Chemistry/Mathematics - Secondary

Combined major offered by the Department of Chemistry, College of Science and Engineering and the Department of Mathematics, College of Science and Engineering

The program of study for the chemistry/mathematics majors provides many benefits to students, such as close student-faculty contact and relatively small classes. The students have direct access to modern laboratory equipment and instrumentation, and there are opportunities for research work under the direction of a faculty advisor.

As a practical matter, Mathematics is a science of pattern and order. Its domain is not molecules or cells, but numbers, chance, form, algorithms, and change. As a science of abstract objects, Mathematics relies on logic rather than on observation as its standard of truth, yet employs observation, simulation, and even experimentation as means of discovering truth.” From: Everybody Counts: A Report to the Nation on the Future of Mathematics Education (c) 1989 National Academy of Sciences.

Teaching mathematics and chemistry is a challenge, a responsibility, and an opportunity. Learning to teach mathematics and chemistry occurs through a variety of means: the study of a wide variety of mathematics and chemistry, pedagogical preparation within a mathematical and science context, formal clinical preparation in education, an extended internship, and continual experiences as a student, learner, and problem solver in mathematics and chemistry.

Everyone aspiring to be a mathematics and chemistry teacher is aware of the demand for qualified teachers at the secondary level, but there is an even greater need for quality mathematics and chemistry teachers—teachers who care about students, mathematics and chemistry teachers who have a broad and deep understanding of mathematics and chemistry and teachers who are thoroughly professional. The responsibilities are great, but the rewards are even greater.

As a prospective teacher you need to focus on expanding your personal understanding of mathematics and chemistry and capitalizing on opportunities to work with pre-college students as a tutor, as a classroom assistant, as a practicum student, and as a novice teacher in your internship.