Course specification for EDG2001

Staffing

Examiner: Karen Peel
Moderator: Bradley McLennan

Requisites

Pre-requisite: Students must be enrolled in one of the following Programs: GDTL or GDTO
Co-requisite: EDG2000

Other requisites

Students must be available for a prescribed period of time to undertake a placement in a school or other approved site as required in this course. State law in Queensland (Australia) requires that all adults working/undertaking professional experience/researching with children under the age of 18, in the state of Queensland are required to possess a current suitability card (Blue Card). (See "Other Requirements" for further information.) Also see: http://www.usq.edu.au/educational/profexp/bluecard

Rationale

Learning is about building connections between knowledge, skills and understandings across discipline areas. Learners in the 21st century will need the thinking skills of problem identification & solving, flexibility and the social skills of working in groups to co-operatively define and solve new challenges in creative ways. This course has been designed to assist pre-service teachers develop the ability to make cross connections between content knowledge areas and the thinking skills to solve new problems in a logical and creative manner and to translate these understandings and skills into the development of learning plans for their future students.

Synopsis

This course has three connected components: the content areas associated with four of the learning areas associated with the curriculum documents, the pedagogical approach of inquiry for learning and an integrated curriculum design. The four learning areas associated with this course are: Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE), History, The Arts, and Languages. Students will be required to develop short term learning plans which demonstrate knowledge of appropriate curriculum documents and the integration of knowledge and skills across learning areas utilising a pedagogy based on inquiry. These plans will need to demonstrate how assessment for and of learning are integrated into the design and proposed delivery of these learning episodes. The course provides for 15 days of professional attachment to an identified school.

Objectives

The course objectives define the student learning outcomes for a course. The assessment item(s) that may be used to assess student achievement of an objective are shown in parenthesis. On completion of this course students will be able to:

demonstrate understanding of the key curriculum documents e.g. ACARA, Queensland Studies Authority - Essential Learnings, Early Years Curriculum, (All assessments)
demonstrate understanding and application of an integrated curriculum design process (Assignments 1 & 2)
demonstrate the understanding and application of an inquiry for learning approach (Assignments 1 & 2)
demonstrate an understanding of how to apply assessment processes for and of learning in an integrated inquiry led approach required for planning short term learning episodes (Assignments 1 & 2)
demonstrate the knowledge, skills and understandings associated with the learning areas identified for this course (All assessments)
demonstrate knowledge of appropriate ICT uses for teaching and learning (Assignment 2 and Professional Experience)
demonstrate competence in and appropriate use of language and literacy, including spelling, grammar, punctuation and bibliographic referencing. (All assessments)

Topics

	Description	Weighting(%)
1.	Key curriculum documents Years P-10	10.00
2.	Designing an integrated curriculum	15.00
3.	Inquiry approaches to learning and teaching including appropriate teaching strategies	15.00
4.	Assessment in an integrated inquiry led approach to planning	10.00
5.	Study of Society & Environment	10.00
6.	The Arts	10.00
7.	History	10.00
8.	Languages	10.00
9.	ICT uses for teaching and learning	10.00

Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed

ALL textbooks and materials available to be purchased can be sourced from USQ's Online Bookshop (unless otherwise stated). (https://bookshop.usq.edu.au/bookweb/subject.cgi?year=2013&sem=01&subject1=EDG2001)

Please contact us for alternative purchase options from USQ Bookshop. (https://bookshop.usq.edu.au/contact/)

Wood, K. E (2010), Interdisciplinary Instruction for all Learners K-8. A practical guide, 4th edn, Pearson, Boston.
EDG2001 Course Resource materials.

Reference materials

Reference materials are materials that, if accessed by students, may improve their knowledge and understanding of the material in the course and enrich their learning experience.

Alberta Learning (2005), Focus on Inquiry,
<http://education.alberta.ca/media/313361/focusoninquiry.pdf>.
(Access Date 12/04/2009.)
Churchill, R. et al 2011, Teaching: Making a Difference, Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd, Milton, Qld.
Kuhlthau, C 2007, Guided Inquiry Learning in the 21st Century, Libraries Unlimited, London.
Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J (2005), Understanding by design, 2nd edn, Merrill Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle, New Jersey.
Whether you are on, or off campus, the USQ Library is an excellent source of information http://www.usq.edu.au/library. The gateway to education resources is here ... http://www.usq.edu.au/library/help/facultyguides/education/default.htm.

Student workload requirements

Activity	Hours
Directed Study	80.00
Independent Study	80.00

Assessment details

Description	Marks out of	Wtg (%)	Due Date	Notes
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE	1	1	26 Feb 2013	(see note 1)
ASSIGNMENT 1	40	39	01 Apr 2013
ASSIGNMENT 2	60	60	20 May 2013

NOTES

A mark of one (1) indicates you have passed the Professional Experience component. A mark of zero (0) indicates you have not passed the Professional Experience component. Professional Placement should be conducted as per the Professional Experience Calendar unless approval has been granted by the Course Examiner.

Important assessment information

Attendance requirements:
It is the students' responsibility to attend and participate appropriately in all activities scheduled for them, and to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration.
Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
To satisfactorily complete an individual assessment item a student must achieve at least 50% of the marks.
Penalties for late submission of required work:
If students submit assignments after the due date without (prior) approval of the examiner then a penalty of 5% of the total marks gained by the student for the assignment may apply for each working day late up to ten working days at which time a mark of zero may be recorded. No assignments will be accepted after model answers have been posted.
Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course and must satisfactorily complete the sector-based professional experience.
Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the aggregate of the weighted marks obtained for each of the summative assessment items in the course.
Examination information:
There is no examination in this course.
Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
As there are no examinations in this course, there will be no deferred or supplementary examinations.
University Student Policies:
Students should read the USQ policies: Definitions, Assessment and Student Academic Misconduct to avoid actions which might contravene University policies and practices. These policies can be found at http://policy.usq.edu.au/portal/custom/search/category/usq_document_policy_type/Student.1.html.

Assessment notes

APA style is the referencing system required in this course. Students should use APA style in their assignments to format details of the information sources they have cited in their work. The APA style to be used is defined by the USQ Library's referencing guide. http://www.usq.edu.au/library/help/referencing/apa

Other requirements

Students will require access to e-mail and have Internet access to UConnect for this course.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Working with Children: State law in Queensland requires that all adults (including university students, pre-service educators, trainers, vocational teachers, industry educators) working with children under the age of 18, in the State of Queensland*, obtain approval before commencing such work. Many education courses include a practical component (professional experience, project work, research, assessment etc.) that may require engagement with children under the age of 18. It is your responsibility to ensure that you possess a current suitability card (Blue Card) before commencing any practical components of this course. DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN ANY PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE WITH CHILDREN UNDER 18 UNLESS YOU POSSESS A CURRENT 'BLUE CARD'. For further information: http://www.usq.edu/education/profexp/bluecard
*If you are undertaking practical experience outside the State of Queensland, Australia you should check local requirements.

EDG2001 Inquiry Through The Curriculum 1

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