Introduction

Please click here to see School of Education & Human Development information.

The Education and Human Development major with a Social Studies license focuses on engaging Colorado's rapidly diversifying student and family population. It combines cutting-edge research with real classroom experiences. You'll learn from innovative faculty members who are locally, nationally and internationally recognized for their teaching and research in Social Studies education. They will provide you with a robust knowledge base and relevant learning experiences in transforming deep content knowledge into learning experiences for youth across multiple cultural contexts as it relates to teaching youth in grades 6 through 12. You'll engage in powerful classroom experiences and benefit from our rich 20-year history of partnering with schools to prepare teachers.

The secondary Social Studies program ensures that you will develop deep content knowledge across a number of disciplines important to become a successful Social Studies teacher with courses in history, political science, geography, economics and more. You will also be prepared with the methods and foundations coursework that will make you a highly effective, innovative and compassionate secondary Social Studies teacher skilled in improving student performance and reaching the needs of today's diverse learners in a variety of school settings. You will have the skills to be a teacher leader. CU Denver graduates often go on to acquire positions in educational leadership as their careers progress.

Program Delivery

• This is an on-campus program with a variety of delivery options for many of our courses including hybrid, evening, weekend, and online courses.

Declaring This Major

• Click here to go to information about declaring a major.

General Requirements

To earn a degree, students must satisfy all requirements in each of the three areas below, in addition to their individual major requirements.

• CU Denver General Graduation Requirements   
• CU Denver Core Curriculum    
• School of Education and Human Development Graduation Requirements   
• Click here for information about Academic Policies

Program Requirements

1. Students must complete a minimum total of 126 semester hours for the EDHD Secondary Social Studies Education Track.
2. Application to the last year of the program, the Professional Year Residency is required. After successfully completing all other Core, major, and elective courses, all students must apply for admission into the Professional Year. Requirements for admission include a 3.0 GPA, positive letters of recommendation, successful evaluations of earlier clinical experiences, and a successful interview. (Students with a lower GPA may be considered under certain conditions. Please see SEHD website.)
3. A minimum of C- is required for all content courses.
4. A minimum GPA of 2.0, grade of C or better, is required for all major courses applying to EDHD - Secondary Social Studies Education requirements unless otherwise specified.
5. Students must complete and maintain a 3.0 minimum grade point average in Professional Year coursework to complete licensure requirements. Please see an advisor for more information on this requirement.
6. Transfer courses must be approved by faculty and/or advisor to apply to the major.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Major Courses
CLDE 2000	CLDE Foundations 1	3
EDFN 1000	Equality, Rights & Education	3
or LCRT 2000	Rebels, Villains, & Superheroes: How Children's Literature Shapes Our Identities
or LCRT 3815	Once Upon a Time: Family Literacies in Culturally Diverse Communities
SPED 4030	Understanding (dis)Ability in Contemporary Classrooms 1	3
HDFR 1010	Life Span Development in Ecological Settings	3
or HDFR 2110	Child Ecology
or HDFR 3050	Children's Thinking and Assessment
SPED 4400	Universal Design for Learning (UDL)	3
EDFN 4010	Social Foundations and Cultural Diversity in Urban Education 1	3
CLDE 4020	Responsive Classroom Communities 1	3
EDHD 1930	Community Based Field Experience & Seminar 1	3
EDHD 2930	Learning & Development Field Experience & Seminar 1	3
EDHD 3930	Diverse Learners Field Experience & Seminar 1	3
Content Courses
A minimum grade of C- or higher is required in each course.
HIST 1361	U.S. History to 1876	3
HIST 1362	U.S. History Since 1876	3
HIST 1026	World History Since 1500	3
HIST 3601	Colorado History	3
ECON 2012	Principles of Economics: Macroeconomics	3
ECON 2022	Principles of Economics: Microeconomics	3
PSYC 1000	Introduction to Psychology I	3
PSYC 1005	Introduction to Psychology II	3
PSCI 1101	American Political System	3
GEOG 1202	Introduction to Physical Geography	3
GEOG 1302	Introduction to Human Geography	3
ANTH 2102	Culture and the Human Experience	3
SOCY 1001	Understanding the Social World	3
Additional Upper-Division (3000-Level or Higher) Content Courses
Select 6 credits (2 courses) of additional upper-division (3000-level or higher) content courses from any of the following prefixes: ANTH, ECON, ETST, GEOG, HIST, PSCI, PSYC, SOCY		6
Professional Year Courses
A minimum grade of B- is required in each course.
LCRT 4100	Secondary Literacy Instruction and Assessment	3
UEDU 4040	Planning for Learning	3
UEDU 4465	Methods of Teaching History	3
UEDU 4050	Capstone: Planning, Instruction & Assessment	3
CLDE 4700	Social Studies for Multilingual Learners	3
UEDU 4931	Internship & Lrng Comm I	2
UEDU 4932	Internship & Lrng Comm II	2
UEDU 4933	Internship & Lrng Comm III	6
General Electives
Additional General Electives hours may be needed to reach the required 126 hours for the BA.
Total Hours		100

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Courses require a grade of B- or better; all other courses require a grade of C or better

To review the Degree Map for this program, please visit our website.