This Fall semester the College of Natural Sciences has rolled out a new 4-semester sequence of courses in integrated natural sciences for elementary education majors. The new curriculum spans physics, chemistry, biology, earth sciences, and astronomy.

The new curriculum emphasizes hands-on learning, developing greater ease working with tools and laboratory equipment, and working in teams to learn material through discovery in the lab, rather than via passive lecture. Further, students practice converting their college curriculum into grade-appropriate lessons and practice presenting information to each other. Surveys of in-service teachers have shown that they shy away from subjects when their own self-efficacy with the material is low, and furthermore shy away from using equipment with which they are less comfortable or familiar. The new course, by encouraging student learning through group investigation, promotes student confidence in using equipment and resorting to scientific argument supported by quantitative data and graphs.

An initiative of Dean Mary Ann Rankin and Associate Deans David Laude and Michael Marder, this effort is being spearheaded by UT Physics Professor Sacha Kopp and by Dr. Cynthia LaBrake, Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry. The UT Austin College of Education welcomes 200 new majors in Elementary Ed each year, so that ultimately 400 students will be enrolled in the new science curriculum in any given semester.