Your key academic advisor is Courtney Butler at the Natural Sciences Education & Outreach Center, but she works closely with the advisors in the Center for Educator Preparation (Maggie Burks and Juliana Searle) for students in the science education concentrations. Students with the Physical Sciences concentration will also have 2 additional advisors for the minors they choose as part of the degree.
The BSNS major is the Bachelors of Science in Natural Sciences with a concentration in Biology Education, Chemistry Education, Geology Education, Physics Education or Physical Sciences. Students graduate from the College of Natural Sciences and NOT the College of Health & Human Sciences or the Warner College of Natural Resources.
Once you get your license from the state of Colorado, you will be qualified to teach any science at the secondary (7th – 12th grade) level. Some middle schools may allow you to teach 6th grade as well. Many districts will hire you to teach classes that are specific to your concentration, but you may be called upon to teach all areas of science (especially in small schools and districts).
You can also become highly qualified to teach other subjects such as mathematics by either taking that particular licensing exam or completing 24 credit hours of specific types of classes in that area. For example, a secondary endorsement to teach math in Colorado requires:
- Number, Algebra & Modeling (6 credits)
- Calculus (6 credits)
- Geometry (3 credits)
- Data Analysis, Statistics & Probability (3 credits)
- Perspectives, Philosophy & the History of Mathematics (3 credits)
- Mathematics Teaching Methods OR 3 additional credits from any of the above categories
The application for the licensure program recently became digital. Some of the major pieces of the application are:
- Minimum GPA of 2.75 – which must be maintained in order to student teach and graduate.
- Grades of C or better in all content and education courses.
- A letter of recommendation from someone who can attest to what a great teacher you would become.
- Completion or enrollment in EDUC 275 and EDUC 340.
Phase I (Educ275 and EDUC340) must be taken (or at least registered for) before applying to the licensure program and are not open to Freshmen.
Phase II (EDUC350/386) must be taken the first semester after being accepted to the licensure program.
Phase III (EDUC450/486) must be taken the semester RIGHT BEFORE your student teaching semester.
Phase IV (student teaching and seminar) must be your very last semester and ALL other coursework MUST be completed. You cannot take other courses during your student teaching experience as you are in the schools full time and are only allowed to leave early for your seminar class associated with your student teaching ( a once a month meeting with other student teachers in your area).
EDUC461A and EDUC461B (science methods and technology) can be taken during PHASE II and PHASE III or in between, but they must bet taken in sequential Fall and then Spring semesters.
The state of Colorado no longer requires teachers to take a licensing exam in order to get their teaching certificte. However, some districts within Colorado and other state do require it. For more information on whether or not you still need to take the PRAXIS II exam, reach out to Juliana Searle in the CEP office.
EDUC275 is open to all students and counts for the AUCC 3B requirement.
EDUC 340 is open to all students and is intending on applying to the licensure program. You may register for either of the lecture sections, but must choose the same recitation & lab sections (i.e.: if you want section R01, then you must also register for L01 – regardless of what the View Linked option in the registration system tells you). The lecture portion is held on the main CSU campus, but the lab and recitation are held at a local school (usually a middle school).
EDUC350 and EDUC386 are courses that are tied together in large blocks of time 2 days a week. Therefore, you must register for the same sections for all portions of these classes (i.e.: if you want section 001 of EDUC350, you have to also register for section L01 of EDUC350 and section 001 of EDUC386). These classes also require a pre-registration with the CEP office. Once you are eligible to register, you must notify the CEP office (Ben Bongers) of the section you prefer. The CEP office will enter an override into the system and then send you an email indicating that you can go onto RAMWeb and formally register for the class.
EDUC450 and EDUC486 are also courses that are tied together in large blocks of time 2 days a week and also must have matching section numbers. They also require a pre-registration with the CEP office. These courses do not have any variation in time – they are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., so just block out those times in your schedule and near the end of the semester, you will receive an email from the CEP office with formal registration instructions.
EDUC461A and EDUC461B require no special process and can be registered for through RAMWeb once your registration time has arrived.
EDUC485B and EDUC493A are the student teaching and seminar courses for your last semester. When registering for EDUC485B, remember to change the number of credits from 6 to 11 in the variable credit drop-down button. If you do not do this, you will not be considered a full-time student and will not graduate! Juliana will send you instructions for registering near the end of the semester.
Placements are officially done by the Center for Educator Preparation office (Juliana Searle – juliana.searle@colostate.edu), but you can certainly request a specific school and/or teacher when filling out the Student Teaching Application. You can even student teach at a private school as long as the cooperating teacher has a Colorado teaching license and at least three years in the classroom and has the approval of the building administrator.
There are three placement options for students:
- Any school district within the state of Colorado.
- Out-of-state placements can be accommodated through the CEP office. Contact Juliana early if you want to student teach in another state.
- International placements can also be made thought Educators Abroad. There are additional placement, program, travel, room and board costs associated with these placements.
Typically we do not do substitutions of education courses from other universities’ programs except in rare instances and only for EDUC275 or EDUC340. To request a substitution, a Professional Education Course Substitution Request must be submitted to the CEP office along with a course description and syllabus for each course being reviewed as a possible substitution.
Students can transfer up to 64 credits from a 2-year college or a combination of 2-year colleges. Student can also transfer an additional 64 credits from a 4-year university or a combination of 4-year universities. However, CSU does have a University requirement that the last 30 credits of a degree must come from CSU.
University policy allows you to repeat classes as needed, however, there is a limit to the number of classes you can retake under the Repeat/Delete program. The Repeat/Delete program allows you to delete the failing or unsatisfactory grades from up to 3 different courses or 12 credits, whichever is less and you can only repeat/delete a course once. To choose the Repeat/Delete option, this must be chosen through RAMWeb before the course withdrawal deadline during the semester you are repeating the course. More information about the policy can be found on the Registrar’s website.
CSU offers 2 options for students who already have their bachelor’s degree, but have not gone through a licensing program and want to become a science teacher.
- A Post Bachelor’s license only option is offered for the K-12 levels in Art, Foreign Languages, Instructional Technology and Music and the 7-12 levels in Agricultural Education, English, Family and Consumer Sciences, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Speech and Technology Education. Contact the CEP office for more information.
- A Master’s Degree with license option is offered for K-12 levels in Foreign Languages and Instructional Technology and the 7-12 levels in Agricultural Education, Business Education, English, Family and Consumer Sciences, Marketing Education, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Speech and Technology Education.
If you have not taken more than 30 credits at CSU at the time of applying to the program, then your GPA from one prior institution is taken and averaged together with your current CSU GPA, if applicable. If you have taken more than 30 credits at CSU, but the GPA is just slightly under the 2.75 requirement, you can either request that your prior institution’s GPA be included or complete the Alternative Admission application for the program, which you can get from the CEP Office.
It is quite simple to walk through the graduation ceremonies – simply stop by the Dean’s Office of the College of Natural Sciences in 117 Statistics and let them know your intentions to walk through the graduation ceremony during that semester’s commencement. Information about the CNS graduation can always be found on their website and is updated every semester.
The CEP office will submit their recommendation to the Colorado Department of Education once you have completed and turned in the Verification of Completion of Approved Educator Preparation Program form. This form will be signed off and emailed back to you in pdf format. You can then upload the form to your application on the CDE’s web based application system. You can start this application at any time during your student teaching semester, save it and complete it once your grades have been posted to your transcript and all requirements have been met.
You can request a prerequisite override into the course from the instructor directly by showing that you will have met the prereqs by the time the class starts (registration information from the other institution, etc.). Then make sure you get the transcripts submitted ASAP to the Registrar’s Office once the class is completed.
Students can apply to the program once they are registered for or have taken EDUC275 and EDUC340. Applications will be accepted at any time, but the deadlines for being able to take Phase II classes in the following semester are March 1 for Fall semester admission and October 1 for Spring semester admission.
Juliana Searle will email you the instructions for registering for your student teaching near the end of the semester you are taking EDUC450. One thing to remember is to change the number of credits for EDUC485B from the default of 6 to 11 credits.
