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B.S. in Mathematics Education

Mission

The Mission of the Mathematics Education Program is to prepare qualified and effective Mathematics educators to teach at all school levels, and to prepare students to pursue Graduate studies in the field. The Program offers its graduates a strong foundation in the liberal arts, and provides them with the ability to integrate educational theories in the teaching of mathematics.

Educational Objectives

The Program provides students with a sound foundation in mathematics, complemented with the education theories, and methodologies that answer to the needs and recommendations of the local, public, and private, schools in content and philosophy.

Graduates of the Mathematics Education Program at LAU will:

1. Acquire knowledge in the different areas of both pure and applied mathematics.
2. Be able to apply mathematical methods to science-related fields, as well as to real life situations.
3. Gain an expertise in solving mathematical problems, and in using Information Technology, primarily specialized mathematical software for teaching and research purposes.
4. Be able to develop mathematics curricula for schools, and to plan academic units, lesson plans, and activities, for teaching math at all school levels.
5. Be able to select, and implement, appropriate strategies for teaching specific mathematical topics.
6. Be able to plan strategies, and to prepare the tools for assessing students’ achievement in mathematics.
7. Be able to pursue professional development opportunities and/or higher-level studies in Math Education as lifelong learners.
8. Have contacts with school students, teachers, and other professionals, through field experiences that include practice teaching.

Learning Outcomes

Graduates of the Mathematics Education Program have the necessary skills, and attitudes, that enable them to meet the challenges of their profession with creativity, self-reliance, critical thinking, and responsibility.

Graduates of the program will:

1. Have a mathematical strength that is grounded in the ability to reason mathematically, both formally and informally, to solve challenging problems by building, and/or using, appropriate mathematical structures.
2. Have the skills to communicate effectively, and persuasively, their mathematical thinking, in both written and oral forms.
3. Have an appreciation for mathematical rigor, and mathematical inquiry.
4. Be able to encourage, and guide, the development of mathematical communication, in their own (future) classrooms.
5. Recognize, through their own experiences of learning mathematics, how they, and others, have built and utilized the rich connections among mathematical ideas: they will emphasize in their own classrooms, with their own students, the importance of building useful, connected understanding.
6. Use various ways of representing mathematical ideas, including verbal, graphical, numerical, symbolic, to support and deepen mathematical understandings.
7. Adopt technology as an essential tool for thoughtfully teaching, learning, doing, and understanding, important mathematics.
8. Construct mathematical models to solve practical, and real life, problems.
9. Develop the ability to think logically, and critically, and to analyze information in a mathematical setting. Develop the ability to teach students how to reformulate, and solve, problems in an abstract framework.
10. Design positive, effective learning environments in their classrooms.

The Mathematics Education Program requires a total number of 51 credits: 24 in Mathematics and 21 credits in Education. The remaining six credits are to be taken from Computer Science. Furthermore, students can opt to do a Teaching Diploma, which consists of 18 credits, to be taken over and above the Bachelor’s Degree requirements.

Mathematics (24 credits)

Education (21 credits)

Computer Science (6 credits)