Master's with Initial Certification

Practice your science specialty (i.e., biology, chemistry, earth sciences, or physics) on a daily basis.
Have an important academic, social, and economic impact upon the community in which you teach.
Combine your interest in science with your interest in helping others.
Work in a people-oriented profession.
Apply your special interests, and live and work in your hometown community (or the community of your choice). Every community needs and hires teachers.
Experience the joy and satisfaction of helping someone learn something for the first time.
Express your personal creativity in developing activities and materials to teach students. Develop new and interesting ways of sharing science with students in interesting and effective ways.
Nurture and support the development of young people within your community. Students are bright and impressionable. You can provide a positive force in the development of their academic and personal lives.
Choose a profession versus a job.
Have new and different experiences each day that you teach.
Use your high school teaching position as an experience base from which to develop a career as a school counselor, administrator, or supervisor.
Use your high school teaching position as an experience base for returning to graduate school and preparing for a leadership position in higher education (e.g., teach science at a college or university and/or science education classes).
Receive a modest salary.
Make a difference with your life. It can be argued that no profession has more impact upon the future than the teaching profession.
Have fun and enjoy your life. While teaching can be challenging and difficult (it is hard work), it is a pleasing and rewarding thing to do.
Find a job without too much difficulty. “Baby boomers” are retiring from teaching and there are current and projected shortages of teachers. This is particularly true in the areas of science and mathematics.

Dr. J. Truman Stevens joined the faculty in 1972 and is an associate professor of Science Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Dr. Stevens received his BS from Georgetown College and his MEd and EdD from the University of Virginia. His areas of academic interest include science teacher education (elementary, middle, and senior high schools), development and implementation of innovative methods and materials in science classrooms, science teaching and the development of reasoning (problem solving), safety in the science classroom, curriculum development, and science games and simulations.

The following prerequisites are needed for general admission into the MIC program.

An undergraduate degree in science or secondary science education that includes a major in the appropriate field and other coursework sufficient for certification in secondary science education. Although each teaching specialty has its own unique requirements, students typically have 48 to 66 credit hours in their academic teaching specialties.
Qualification for admission to UK College of Education teacher certification program requires letters of recommendation, an interview by the appropriate program faculty, GPAs of at least 2.5 overall, in major, minor, and support areas, demonstrated basic skills (GRE, PRAXIS I, ACT, or SAT), and a statement of moral/ethical background. MIC applications are available from the teaching specialty academic advisors.
Admission to the Graduate School, which requires a minimum of 2.75 undergraduate GPA, 3.0 GPA in any graduate work, and standardized test scores. Graduate School and departmental applications are available from Dr. J. Truman Stevens or Dr. Mary Shake.
100 hours of documented experience with 14-18 year old adolescents as well as commmunity and cross-cultural experience.
Students should apply to the program by February 1 to study the following academic year, but should talk to an advisor earlier.

		Masters with Initial Certification Curriculum and Instruction