The Adolescence Education: Social Studies program requires completion of an appropriate arts and sciences major, chosen from one of the following majors: anthropology, economics, history, politics or sociology, while simultaneously completing a second major in education, with courses in pedagogy that are specific to the content that will be taught.

SUNY Potsdam offers CAEP-recognized undergraduate teacher education programs preparing students for New York State certification in grades 7-12, with many areas offering an extension for certification in grades 5-6 as well.

Caring, experienced faculty, and the opportunity to interact with regional teachers and students throughout the programs, make for an authentic experience in preparation for an exciting and rewarding career.

Program Student Learning Outcomes:

Adolescence Education: Social Studies B.A. candidates will be able to:

   • collect and analyze three students work samples (high, medium and low) that represent the patterns of learning from a selected assessment and explain how they will reteach the learning objectives for students to gain further success with the content in the future.
   • plan a social studies unit on a specific topic which will include a two-week daily lesson plan identifying the objectives, standards, instructional strategies, assessments and UDL principles, and instructional materials associated with each lesson.
   • plan and use developmentally appropriate materials, activities, and instructional strategies in the lesson plan and implement that plan for the social studies topic.
   • analyze structured interviews completed with two grade level students on primary source documents and their historical knowledge and write a five-page reflection paper on how this knowledge will shape their future instructional practices.

Additional Information:

All Education courses must be completed with a 2.7 or higher, with a 3.0 GPA in the education major.Education courses (EDLS and SECD courses) require a minimum grade of 2.7 or above; therefore, these courses will not satisfy the requirement if students elect the S/P/U grading option.  However, an S grade can be used to fulfill cognate requirements in the major.  Students must follow the S/P/U policy for the Arts & Science major they are pursuing.

All Adolescence Social Studies Education programs require completion of an appropriate Arts and Sciences major, chosen from one of the following majors: anthropology, economics, history, politics or sociology. Contact the chair of one of these departments to declare the major, be assigned an adviser, and select appropriate courses.

The GPA in the selected major must be a 2.75 or higher.