. Topics include today’s students, teachers, school, teacher effectiveness, current issues, school reform, and professionalism. A second focus of the course is an extensive filed experience where students observe and participate in elementary, middle, and secondary classrooms. Throughout the course an emphasis is placed on developing skills in human resources and the use of reflective practice in teaching.

Offered fall semester. Prerequisite: concurrent with ED302.

This course is a general introduction to the effects of substance abuse and provides basic familiarization with chemical and public health education programs in the school and community. The course is designed to meet the Minnesota statue for obtaining a teaching license.

Offered fall semester. Prerequisite: concurrent with ED301.

This phase of the teacher education program focuses on the K-12 student as learner. The concept of learner is examined from a variety of applied areas in educational psychology. Principles of teaching and learning are developed in the context of learning theory, teaching effectiveness, learner differences, and child and adolescent development. Students engage in the central question: "What do highly effective teacher leaders know, think and do with respect to learning, development and learner differences?" Students also observe, participate and engage in a clinical field experience for five weeks in a single classroom translating theories of learning and development into methods of classroom practice while continuing to work on professional identity and dispositions.

Offered spring semester. Prerequisites: ED301 and concurrent with ED307.

This course is designed to prepare future teachers to utilize technology in the classroom as a tool for improving student learning. Pre-service teachers learn how to identify and apply technology resources to enable and empower learners with diverse backgrounds, characteristics and abilities in order to deliver instruction at different levels and paces and to stimulate advanced levels of learning. The courses focuses on management of technology resources within the context of learning activities and develops strategies to manage student learning in a technology-integrated environment.

Prerequisite: concurrent with ED306.

This course emphasizes further work in kindergarten, elementary and middle level philosophy, curriculum and instructional strategies. An emphasis is placed on the integration of music into various curriculum areas to meet the needs of diverse learners. Students are actively engaged in: 1) understanding the creative developmental characteristics of children and adolescents; 2) designing and teaching appropriate lessons; 3) musical production; 4) using music as an alternative assessment tool; and 5) the reflection process as a means of professional development. The pre-service teacher is expected to demonstrate professional dispositions of a principled and purposeful instructional decision-maker.

Offered spring semester. Prerequisites: ED301, ED302, ED306, ED307 and acceptance into the Teacher Education Program.

This course is designed to help pre-service teachers develop knowledge, methods, and evaluative tools to become competent in teaching science in kindergarten through eighth grade. Students learn how to plan science programs, to choose from a range of effective teaching techniques, and to evaluate student learning using the Minnesota science content standards for primary, intermediate and middle school. Topics include lesson and unit planning, the Minnesota content standards, national standards and questioning skills.

Offered spring semester. Prerequisites: ED301, ED302, ED306, ED307 and acceptance into the Teacher Education Program.

This course is designed to help the student develop knowledge, learning objectives, methods and evaluative tools to become competent in teaching social science in kindergarten through eighth grade, become familiar with a variety of instructional techniques and demonstrate an ability to evaluate student learning. An emphasis is placed on developmentally appropriate practices and addressing diverse needs of learners at primary, intermediate and middle school levels using the Minnesota social science standards for curriculum planning.

Offered spring semester. Prerequisites: ED301, ED302, ED306, ED307 and acceptance into the Teacher Education Program.

This course emphasizes further work in kindergarten, elementary and middle level philosophy, curriculum and instructional strategies. An emphasis is placed on the integration of art into various curriculum areas to meet the needs of diverse learners. Students are actively engaged in: 1) understanding the creative developmental characteristics of children and adolescents; 2) designing and teaching appropriate lessons; 3) artistic production; 4) using art as an alternative assessment tool; and 5) the reflection process as a means of professional development. The pre-service teacher is expected to demonstrate professional dispositions of a principled and purposeful instructional decision-maker.

Offered spring semester. Prerequisites: ED301, ED302, ED306, ED307 and acceptance into the Teacher Education Program.

This course emphasis the math concepts taught in the childhood/early adolescence settings and the instructional methods which enable students to learn those concepts. Students also learn to prepare lesson plans and units from which to teach. The pre-service teacher is expected to demonstrate professional dispositions of a principled and purposeful instructional decision-maker.

Offered spring semester. Prerequisites: ED301, ED302, ED306, ED307 and acceptance into the Teacher Education Program.

Pre-service teachers participate in constructivist learning experiences to master the knowledge, dispositions, and skills needed to teach literacy development from kindergarten through middle school. Experiences in the field augment classroom readings, discussion and activities as students learn the stages of development of listening, speaking, reading and writing in children. The practicum is designed to address key concepts and sensitize pre-service teachers to the need for appropriate literacy experiences across the curriculum. The pre-service teacher is expected to demonstrate professional dispositions of a principled and purposeful instructional decision-maker.

Offered fall semester. Prerequisites: ED301, ED302, ED306, ED307 and acceptance into the Teacher Education Program.

This course presents learning activities and methodologies for teaching children/early adolescents health, physical education, and outdoor education. The pre-service teacher is expected to demonstrate professional dispositions of a principled and purposeful instructional decision-maker.

Offered spring semester. Prerequisites: ED301, ED302, ED306, ED307 and acceptance into the Teacher Education Program.

The purpose of this course is to help students understand and apply assessment theory to real-world situations. Appropriate practices for the construction, analysis, and interpretation of teacher-made and standardized assessment instruments are examined. Methods of monitoring student progress, evaluating student work and grading are practiced through a variety of student activities.

Offered fall semester. Prerequisites: ED301, ED302, ED306, ED307 and acceptance into the Teacher Education Program.

This course provides students seeking elementary education licensure with philosophy and organizational structure, along with knowledge of and skills in the use of methods central to middle level education. Particular emphasis is placed upon interdisciplinary planning, team teaching, student advising, and cooperative and exploratory learning. An emphasis is placed on developmentally appropriate practices and addressing diverse needs of learners with an emphasis on adolescent development. The pre-service teacher is expected to demonstrate professional dispositions of a principled and purposeful instructional decision-maker.

Offered spring semester. Prerequisites: ED301, ED302, ED306, ED307 and acceptance into the Teacher Education Program.

In this course, elementary education majors explore the literacy needs of kindergarten through middle school students with exceptional learning styles (LD, ADD) and from different cultural, socioeconomic and linguistic backgrounds. Students learn how their own cultural background influences the way they teach and master the dispositions and skills needed to facilitate language development in children with diverse and multiple literacy development needs.

Prerequisites: ED301, ED302, ED306, ED307 and acceptance into the Teacher Education Program.

This course examines the characteristics of disabilities and their impact on learners’ education and social lives. The foundations of special education are discussed including identification, modifications and requirements for receiving special education services. The following special needs are addressed in this course: learning disabilities, cognitive development delays, speech disabilities, language disabilities, ELL, physical disabilities, autism spectrum, emotional/behavioral disabilities, other health impairments and talented and gifted. Special emphasis is placed on how teachers can effectively meet the needs of all learners in the K-8 classroom.

Prerequisites: ED301, ED302, ED306, ED307 and acceptance into the Teacher Education Program.

While working closely with a cooperating teacher, the student begin to assume the role of teacher in an actual classroom setting, gradually becoming fully responsible for planning, organizing, and teaching lessons, maintaining a conducive learning environment, and becoming acquainted with school routines and practices. The pre-service teacher is expected to demonstrate development of professional dispositions of a well organized, effective, and reflective instructor. Students student teach for 13 weeks in the Winona vicinity, or for ten weeks in the Winona vicinity and three to five weeks at a student teaching abroad program site. Prerequisites: consent of chair of undergraduate teacher education and minimum 2.750 cumulative grade point average. Additional fee required.

Prerequisites: ED301, ED302, ED306, ED307 and acceptance into the Teacher Education Program.

This course provides teacher education students with mentoring in a largely self-directed experience revising their professional portfolios. The experience is designed to assist teacher education candidates in integrating their professional identity along program-based dimensions of theory and practice. Reflection and consolidation of personal understanding is accomplished through position statements, personal evaluation and goal setting within a professional portfolio to be used as a tool for employment and personal professional growth.

Prerequisites: ED301, ED302, ED306, ED307 and acceptance into the Teacher Education Program.