The AYA Science Programs are an integral part of the AYA licensure
programs offered in EAP at Miami University. The AYA Science program
provides students with a system of courses prior to student teaching
for observing and participating in 7-12 science classrooms with certified
and experienced teachers. Students receive field experiences during
their freshman or sophomore year by means of EDT 190 Introduction
to Adolescent Education, a sprint course. Students in this course
observe adolescent science classroom instruction and analyze the role
of the classroom teacher in order to confirm their career decisions
of entering the teaching profession, This course combines on campus
study of the role of the teacher and current issues in education with
five half-day visits to classrooms in the University's service area.
Additional field experience is provided during the spring semester
of the junior year by means of certain concurrent courses within the
field block courses especially EDT 432 Adolescent Science Methods
II, EDP 303 Assessment and Evaluation in Educational Settings, and
EDP 352 Inclusion of Children/Youth with Exceptionalities. During
this spring semester there are two-week periods which these classes
do not meet and students are assigned to work under the supervision
of an experienced and certified mathematics teacher in a school within
the University's service area. One of the two field assignments is
to a school designated as a culturally diverse setting and the other
assignment is to a school not so designated.
Each of the supervising classroom teachers is given a packet of assignments
from the three course instructors, specifying activities related to
the courses, which the students are to perform under the supervision
of the classroom teacher. These activities involve tasks such as observing
instruction, analyzing instructional and assessment activities, assisting
the classroom teacher with classroom tasks, teaching lessons planned
by the classroom teacher, and instruction planned by the student.
A debriefing session is held during the first class meeting after
the students return from each two-week field assignment.
Student teaching is provided by means of EDT 419.A, Adolescent Student
Teaching, a semester-long course consisting of full-time classroom
teaching and weekly seminars as well as EDT 421.A Classroom Management
which is a sprint course conducted during the first half of the term
and which assists the student teachers in acquiring knowledge of and
competence in classroom management techniques.
We believe it is important for our students to experience the beginning
of the school year with its many routines, planning, and establishing
the classroom community; therefore, the AYA Science students are highly
advised to do their student teaching during the fall semester. The
AYA Science student may elect to have a single placement for the entire
16-week semester or to have a split placement consisting of two back-to-back
eight-week assignments. Split placements allow the student to gain
teaching experience at both the high school and middle school levels.
Students may also use the split assignment to gain experience with
nontraditional science educational settings, such as YMCA drectrf
education naturalist camp. Miami also offers student teaching opportunities
in Europe, Australia, Azores, and on Native American reservations.
For each student teaching (EDT 419/519) the student teacher is assigned
a cooperating teacher, who is a classroom teacher with appropriate
certification and teaching experience in 7-12 science and who serves
as the student teacher's primary clinical professor (mentor, teacher,
and guide). Among other duties, the cooperating teacher confers regularly
with the student teacher and assists with and requires the planning
of lessons and units by the student.
For each placement the student teacher is assigned a university supervisor,
who is the university representative and instructor of record, responsible
for ensuring the presence of effective interactions between the student
teacher and the cooperating teacher, for serving as the student teacher's
secondary clinical professor, for conducting the seminars, and for
grading the student at the end of the term. To the extent in terms
of faculty schedules, AYA science student teachers are supervised
by science education professors with 7-12 science teaching experience.
Most university supervisors have training in Pathwise™ and/or
Praxis III™, the Educational Testing Service's systems for mentoring
and evaluating first and second year teachers, which has been adopted
as the system on which the State of Ohio will base licensure application
decisions for beginning teachers. The department's immediate goal
is to ensure that all cooperating teachers have Pathwise training
also. In order to increase familiarity with this system and to enhance
the capability of program graduates to successfully pass their Praxis
III evaluations and receive State licensure, nurturing procedures
and evaluation instruments based upon the four domains and 19 criteria
of Pathwise and Praxis III are used by the cooperating teacher and
the university supervisor during student teaching.
The schedule and topics of student teaching seminars are determined
by the university supervisor. The seminars may or may not have predetermined
agenda, since significant seminar discussions arise from the current
concerns and interests of the student teachers. The university supervisor
may conduct the seminars or he or she may utilize special seminars
organized or conducted by the Career Planning and Placement Office
or by the Office of Student Teaching. Attendance at these seminars
is mandatory.
