Secondary education degree added to department's offerings

Students wishing to become a high school government teacher now can take a secondary education degree to reach that goal.

Beginning in the fall of 2007, Iowa State students may pursue teacher certification in secondary social sciences with an aim of becoming either a high school government or history teacher.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, along with the College of Human Sciences, has designed a new licensure program to prepare secondary social studies teachers who possess a strong background in U.S. and world history.

"The program will also allow students the option to pursue studies in social science disciplines such as political science, anthropology, sociology, economics and psychology," said Charles Dobbs, professor and chair of the Department of History.

"The program will help students gain a deep and broad understanding of significant global/international issues from contemporary and historical perspectives."

The revitalized program requires undergraduates to major in history or political science and minor either in history or one of the social science disciplines.

Students who choose to major in history will leave the program with teaching endorsements in U.S. history, world history and a social science area of choice. Those students who major in political science will have teaching endorsements in American government and either U.S. or world history.

The program also requires that students complete courses in educational theory and methodology offered by the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Human Sciences.

The social science departments are housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The Department of History is serving as the lead program within the social sciences academic units.

Students that enter the program will have two advisers - one each for the history/social sciences component and another for the teacher education/licensure aspects. In addition, a new faculty position will be added in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. That individual will teach history and social science pedagogical methods courses.

"Iowa faces a shortage of government and history teachers at the high school level in the coming years," Dobbs said. "That shortage of teacher and what we perceive as a demand for the product has brought the program back."

Dobbs says the new major will undergo a three-year initial trial.

"We're all betting that there are students out there that want this degree," he said.