Master of Arts in Teaching - Elementary STEM Education
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Stipends available to Elementary M.A.T. candidates through the
Poincaré Institute. Click here for more information.
Please note: We are still accepting and reviewing applications for 2012
enrollment. Our application review process began on February 1st,
and admissions are rolling until further notice.
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Overview
The Department of Education
announces a newly revised elementary school-level "STEM" teacher preparation
program. Graduates receive a Master
of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) degree and initial licensure for grades 1-6.
For admission, candidates must show strength in science, mathematics, or
engineering, demonstrated through course work, projects, research activities,
and/or willingness and interest.
This 12-month program builds
on the Department's commitments to urban education and teaching for social
justice, with an emphasis on STEM disciplinary practices.
Much as doctors begin with the study of how bodies work, the Elementary
STEM Education program begins with the study of how minds work, and proceeds
from there to develop practices of close attention and responsiveness to
children's ideas, reasoning, and engagement.
Program faculty see children as nascent scholars and the core of teaching
as eliciting, recognizing, and cultivating the productive resources children
bring with them into class. Along
with STEM disciplines, the program is designed to address multiple literacies,
integrating reading, writing, social studies, and art throughout the curriculum.
In addition to curricular issues, students in the program will be encouraged to
think critically about issues such as matching children's learning needs with
instruction, promoting equity, effective classroom management, and establishing
and maintaining productive, respectful relationships with parents, communities,
and school faculty and staff.
Program Objectives
Graduates from the Elementary STEM Education M.A.T. program will:
- Understand teaching as an intellectual, collegial, and rigorous profession.
- Reflect critically on classroom practice, student understandings, cognitive and social-emotional development, and teaching every student in elementary school classroom.
- Practice close attention and responsiveness to students' thinking and the practices of the STEM disciplines.
- Develop a foundational understanding of how children learn to read and write, while considering multiple "literacies" that span STEM, ELA, social studies, and the arts.
- Construct understandings of the role of schools in communities and societies, and examine urban schools as complex dynamic using social justice and equity perspectives.
Faculty
 Faculty
in the Department of Education are committed scholars with areas of expertise in
teacher education, mathematics education, science education, engineering
education, social studies and history education, English education, art
education, museum education, educational studies, and school psychology.
Candidates in the M.A.T. program will engage with faculty from all areas
of the department, as well as with faculty in the disciplinary departments -
such as Physics, Biology, Mathematics, Engineering - through a variety of
coursework and seminar work. The
faculty is firmly grounded in research, with interests including early childhood
mathematics, elementary science/mathematics/engineering, art education, and
urban education. Thus, candidates in
this program are exposed to current ideas, perspectives, theories, and research
in areas relevant to the teaching they will be doing in elementary schools.
In addition, a dedicated staff of administrators, placement supervisors,
and multimedia specialists provide students in this Department of Education with
ample resources to be both successful academically and in their career pursuits.
Admissions
 Application to the Elementary
STEM Education M.A.T. program is administered by the Tufts Graduate School of
Arts and Sciences. For more information about the application process click
here.
Applicants to this program
must have strength in science, mathematics, or engineering, demonstrated through
course work, projects, research activities, and/or willingness and interest.
A baccalaureate in the sciences, mathematics, or engineering is not
required for admission. However, the
candidate must demonstrate strengths in the STEM disciplines, and this can be
done through transcripts, résumés, and the personal statement submitted with the
application. Letters of
recommendation are another way of making the case for strength in these areas.
Interview days will be scheduled in March and April (more information TBA),
in which candidates will
have the opportunity to meet with faculty, with students, visit school sites,
and to experience a sense of what the Tufts Elementary STEM Education M.A.T.
program entails.
If you have further questions, please contact the Director of the Program:
Brian Gravel at brian.gravel@tufts.edu
or 617-627-4201.
Tuition & Fees
The Elementary STEM Education
M.A.T. Program has a deep commitment to assisting academically qualified
students to afford an excellent graduate education.
Opportunities for scholarships, internships, and student employment are
available to M.A.T. students. For more information, please see
Program Costs &
Financial Assistance.
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