Helping teachers to enable students to be successful in Science and Mathematics.
Learn America is approved as an Online Academy in New York State offering professional learning to educators. We are also an approved Continuing Teacher and Leader Education (CTLE) sponsor. In order to best serve our clients, Learn America has collaborated with leading higher education institutions in the state.
These are three distinct and equally important dimensions of learning science. These dimensions are combined to form each standard—or performance expectation—and each dimension works with the other two to help students build a cohesive understanding of science over time.
CROSSCUTTING CONCEPTS
Crosscutting Concepts help students explore connections across the four domains of science, including Physical Science, Life Science, Earth and Space Science, and Engineering Design.
SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING PRACTICES
Science and Engineering Practices describe what scientists do to investigate the natural world and what engineers do to design and build systems.
DISCIPLINARY CORE IDEAS
Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) are the key ideas in science that have broad importance within or across multiple science or engineering disciplines.
CTLE, In-Service Credits or Graduate Credits for Education Professionals
Choose from our wide range of 15-hour modules in Math and Science for educators. Meet your professional requirements through our customized modules aligned to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards (NYS P-12 SLS). Courses are available for graduate or in-service credit, as well as Continuing Teacher and Leader Education (CTLE) hours. According to the 80-6.3 Commissioner’s Regulations, CTLE activities must be designed to improve teacher or leader’s pedagogical or leadership skills and be targeted at improving student performance. These activities will promote the professionalization of teaching and educational leadership and will be closely aligned to goals for student performance.
Dots and Lines: Everyday Applications of Graph Theory
Instructor
Carol Desoe
Examine Graph Theory examples in every day routines. Explore molecules, transportation networks and computer architecture.
MAT 402
You Are What You Eat: Analyze Food Habits Through Statistical Methods
Instructor
Barbara McMullen
Use statistical methods to describe the food we eat. Using foods normally consumed by children, explore the different ways in which the food can be described. Make predictions about a quantifiable characteristic of students in a classroom that may depend on the food they eat.
MAT 403
How Much Paint Should We Buy?
Instructor
Carol Desoe
Use concepts from geometry and calculus to determine the amount of paint needed to cover a given surface. Explore limits and methods of approximation as they apply to finding the surface area of a variety of both regular and irregular shapes and solids.
CTLE Course Offerings
PHY 301
Physics of Baseball: Analyze Baseball Essentials
Instructor
Vincent Licciardello
Use the laws of motion and analyze the physics behind home runs. Create a model around projectile motion and velocity to determine the distance a ball travels. Explore the impact of forces in other activities.
PHY 302
Make a Wave: Study of Sound Waves
Instructor
Patrick Dwyer, Ph.D.
A study of mechanical waves and how it impacts day-to-day life though lessons and activities in the basic properties of sound and its propagation through air and other medium. Explore the propagation of sound through various medium, devise simple activities to examine the properties of sound waves and how they are affected.
PHY 303
Closed Circuit: Basics of Electricity
Instructor
Vincent Licciardello
A study of electric current and how it impacts day-to-day life through lessons and activities in the current, voltage, resistance. Explore concepts such as power, current, and voltage through circuits in series and parallel, and its application in everyday life through simple activities.
CTLE Course Offerings
CHEM 201
The Disappearing Act: Lessons on Solubility
Instructor
Patrick Dwyer, Ph.D.
Explain solubility of salts on a molecular level. Understanding of ionic charge, ionic bonding, the dissolving process, molecular polarity, and intermolecular forces employed to explain the solubility of salts in polar solvents such as water.
CHEM 202
It’s a Balancing Act: Chemical Reactions
Instructor
Patrick Dwyer, Ph.D.
Explore chemical reactions. Identify and make observations that indicate progress of chemical reaction. Discuss the process of bond breaking and bond making to convert reactants to products during a chemical reaction. See that chemical reactions must be balanced and matter can never be created or destroyed.
CHEM 203
Hot’n Cold: Temperature Effects on Matter
Instructor
Patrick Dwyer, Ph.D.
Temperature has numerous effects at the molecular level. Through discussion of kinetic energy, examine the effects of temperature on various properties in all three states of matter.
CTLE Course Offerings
BIO 101
Fresh Air: Respiratory System, Tidal Volumes and Breathing
Instructor
Elaine Schwartz, Ph.D.
Review the structure and function of the respiratory system. Comparison of respiratory systems of different animals leading to concentration on the human respiratory system. Build activities for use in elementary, middle and high school classes that allows students to measure the capacity of their lungs.
BIO 102
Ticking Right: Cardio Vascular Systems and the Regulation of Heart Beats
Instructor
Elaine Schwartz, Ph.D.
Review the structure and function of the circulatory system. Compare closed and open circulatory systems and focus on the structure and function of the human heart. Build activities around the dissection of a sheep’s heart and how to measure heart rate.
BIO 103
No Bones About It: The Skeletal System and Predicting the Height of a Human
Instructor
Elaine Schwartz, Ph.D.
Review the structure and function of the skeletal system. Compare endoskeletons and exoskeletons to focus on the human skeletal system. Collaborate to build activities – how bones can be used to determine the height of individuals.
Content Specialty Exam for New Teachers and Cross-Certification in the Sciences
The Learn America STEM team brings decades of pedagogy aligned with current assessment standards. We specialize only in Mathematics and Sciences. Learn for your Content Specialty Exams from the best in the trade.
Physics
Competencies required include: Foundations of Scientific Inquiry, Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Electricity and Magnetism, Waves, Sound, Light, Quantum Theory and the Atom.
Chemistry
Competencies required include: Foundations of Scientific Inquiry, Matter and Atomic Structure, Energy, Chemical Bonds, Molecular Structure, Chemical Reactions, Stoichiometry and Solutions, Interactions of Chemistry and the Environment.
Biology
Competencies required include: Foundations of Scientific Inquiry, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Genetics and Evolution, Biological Unity, Diversity and Life Processes, Human Biology, and Ecology.
Earth Sciences
Competencies required include: Foundations of Scientific Inquiry, Space Systems, Atmospheric Systems, Geological Systems and Water Systems.
Each Math and Science course includes over 1,000 questions that range in difficulty from simple self-assessment questions, “test prep” questions in the form of assessments to prepare the candidate for the CSE exam, and mock-tests that the student can take to experience the actual NYSCSE exams.
