Master of Arts in STEM Education

The MA in STEM Education program is a Master’s degree program for students who wish to advance their professional knowledge and skills in STEM Education. The program is to prepare STEM educators and leaders to more effectively teach, engage, and inspire a diverse population of students in the STEM fields. Through an advanced course of study, this program provides candidates with specialized experiences that will enhance their knowledge, skills and dispositions that prepare them to become expert STEM educators and leaders who will advance STEM education, either in discipline-specific or integrated settings, in K-12 schools and other informal contexts. With an emphasis on interdisciplinary perspectives, the goal of the program is to prepare STEM educators and leaders who will be able to prepare all students to become active and informed citizens in an ever more technological and complex world; and to build the educational foundation for future STEM-related careers through engaging them in authentic inquiry, real world problem-solving, critical and creative thinking, productive collaboration and effective communication.

The program curriculum focuses on integrating mathematics, science, technology, and engineering concepts across disciplines through facilitating a broader understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of STEM, a deeper discipline-specific pedagogical content knowledge, equitable teaching strategies, and integrative approaches for the teaching and learning of STEM content. The program curriculum includes research in STEM Education, assessment, foundations in STEM Education, technology and engineering in STEM Education, advanced teaching methods in STEM Education and culminating experience. These courses are to enhance teachers’ knowledge and practice in STEM education through student-centered, integrated teaching approaches, hands-on experiences, collaborations and reflections, with a focus on Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and the Next Generation Science Standards. 

The audience of the program will be primarily single subject and multiple subject credential students to further their knowledge and practice in STEM Education. This program will also offer valuable knowledge and skills in teaching STEM to K-12 CTE (Career and Technical Education) teachers, special education teachers and informal STEM educators. Students in the MA program will be supported to add foundational level mathematics, foundational level science, mathematics, subject-specific science, and computer science teaching authorizations.

The College of Education previously had a MA in Education: STEM Education option program at CSUSB. It was a two-year program and mainly recruited practicing teachers. In the Quarter-to-Semester conversion process this program was not transferred into the semester system. Thus, we are proposing a new MA in STEM Education program to replace the former program. The proposed program is designed to serve similar purposes. In addition, the proposed program aims to expand the enrollment by integrating with the single and multiple subject credential programs at CSUSB and  reducing the number of the semesters required to complete the program. 

The MA in STEM Education program is designed to integrate with the single and multiple subject credential programs at CSUSB, thus forming a pipeline of producing high-quality K-12 STEM teachers. After completing the credential program, students could complete the MA in STEM Education program within one year while teaching full time. The MA in STEM Education program has five core courses (15 credit units), one culminating experience course (project/thesis, or advanced topics in STEM Education with comprehensive exam, 3 credit units), and 12 credit units of elective courses. The elective courses allow CSUSB credential students to bring up to 12 credit units from their teaching credential program and students from other institutions to transfer up to 9 credit units from their previous post-baccalaureate programs. If students have 12 credit units transferred from their credential programs, they can complete the program within two semesters (nine months). They will take 9 credit units per semester and this allows them to teach full time while doing the master’s program. A student could earn a single- or multiple- subject teaching credential and a master’s degree in STEM Education at CSUSB within two years.