About UNC-BEST
Before UNC-BEST, an undergraduate science major at Carolina had to pursue additional study after graduation to obtain a teaching license. The UNC-BEST program provides a fast track to licensure so physics and biology majors can earn their high school teaching license during their four years of undergraduate study. The program is highly streamlined because the four education courses also fulfill degree requirements as biology or physics electives or as General Education Requirements.
Another benefit of the UNC-BEST program is that students take a teaching methods course that is housed in their home department so they can focus in depth on the most effective methods for teaching their particular subject. What challenges do young learners face as they attempt to understand the abstract phenomena of photosynthesis and how can conceptual understanding of photosynthesis develop? How can the concept of inertia be made more tangible for high school students through hands on experiences and analogies? Such subject-specific teaching inquiries are the focus of the departmental teaching methods courses (BIOL 410 & PHYS 410), which provide both an in-depth understanding of the big ideas of biology and physics as well as well as the most effective strategies for teaching these ideas to high school students.
Generous scholarships are available to UNC-BEST students.
Jenny Holt, a UNC-BEST student sharing the lessons she and her partner designed on plant adaptations which included a lab on plant tropisms and a dissection of a lily flower.Collaborators
