Program Overview

Biology Teaching Option

The Biology Teaching Option is available within the Secondary Education major at Oregon State University. This option is designed for students who want to earn a bachelor's degree in Secondary Education and qualify for an Oregon teaching license to teach biology in K-12.

Overview

This option is offered at the Corvallis location. Upon successful completion of the program, students will meet the following learning outcomes:

• Recognize how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning and development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas, and design and implement developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences.
• Develop and create the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) they teach and create learning experiences that make these aspects of the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to assure mastery of the content.
• Plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context.
• Use multiple methods of assessment to engage learners in their own growth, to monitor learner progress, and to guide the teacher's and learner's decision making.
• Practices ongoing reflection and use evidence to continually evaluate their practice, particularly the effects of their choices and actions on others, and adapts their practice/choices accordingly.

Requirements

Students must complete all option courses prior to beginning the professional level of the Secondary Education major. Option courses may double-count if the student elects to complete a dual-major. Additional requirements include:

• A cumulative 3.0 GPA is required for all option courses.
• Grades below C are not accepted. If students want to include a content course in the state process for waiving the content exam, a minimum grade of C is required.
• All required courses must be letter graded (A–F); courses graded on Pass/No Credits (P/N) or Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) basis are not accepted.

Course List

The following courses are required for the Biology Teaching Option:

• Biology Sequence:
  • Series 1: BI 204, BI 205, BI 206 (15 credits)
  • Series 2: BI 221Z, BI 222Z, BI 223Z (15 credits)
• Chemistry Sequence:
  • Series 1: CH 121, CH 122, CH 123 (15 credits)
  • Series 2: CH 221Z, CH 227Z, CH 222Z, CH 228Z, CH 223Z, CH 229Z (15 credits)
  • Series 3 (for Chemistry majors): CH 221Z, CH 271, CH 222Z, CH 272, CH 223Z, CH 273 (15 credits)
• Physics:
  • Series 1: PH 201, PH 202 (8-10 credits)
  • Series 2: PH 211, PH 212 (8-10 credits)
• Other Life Science Disciplines:
  • Select 12 upper-division credits from more than one of the following subject areas: BI, ANS, BB, BOT
• Science Education:
  • SED 413: INQUIRY IN SCIENCE AND SCIENCE EDUCATION (3 credits)
• Total Credits: 53-55

Option Code

The Option Code for the Biology Teaching Option is 62.