University of St. Thomas

When asked what one phrase best describes the elementary education major at St. Thomas, a faculty member replied, "quality."

Welcome to the elementary education facts page, where you'll be taken beyond the course offerings and program description and deeper into the elementary education major. You'll learn what St. Thomas students are doing now to enhance their educations and how recent graduates are succeeding in the real world. More importantly, we hope you'll be able to use this information to decide if this major interests you.

Knowing content and knowing how to teach that content are very different from each other. Elementary education teachers need an understanding of developmental psychology. They research the best instructional methods, classroom management skills and communication skills. It is important that they understand the content they are teaching at a higher level so they are best able to guide students through their learning. For example, we all learned in fifth grade that when we divide fractions we invert and multiply. A teacher must be able to help students understand why we do this.

Recent graduates are working with children in schools in the Twin Cites metro area, across the state, across the country and internationally. Our students are teachers in public, private and charter schools. Graduates work also with students in nontraditional and non-school settings such as Upward Bound.

Internships. Our students complete three field experiences prior to student teaching (clinical practice). By state law all secondary education students must complete student teaching.

Study abroad. Some of our students study abroad during J-Term. UMAIE has an elective course about schools and families in England. In addition, many of our students study abroad for the required theology core course or courses related to their second major.

Many of our faculty members are working directly with K-12 school sites. One faculty member writes middle-level curriculum materials. Faculty are open to working with students on school-based action research projects. Last year one undergraduate student interviewed K-6 students to explore their notion of number sense.