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University of Pittsburgh    
2024-2025 Graduate & Professional Studies Catalog 
    
 
  Feb 17, 2025
 
2024-2025 Graduate & Professional Studies Catalog

Social Studies Education, MAT


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The Master of Arts (MAT) program in Social Studies Education offers students a rigorous course of instruction in teaching Social Studies content in grades 7-12. Upon graduation, the MAT program satisfies the requirements for earning a Pennsylvania Instructional I Certificate and provides students with a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree. 

Through coursework and a two-semester internship, the MAT program prepares teachers to enact dialogic, student-centered, research-based instruction to teach Social Studies content to students in grades 7-12. The program also focuses on implementing three pillars: a) centering care and relationality in teaching; b) inviting and honoring diverse ways of knowing; and c) seeking to unsettle and remake unjust system, structures, practices, and norms in today’s schools. 

36 credits are required for this program 

Accreditations: PA Department of Education accredited

Admissions Requirements:

  • 3.0 GPA in undergraduate coursework

EDUCATION COURSE PREREQUISITES

  • 3 credits of Foundations of Special Education
  • 3 credits of Adolescent Development

EXPERIENCE WORKING WITH CHILDREN PREREQUISITE

  • 30 hours of experience working with K-12 children (preferably adolescents).  Typical experiences include work at summer camps, tutoring, community involvement, or other volunteer or paid work with children.
  • To document experience with children, candidates, complete the Hours Documentation Form (PDF), is submitted with application materials

SOCIAL STUDIES COURSE PREREQUISITES

Area 1: Content Prerequisites 15-18 credits)

This area requires a minimum of 5 three-credit courses. Courses must directly address content in the following topic areas. A single course may satisfy more than one of these required foci. If regional, period, and/or topic specific courses are used to meet these prerequisites, up to 3 additional credits will be required in order to meet content expectations.

  • U.S. History;
  • Western European History;
  • World History (non-Western);
  • Ancient History;
  • Geography; and
  • World Cultures

Area 2: Civics (3 credits)

The course must focus on general themes of political science, particularly those related to democracy, civic engagement, American political systems, or related topics.

Area 3: Economics (3 credits)

A course in basic or advanced Economics is required

Area 4: Sociology and Social Foundations (3 credits)

This prerequisite may be satisfied by a course in either the humanities, social sciences, or education that examines how socially constructed categories create advantages and disadvantages in social or educational institutions.

Examples include courses that explore the history, nature, or implications of:

  • classism and capitalism;
  • heterosexism, homophobia, genderism, and sexism;
  • racism, xenophobia, and ethnocentrism;
  • religious oppression;
  • ableism; and/or
  • other, interrelated forms of subordination

GPA and Grade requirements: All students enrolled in the MAT in Social Studies Education are required to maintain a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0. A student is automatically placed on academic warning if the cumulative GPA falls below 3.000. No student on academic warning is permitted to participate in student teaching, a teaching internship, or an advanced teaching practicum. 

Graduation Requirements: Students must complete the 36 credits required by the program plan of study, fulfill all PA Department of Education (PDE) requirements, and obtain the required GPA of 3.00 to meet graduation requirements.

 

Required Courses (Sample Plan of Studies):

Summer II

TLL 2584   (3 cr.)

Critical Pedagogies and Praxes (in-person)

TLL 2581  (3 cr.)

Critical Histories of Education (in-person)

 

Fall

  • School placement: Mid-August through placement school district’s last day before winter recess

TLL 2260   (3 cr.)

Teaching & Learning in Secondary Social Studies 1 (in-person)

TLL 2872  (3 cr.)

Teaching & Learning in Secondary Social Studies 2 (in-person)

TLL 2257   (3 cr.)

Teaching English Language Learners (online or in-person)

TLL 2514   (3 cr.)

Supporting Students with Disabilities in Inclusive classrooms (online or in-person)

TLL 2883   (3 cr.)

Internship in Social Studies Education (in-person)

 

Spring

  • School placement: Placement school district’s first day back in January through end of April

TLL 2583   (3 cr.)

TLL 2583: Cultures, Knowledge Traditions, and Social Systems of Schooling I (in-person)

TLL 2515   (3 cr.)

Supporting Literacies in Inclusive Classrooms (online or in-person)

TLL 2290   (3 cr.)

Research Seminar online or in-person)

TLL 2824   (1 cr.)

Student Teaching Seminar (in-person)

TLL 2883   (5 cr.)

Internship in Social Studies Education (in-person)

Total credits = 36 credits

 

Internship Experience:

During the school year, students complete an internship in a local public school under the supervision of a mentor teacher. Interns observe, analyze, and practice teaching skills in the grade levels and subjects of their mentor teacher.

In the fall term, MAT students spend approximately 20 hours per week working with their mentor teacher. In the summer term, students in the MAT program are in their school sites 30 hours per week, culminating in a two-week take-over of their mentor teacher’s full responsibilities.

Certification Requirements:

Graduates satisfy the requirements to earn a Pennsylvania Instructional I Certificate and a Master of Arts in Teaching degree by achieving the following:

  • Earning a passing score on the PRAXIS II Exam in their content area
    • Teaching Interns must take and pass the Content Knowledge (PRAXIS II) test either the summer before the program or during the first semester of the program in order to obtain their Intern Certificate.
  • Completing Stage 3 competencies in the Fall term
  • Completing the PA Statewide Evaluation Form for Student Professional Knowledge and Practice (PDE 430); and
  • Demonstrating satisfactory performance in courses and the student internship

How is the Comprehensive Requirement Completed? TLL 2290 research seminar capstone project

Total Credits: 36


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