Masters Arts Teaching Courses

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Professional Education Sequence Courses

Required for all MAT Students.

  • MAT 800 / School & Society: American Schooling from its Origins to the Global Era - (view)
    This course provides students with an overview of the history and philosophy of education in the United States. It investigates key issues such as literacy, diversity and equity, the education of teachers, and school reform from historical and contemporary perspectives. Major educational philosophies are studied as they develop and change in various historical eras. The course also examines how globalization and large scale immigration are affecting schooling and youth.
  • MAT 801 / The Adolescent Learner - (view)
    This course focuses upon adolescent development from both psychological and cross- cultural perspectives. Major theories of learning and cognition are studied in-depth, with an emphasis upon their application to the adolescent learner. (Fieldwork required in suburban setting)
  • MAT 803 / Integrating Technology in the Content Classroom - (view)
    This course explores the impact of new information, communication, and media technologies on the global economy. Students learn how to integrate technology into the content area classroom.
  • MAT 804 / Human Diversity - (view)
    This course focuses upon the socio-cultural context of education in the Global Era. It examines the role of language and culture in identity formation, communication and learning styles. It explores racism, discrimination, and structural factors that contribute to inequality of opportunity. In addition, the course includes: principles and strategies for teaching students from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds, English Language Learners, and methods for working with students' families (Fieldwork required in urban setting)
  • MAT 808 / Instructional Design And Assessment: - (view)
    This course provides a theoretical orientation to curriculum design and assessment. Students learn to design units aligned to state and national content standards using Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe's Understanding by Design (UbD) as a framework. Students study current debates in assessment and learn to create and utilize traditional and authentic assessments for both formative and summative purposes.
  • MAT 809 / Methods of Teaching in the Student's Content Area - (view)
    will be offered in the disciplines of Math, Science, Social Studies, English and World Languages) This course examines the key debates in the respective fields of study and provides students with essential pedagogical content knowledge and strategies. It builds upon the theoretical, philosophical, and cognitive foundations developed in the School and Society and the Adolescent Learner by concretely demonstrating the differences between direct and constructivist approaches and focuses upon lesson plan development. The course is taken in conjunction with a core course in the students' content areas.
  • MAT 810 / Working With Students With Special Needs in the Inclusive Classroom - (view)
    This course provides students with an understanding of the major types of learning disabilities. They study current special education law and learn how to interpret and institute an IEP. In addition, they learn how to modify curriculum to accommodate students' learning needs as well as to integrate differentiated instruction into the Understanding by Design framework. (Fieldwork in an inclusive setting required)
  • MAT 811 / Content Area Reading: Adolescent Literacy - (view)
    This course provides a theoretical understanding of adolescent literacy as well as strategies to enhance comprehension and writing in students' specific content areas. Differentiation of instruction for English Language Learners and Students with Special Needs is addressed.
  • MAT 900 / Student Teaching Internship and Seminar - (view)
    Students spend a full semester student teaching. They are enrolled concurrently in a student teaching seminar in which they study classroom management theory and practice; learn interviewing strategies and to write resume and cover letters; and complete a professional portfolio.

Content Courses for the Biology MAT track

  • MAT 821 / Topics in Biology - (view)
    Topics include: Cellular and Molecular Biology, Virology, Immunology, Molecular Genetics, Animal Behavior, Biology of the Mind and systems of Nerobiology. To be determined.

Elective courses for the Biology MAT track.

  • MAT 831 / Biology of the Mind - (view)
    An introduction to the biological basis for the mental processes by which we think, perceive, learn, and remember. General topics include anatomical organization of brain function, how cells in the brain communicate with each other, and the interplay between nature versus nurture in neural development. Does not meet requirements for major or minor in biology. Meets: Four hours of class. Annually.
  • MAT 832 / Systems Neurobiology - (view)
    The neurons of the nervous system are organized into systems that can be defined on the basis of function, anatomy or neurochemistry. This course explores the development of these systems, coordination of the activity within each system, and clinical disorders arising from malfunctions. The laboratory uses current neuroanatomical, pharmacological and neurochemical techniques to explore structure and function. Meets: Three hours of class and Three hours of laboratory. Prerequisite: BIOL 9 and BIOL 22 and CHEM 6 and CHEM 7.
  • MAT 834 / Vertebrate Morphogenesis - (view)
    Vertebrate anatomy and embryology integrated into a single sequence relating adult morphology to embryological development and adaptation. Stresses basic principles of vertebrate organization, functional considerations of morphology, homologies among vertebrate structures, and evolutionary relations of vertebrate groups. Laboratory work includes comparative studies of various vertebrate types and field trips to the Bronx Zoo and American Museum of Natural History. Fulfills laboratory requirement for major. Meets: Three hours class, three hours laboratory. Prerequisite: BIOL 7 and BIOL 9.
  • MAT 835 / Immunology - (view)
    An introduction to the principles of immunology. Stresses the nature of antigens, antibodies, and antigen-antibody interactions; humoral and cellular immune responses governing antibody production, hypersensitivities, transplantation, tolerance, autoimmunity, and neoplasia. Includes discussions on immunogenetics, immunoregulation, and the concept of immune networks. Meets: Three hours class. Prerequisite: BIOL 7 and BIOL 9 and BIOL 22 and CHEM 25.

Content courses for the Chemistry MAT track.

  • MAT 822 / Laboratory Methods in Chemistry - (view)
    This course covers practical and pedagogical topics involved with the preparation and implementation of high school chemistry lab experiments and demonstrations. Through in-lab activities, we will critique, teach and design experiments that expose high school students to the methods (and excitement) of chemistry and engage them in scientific inquiry. Specific topics include the integration of lab activities with the course curriculum, computer interfacing and lab technology, proper lab techniques, preparing for lab activities, safety and environmental considerations and waste disposal, and evaluation of student reports. Prerequisite: Completion of a chemistry or biochemistry major including general and organic chemistry. Summer second session annually.

Elective courses for the Chemistry MAT track.

  • MAT 841 / Physical Chemistry I - (view)
    A study of the basic principles of quantum mechanics, atomic spectroscopy, molecular spectroscopy, and structure. Topics include quantum mechanics of translation, vibration, and rotation, application of quantum mechanics to atomic spectra and atomic structure, molecular orbital theory of diatomics and conjugated polyatomics, electronic spectroscopy of diatomics and conjugate systems, vibrational spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, and elementary nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Laboratory experiments emphasize the use of the above mentioned spectroscopies in the determination of molecular structure. Meets: Three hours class, three hours laboratory. Prerequisite: CHEM 26 and MATH 8 and PHYS 12.
  • MAT 842 / Intermediate Inorganic Chemistry - (view)
    A systematic study of modern inorganic chemistry beginning with the chemistry of the main group elements. Topics include periodic trends and chemical relationships and unusual bonding interactions. Focuses on the chemistry of the transition elements, including stereochemistry and isomerism, bonding (crystal and ligand field theory), magnetic and spectroscopic properties, metal-metal bonds, metal clusters, organometallic and bioinorganic chemistry. Meets: Three hours class. Prerequisite: CHEM 25. Fall semester.
  • MAT 843 / Biochemistry - (view)
    A study of the fundamental principles of protein biochemistry with an introduction to metabolism. Topics include chemistry of amino acids, relationship between protein structure and function, enzyme kinetics and mechanisms, regulation of enzymatic activity. The laboratory focuses on the application of biochemical principles to the solving of biological problems in living systems. Laboratory experimental methods include protein and nucleic acid characterization, purification of enzymes, enzyme kinetic measurements, and forensic biochemistry. Meets: Three hours class, three hours laboratory. Prerequisite: CHEM 26. Corequisite: CHEM 118. Fall semester.
  • MAT 844 / Biochemistry Lab - (view)
    Basic techniques of experimental biochemistry including spectrophotometric and chromatographic techniques. Projections will include protein quantitation enzyme assay, dipeptide sequencing, characterization of a simple sugar. Meets: Three hours of laboratory. Prerequisite: MAT 843. Same as: CHEM 118.
  • MAT 845 / Special Topics in Environmental Science - (view)
    Occasional elective courses interdisciplinary or disciplinary topics related to the environment.
  • MAT 846 / Special Topics in Environmental Studies - (view)
    Occasional elective courses on interdisciplinary or disciplinary topics related to the environment. Amount of credit established at time of registration. Prerequisite: Varies with topic; consult course listings, or contact the program dir. To be determined.
  • MAT 847 / Special Topics in Environmental Studies - (view)
    Occasional advanced elective courses on interdisciplinary or disciplinary topics related to the environment. May be repeated for credit as topic changes. Course may be repeated.
  • MAT 848 / Modern Physics - (view)
    A descriptive and mathematical introduction to topics in contemporary physics. Topics include special relativity, early quantum theory, the Schroedinger equation and its applications, and additional selected topics from general relativity, atomic, nuclear, solid state, and elementary particle physics. Prerequisite: PHYS 11, 12 AND MATH 8. Offered fall semester. Same as: PHYS 103.
  • MAT 849 / Topics in Chemistry: - (view)
    Topics include: Physical Chemistry ll, Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, Advanced Organic Chemistry, Advanced Topics in Inorganic Chemistry. Course may be repeated.

Content courses for the English MAT track.

  • ENGLG 843 / Growing Up Stories:Crossing Borders,Inventing Cul.Def.Sel. - (view)
    The course focuses on colonial, transnational, and immigrant Bildungsroman, looking at issues of border crossing, ideas of home, and reconstructions of identity in shifting sites. Reading of narratives and poetry are contextualized and theorized through criticism on Bildungsroman and on literatures of immigration and identity as well as other theoretical texts that look at questions of cultural exchange, the transnational, the postcolonial, and the multicultural.

Elective courses for the English MAT track.

  • ENGLG 840 / British Literature and World War I - (view)
    This course explores the impact of World War I on modernist American and British writers. We will be reading 20th-century writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, Katherine Mansfield and others. The course seeks to explore such questions as: how did modernist writers find language and literary forms to express the horror of war? How did war impact on issues such as gender and nation? How did World War I contribute to modernist themes such as alienation and changing conceptions of "time" and "reality."
  • ENGLG 844 / Caribbean Literature - (view)
    Description Pending.
  • ENGLG 845 / Poetry Crossing Borders - (view)
    This course seeks to strengthen teachers strategies for evaluating their own interpretations of poetry and responding to their students interpretations of poems. In addition, the course will introduce current scholarship in transnationalism, working on issues related to translation, reception, and revision as texts and people cross borders. We will look both at poetry from other parts of the world (such as African oral poetry and Korean poetry) and at American poets engagement with poets from other linguistic, cultural, and national traditions. Teachers will have an opportunity to use the Dodge Poetry Festival archives to conduct research and/or build curriculum units. Archival Studies students will be able to work with archival materials as well as learn about, and possibly participate in, the process of constructing the archive.
  • MAT 851 / Topics in English: - (view)
    Topics include: Holocaust Theatre: Resistance, Response, Remembrance, The Literature of Addictions, The Journey Back to Self. Course may be repeated.

Content courses for the Mathematics MAT track.

  • MAT 823 / High School Mathematics From an Advanced Perspective - (view)
    In this course, students revisit high school mathematics from an advanced perspective. Attention is given to theoretical foundations, the interrelatedness of topics, generalizations and abstractions, multiple perspectives (for example, geometric and algebraic; functional and set-theoretical), and the use of technology to explore and demonstrate mathematical ideas.

Elective courses for the Mathematics MAT track.

  • MAT 861 / Introductory Statistics - (view)
    Presentation and interpretation of data, frequency distributions, measures of center and dispersion, elementary probability, inference and sampling, regression and correlation; use of a standard statistics software product. Designed for students in the social and biological sciences. Meets: 150 minutes weekly, with an additional 50 minute recitation. Corequisite: MAT 861R. Every semester. Same as: MATH 3.
  • MAT 862 / Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science - (view)
    Mathematical topics central to the study of computer science: elementary logic and set theory, modular arithmetic, proof techniques, induction, recurrences, counting, generating functions, graph theory, matrices, Gaussian elimination. Meets: Weekly for three 65 minute periods. Fall semester. Same as: MATH 23.
  • MAT 863 / Number Theory - (view)
    A mathematical investigation of the integers: prime numbers, unique factorization, congruence, theorems of Fermat and Euler, quadratic reciprocity, Diophantine equations, applications in cryptography and coding theory. Meets: 150 minutes weekly. Prerequisite: C- or better in MATH 17. Same as: MATH 108.
  • MAT 864 / Mathematical Physics - (view)
    An introduction to methods used in solving problems in physics and other sciences. Calculus of variations and extremum principles. Orthogonal functions and Sturm-Liouville problems. Fourier series. Series solutions of differential equations. The partial differential equations of physics. Transform and Green's function methods of solution. Nonlinear equations and chaos theory. Prerequisite: MATH 104 and PHYS 11.
  • MAT 865 / Real and Complex Analysis - (view)
    Topics include properties of the real and complex number systems, introduction to point set typology, limits of sequences and functions, continuity, differentiation and integration of real and complex functions, and infinite series and uniform convergence. Meets: Weekly for three 65 minute periods. Prerequisite: MATH 17 and MATH 100.
  • MAT 866 / Probability - (view)
    The fundamentals of probability theory including discrete and continuous random variables and their distributions, conditional probability and independence, joint probability distributions, expected values, moment generating functions, laws of large numbers, and limit theorems. Special topics selected from random walks, Markov chains, and applications as time permits. Meets: Weekly for three 65 minute periods. Prerequisite: MATH 17 and MATH 100. Same as: MATH 129.
  • MAT 867 / Topics in Mathematics: - (view)
    Topics include: Foundations of Higher Mathematics, Linear Algebra, and Mathematics seminar. Course may be repeated.
  • MAT 868 / Object Oriented Programming - (view)
    Designing, writing, and testing structured computer programs. Decomposing problems; writing function definitions; conditional and iterative control constructs; using class libraries. Problem-solving through programming with classes and vectors; algorithm correctness; recursion. Java will be the language of instruction. Meets: Three times weekly for 65 minutes plus once a week for a 75 minute laboratory. Prerequisite: C- or better in CSCI 1. Same as: CSCI 2.

Content courses for Social Studies MAT track.

  • HC 871 / The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade & the Making of the Modern World - (view)
    This world history course focuses on the global dynamics of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, its impact on world history from the 16th to the 19th century and its repercussions today. The course raises a fundamental question, "What were the origins and dynamics of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and how has it shaped economic, political, religious, gender and racial identities in the modern world?" Through lectures, discussion, journal writing, book reviews and research in primary documents, students study the nature of global interactions between peoples and cultures through several humanities disciplines such as history, literature and religion. The seminar also focuses on the centrality of Christianity as (1) an incentive and rationale for slavery from the 16th to the 18th centuries; (2) the foundation for moral arguments against slavery in the 19th century; and (3) one of the central components behind cultural change and identity formation for over three centuries. The nature of g

Elective courses for the MAT History track.

  • HC 800 / Foundation Seminar - (view)
    A basic survey of the history, methods, theory, and philosophy of historiography. Students will be introduced to diverse approaches to historical research and writing, and they will learn how to assimilate and criticize bodies of scholarly literature. Required for all students in the History and Culture program. First semester annually.
  • HC 838 / Northern Ireland: The Rocky Road to Peace - (view)
    Following its inception in May 1921, politics within the Northern Ireland state was dominated by sectarianism and religious conflict. In order to maintain Protestant hegemony, the civil rights of the minority Catholic population were eroded, both overtly and covertly. Tensions came to a head in the 1960s, but his course will demonstrate how the seeds of violence were sown much earlier. Key events of the conflict such as Bloody Sunday, internment, the murder of Lord Mountbatten, the hunger strikes, the Enniskillen and Omagh bombings, and the steps to the Peace Process will be examined. There will be a special focus on various government enquiries and on accusations of police collusion that have accompanied these investigations. The course will make extensive use of primary evidence.
  • HC 873 / Age of Revolutions c. 1688 to 1917 - (view)
    This course examines the revolutionary continuum that swept the world in the long eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It begins with Britains "Glorious Revolution" of 1688, examines Americas War of Independence (or was it a "Revolution"?), and continues through the global revolutionary year of 1848 and beyond. Throughout the course, the various revolutions examined will be placed in their wider social, cultural, scientific, and ideological contexts.
  • HC 883 / Knowledge in Motion: Local Science, World Contexts - (view)
    This course surveys the history of science from the dawn of agriculture to the present day, seeking to move beyond classic accounts of "the West and the rest" to examine the history of science in the global contextand in the process, to challenge our very notions of science itself. Topics to be explored include the history of ancient, Arabic, and medieval European science and mathematics; the "Scientific Revolution" and the new uses of mixed mathematics in astronomy and natural philosophy; and the integration of biological and other field sciences with larger colonialist and nationalist projects. We will broaden our understanding of the contributions of various world cultures to the history of science, and explore the ways in which particular local cultural realities make certain kinds of scientific developments possible. We will pay particular attention to places and practices of knowledge (school, laboratory, field, museum, journal); the relations of science/mathematics and religio
  • HISTG 844 / Great Britain and the World - (view)
    In the nineteenth century, one out of every four human beings on earth was a subject of Queen Victoria. With the exception of the United States, no nation in history has ever enjoyed the global power, economic dominance, and international cultural influence once exercised by Great Britain. The world as we know it today was shaped very largely by the British Empire. This course surveys the political, social, economic history of modern Britain and its relationship to the larger world. It will cover the rise and fall of British power, industrial society, parliamentary politics, popular culture, "Victorianism" and "modernity", sexuality, the First and Second World Wars, and postindustrial Britain, among other topics.
  • HISTG 845 / Here,There, and Everywhere: The 1960s as Global History - (view)
    No recent decade has been so powerfully transformative in the United States and much of the world as have the 1960s. The era's social movements -- from civil rights, to feminism, youth protest, environmentalism, and nascent conservatism -- dramatically changed the political culture of the developed West. Decolonization struggles, cresting in the 1960s, altered the nature and balance of global power, while, in communist Europe, democracy movements set the stage for full-scale revolutions that ended the Cold War.. So too, no decade has had such an enduring grip on politics, culture, and consciousness. This class explores the 1960s as international history, focusing on global conflicts and protest cultures. Separate units will treat key events, figures, and themes in the United States, Western and Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia, stressing the interconnection between disparate movements and experiences. The course material will range widely to include politics, music, the visual arts, and film.
  • HISTG 846 / Eyes on Amer:Foreign Observers of the American Scene - (view)
    Since its first discovery and settlement, the United States has fascinated observers from other lands. They have produced a body of literature ranging from the perceptively analytic, as in the case of Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America to the purely imaginative, as in Franz Kafka's novel Amerika, to the witheringly satirical, as in the recent film Borat. Americans, for their part, have been alternately fascinated, indignant, or nonplussed by the "image in the mirror" these foreign observers offer. Employing works from the seventeenth through the twentieth century, this seminar explores the foreign commentary on America and the American response to this commentary. Seminar objectives include developing an understanding of the broad themes that have informed foreign observations of America, the themes and issues animating the American response, and the historical contexts influencing both the production and reception of these observations. We also consider why some commentaries-Tocqueville's Democracy being the prime example-to exert a strong pull on American self image.
  • HISTG 848 / In Search of the Amer.Dream Immigration,Labor,&Culture - (view)
    Description Pending.
  • MAT 871 / Topics in History: - (view)
    Topics include: The Age of Revolutions, c 1688-1917, Studies in British History: The empire Strikes Back: the struggles for Independence from the British Empire, with special reference to China, India and Ireland, Abe Lincoln: Man, Myth and Memory, 1848: The Springtime of the People. Course may be repeated.

Content courses for the MAT Spanish Track.

Elective courses for the MAT Spanish track.

  • MAT 881 / Selected Topics in Spanish: - (view)
    Topics include :Environmental Representations: Nature, Nation and Self in Spanish America, Linguistics, Intercambios Translanticos: Una Historia cultural de la comida de los siglos 16 al 21, Literature of the Conquest of Latin America, Spanish Grammar in Action.
  • MAT 882 / Literature of the Conquest of Latin America - (view)
    A study of the artistic, intellectual, and social aspects that distinguish the various Spanish-speaking groups in the United States. The course surveys Spain's cultural presence in North America from the early 16th century to the mid-19th century through the works of early explorers, oral narratives, and the role of the missions. In addition, the concept of traditional and contemporary borderlands and its geographic and psycholinguistic implications are explored to analyze issues of marginality, bilingual-bicultural issues, and nationalism. Primary emphasis is on contemporary authors and trends. Spring semester. Same as: SPAN 136.
  • MAT 883 / History, Society, Fiction in the Lit.of Mexico & Hisp.Car - (view)
    This course studies one of the major contemporary narrative genres in Latin America, the "cuento fantastico," which includes the much popularized notion of magical realism. Same as: SPAN 146.
  • MAT 884 / Spanish Grammar in Action - (view)
    No description is available for this course. Same as: SPAN 126.