DETROIT, Sept. 21, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Marygrove College has received approval from the Michigan Department of Education to begin offering its Elementary Integrated Science Program this fall. Housed in the Science and Mathematics Department, students will receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Integrated Science and will be certified to teach in grades K-8.
Marygrove College is the first and only college in the metropolitan Detroit area to be approved to offer this elementary education certification. Integrated Science is the newly mandated certifiable major and replaces the K-8 General Science certification in Michigan.
The Elementary Integrated Science Program is designed to strengthen science teaching in K-8 schools. The program contains several new and revised courses that emphasize "the learning of science through investigation and inquiry," as called for by the National Science Education Standards. The rationale of the new curriculum design is that Marygrove Integrated Science graduates will model their own teaching on how they were taught. The new sequence of courses will provide students with a broad science background as well as an in-depth understanding of effective and innovative practices in teaching science.
Graduates of this program will be primed to become highly qualified K-8 teachers of science, possessing a breadth of knowledge and skills to integrate science throughout all disciplines. Attaining "highly qualified" status is a requirement of the federal No Child Left Behind initiative.
Integrated Science means that science is incorporated with other disciplines and as well as within the sciences so that the student learns not only chemistry in a chemistry class but biology, physics and other sciences as well. Students will also look at how science is an integral part of life in such courses as "Science, Technology and Society" and "Science and Technology in Literature."
Dr. Jeanne M. Andreoli, associate professor of Biology and co-chair, Science and Mathematics Department, said, "Marygrove is thrilled and proud to be among the first to recognize the value of integrating science in the entire teacher training curriculum. We know that, over time, science will become an exciting part of the learning experience and more tangible for elementary students because their teachers will weave it into everything they're learning, just like it is in real life. It will become a competitive advantage for American students."
For more information on the new Integrated Science program at Marygrove, contact Dr. Andreoli at 313.927.1328 or jandreoli@marygrove.edu.
Marygrove College is an independent liberal arts college located at 8425 W. McNichols Rd. in Detroit. More than 1,200 students attend classes in its undergraduate and graduate programs in education, business, human resource management, social justice, social work, science, theater, music and the fine arts.
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