EDU 506: Motivation and Learning in Students With and Without Disabilities

This course is designed to enable pre-service and novice teachers to understand and apply essential topics in teaching and learning including development, motivation, growth versus fixed mindsets, and performance versus mastery goal orientations. Through relating theoretical frameworks to empirical research and applying them to classroom settings, pre-service and novice teachers  will be better able to understand their own experience as learners and conceptualize their future practice as teachers in relation to students with and without disabilities. Focus is on developing a socio-culturally based understanding of uniquely-abled children’s physio-motor, cognitive, social/emotional, and communication development from birth to middle childhood. By researching, observing, and developing strategies students will become adept at providing interventions that promote optimal learning and development among all children situated in multiple contexts.