Career Outlook
STEM careers have the potential to engage students in critical thinking, problem solving, practical literacy, creativity, and much more, every day. This engagement in turn helps students find careers that are interesting, challenging, and productive.
STEM education includes the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Teachers deliver STEM education across all grade levels, from preschools to post-doctorate, in a wide range of settings that include traditional classrooms, distance learning, and informal non-credit programs.
Job Titles
- K-12 STEM Teacher
- Technology Teacher
- Computer Science Teacher
- High School Pre-engineering Teacher
- Math Teacher
- Algebra Teacher
- Geometry Teacher
- Science Teacher
- Biology Teacher
- Physics Teacher
- Life Science Teacher
- Chemistry Teacher
- High School Teacher
Let this program give you the credentials and the experience to make your own future bright.
Courses
Online courses have the same rigor and quality of our face-to-face courses. All courses have been designed by Purdue Faculty. If faculty do not teach the course our Online Lecturers have been selected by our faculty and will teach the courses designed by Purdue faculty. Faculty have done research in the area of STEM Education and offer the most up to date pedagogy and methodology for today’s teachers.
Students spend an average of 15 hours a week on homework. All courses are 100% online and 8 weeks long.
EDCI 53900: Introduction to K-12 Integrated STEM Education (3 credits)
This foundational course will provide students with a conceptual understanding of integrated K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and the philosophical underpinnings/nature of the disciplines of STEM. Students will explore implications for teaching, learning, and teacher education through an evaluation of integrated approaches to STEM, national teaching standards and current research. This course also introduces integrated STEM pedagogies including project/problem-based (PBL), design-based, and inquiry-based approaches to teaching. Students learn to plan and create integrated STEM instruction for K-12 classrooms.
EDCI 55800: Integrated STEM Education Methods – Secondary (3 credits)
This methods course will focus on operationalizing the theoretical pedagogical approaches to integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Agriculture (STEM) education. Students will collaboratively and cooperatively investigate, plan and deliver integrated learning experiences appropriate for secondary education. Course content will blend philosophical considerations with practical application. Undergraduate and graduate students in these areas are encouraged. Currently practicing teachers interested in integrated pedagogies are encouraged to participate and should contact the instructor.
Requisite: Must be taken after or concurrently with EDCI 53900 and a disciplinary methods course, or with instructor approval.
EDCI 59100: Introduction to Teaching Engineering and Technology Design in the Context of Integrated STEM (3 credits)
In this course, students are introduced to engineering and technology design and examination of where and how best fits in the K-12 curriculum. Students learn how to use engineering and technology tools to design, develop, prototype, deliver and assess authentic integrated STEM artifacts and lessons utilizing engineering and technology design principles.
EDCI 59100: Engineering Design Practicum (3 credits)
This practicum is an EDCI version of EPICS–a course in which graduate students will participate in the traditional EPICS course with an additional research component. EPICS is a service-learning design course in which teams of students from across campus work together on long-term projects that benefit the community. The students will engage in a small-scale research project with their project team. The students will study one aspect of design such as teamwork, problem identification, client communication, ideation, decision making, or a variety of other topics. The student will have 2 roles on their project team. They will be a researcher of their team and they also will have a role as a team member on the project. This will allow the student to learn about engineering design as well as understand one aspect of design from a research perspective.
Requisite: Must be taken concurrently with EDCI 59100 Introduction to Teaching Engineering and Technology Design in the Context of Integrated STEM.
Electives: Choose one (3 credits)
YDAE 54500/EDCI 59100: Teaching STEM Through Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (3 credits)
This course focuses on the background and history of STEM movement and agricultural education, contemporary models, strategies, and justification for incorporation of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts and practices into K-12 formal and informal agricultural education programs. The goal of the course is to help students develop knowledge about STEM integration and equip them with teaching knowledge and skills for designing K-12 lesson plans by using agriculture, food, and natural resources as context. Students will learn strategies that promote engagement in STEM activities in agricultural education.
EDCI 60500: Teaching Integrated Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (3 credits)
This course focuses on teaching K-12 science through integrated STEM education approaches. It is an advanced level course; students learn how to design integrated STEM activities and integrate STEM into their science teaching. It is also in part a theoretical course; students learn about the nature of integrated STEM teaching, and ways to use theoretical knowledge of learners to guide their teaching. In addition, students explore and articulate current trends in the research, policy and practice of STEM education.
EDCI 62000: STEM and Social Justice (3 credits)
In this course, students explore intersection of social justice and STEM fields through a series of contexts, including K-12 education, teacher education, academia, and STEM professions, with special attention to the current policy backdrop and how it interfaces with issues of social justice. Students investigate these important issues through a series of readings, discussions, and assignments related to research, practice, and activism.
EDCI 54900: Assessment in STEM Education (3 credits)
Teachers of STEM will recognize the link between productive assessment and productive instruction, using STEM education standards for teacher competence in educational assessment. This course also helps STEM teachers meet professional standards and understand the public pressure as well as instructional need for effective formative and summative assessment.