Science Education Center

College of Arts and Sciences

Science Education Center

Welcome to the Science Education Center website! Our office is located at the southwest corner of the Science Building in Room 191.
Science Education is a unit in the College of Arts and Sciences, which collaborates with the Bayh College of Education to prepare prospective teachers of science. Our faculty teaches the science methods courses for elementary education (SCED 393/393L) and secondary science education majors (SCED 396L and 398L).

The Center oversees the BS undergraduate programs for science education majors and advises students in those majors. The Center also provides the Middle School Science Minor, which is designed for Elementary Education or Secondary Education majors who want to add a middle school science licensure to their initial teaching licensure. Please see our Degree Programs page for more information.

In addition to administering the secondary science teaching programs and courses, the Center for Science Education also participates in several research and community outreach activities and actively collaborates with professors in the sciences in these activities.

Becoming a Complete Professional (BCP)

Education Student Services

Indiana DOE Educator Licensing

New Online Licensing Application

Testing Requirements

Indiana State University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The University has earned national accreditation by demonstrating excellence in the areas of content and pedagogy, clinical experiences, selectivity, program impact, and capacity for continuous improvement. Indiana State’s Teacher Preparation Programs meets rigorous national standards for educator preparation set by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. CAEP is the only educator preparation accreditor recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

Additionally, three science education programs—Science Education Major, Middle School Science Teaching, and the Middle School Science Minor—are approved by the state of Indiana.

Mission Statement

The Science Education Center provides an interdisciplinary program to prepare future teachers with professional knowledge for science teaching. The curriculum of the Science Education program aims to connect science content knowledge to the methods and strategies of teaching. Within the constructivist framework, this program inspires students to clarify their own values and discover their own personal meaning and approach in teaching. We encourage our future science teachers to be reflective professionals who can inquire and think critically about their teaching. As reflective professionals, students are required to identify, analyze, and solve various ill-structured problems that they will encounter in their future teaching practice.

Experiential Learning

Science Education

Science Education courses emphasize integration alongside practical work in classroom settings. In all our courses, students are involved in extensive field-based experience, and course assignments are designed to be utilized in real classrooms and experiential learning settings.

Our students also have opportunities to experience a variety of out-of-class learning experiences at local schools, in outreach and research projects in science education, and in projects associated with outreach by science faculty. Examples include:

• Family Science Night
• The Indiana Regional Middle School Science Bowl
• Local school science fairs
• Community science events
• The Bat Festival
• Summer Science Camp

Participation in undergraduate research is also encouraged.