The Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Program (SMATE) is a visionary and practical program designed to enrich the training and education of K-12 pre-service teachers and, through them, their students. From a collaboration of the disciplines, Chemistry, Geology, Biology, Physics/ Astronomy, Mathematics, and Engineering, the Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Program offers an opportunity for teachers and future teachers to gain specific skills and broaden talents within their chosen discipline.
This program is designed to prepare future teachers at the elementary and middle school level with an emphasis in Science. This major satisfies the academic major requirement for teacher certification with an endorsement in elementary education and must be accompanied by the professional preparation program in Elementary Education offered through Woodring College of Education.
Why Consider a General Science - Elementary Major?
If you want a broad base of knowledge in the field of science to prepare you for teaching at the elementary level, this major will provide it. You will take a range of introductory courses from different areas of science, including Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Geology. Other Science majors focus on a single subject such as Biology or Chemistry (see WWU Catalog).
Completion of this program results in a highly qualified status for elementary or middle school science under the federal NCLB guidelines.