Secondary Education Mathematics (B.S.)

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A combination of courses in mathematics and pedagogy, this major prepares students for a successful career as a mathematics teacher in grades 7 to 12.

In this program, which has achieved National Recognition status from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, students complete a full and rigorous mathematics program that satisfies state and national standards for content and which blends practical and theoretical knowledge with hands-on experiences.

All About Secondary Education Mathematics at ESU

Why ESU?
What do students learn to do?
Career Opportunities
Hands-on Learning Opportunities
Innovative Faculty

Why ESU for Secondary Education Mathematics?

ESU is the only school in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education where you will earn a degree in mathematics along with learning pedagogy.
Courses dedicated to the needs of math teachers, including MATH 351 Modern Geometry and MATH 431 Teaching Math Using Technology.
Extensive field experience beginning in the freshman year.

What do students learn to do?

Wide exposure to mathematical topics
Mathematical problem solving
Technical presentations and writing
Pedagogical theories
Writing lesson plans
Classroom management

4 Year Curriculum Plan Courses and Requirements

100%

of ESU students who took a recent math PRAXIS 2 exam* qualified for math teacher certification in PA.

* During 2018-19 and 2019-20.

All About Secondary Education Mathematics at ESU

Why ESU?
What do students learn to do?
Career Opportunities
Hands-on Learning Opportunities
Innovative Faculty

Why ESU for Secondary Education Mathematics?

ESU is the only school in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education where you will earn a degree in mathematics along with learning pedagogy.
Courses dedicated to the needs of math teachers, including MATH 351 Modern Geometry and MATH 431 Teaching Math Using Technology.
Extensive field experience beginning in the freshman year.

What do students learn to do?

Wide exposure to mathematical topics
Mathematical problem solving
Technical presentations and writing
Pedagogical theories
Writing lesson plans
Classroom management

ESU Today. College Prep Math Teacher Tomorrow.

/mathematics/images/Caitlin_Simpson_profile.jpg Caitlin Simpson '19
Secondary Education Mathematics major

My name is Caitlin Simpson, and I am a secondary math teacher. I am a proud graduate of ESU’s class of 2019 and wanted to share with you what you can expect here.

As a student local to this area, many of my teachers graduated from ESU. It only seemed natural that I should attend the same school that gave me so many of my beloved teachers. I still remember walking into SciTech for the first time. I remember getting my first syllabus, Calculus, and flipping through the pages.

What had I gotten myself into? Well, about the same thing you’re about to get yourself into.I would be lying if I said college is not a stressful experience, but I would also be doing you a great injustice if I didn’t tell you the pride that comes with fighting tooth and nail to get through it.If you are a secondary education concentration like me, you’ll find yourself wondering why you’re required to learn realms of math very rarely found in high school - polar coordinates, spherical geometry, and multivariate calculus, just to name a few. You may not understand until you find yourself in your first teaching job, but the depth of study you will be provided will aid you immensely in the classroom. Only through extensive study of mathematics do you gain the maturity necessary to teach even its simplest theorems.We have an exceptionally rigorous mathematics program. My first piece of advice for you is to buy a small whiteboard. I rolled my eyes when my professor said you couldn’t study math by just staring at it in a notebook like you could other subjects. Heck, that always worked for me in high school! Why wouldn’t it work now? I was immediately smacked into reality with the roughest test of my life the following week. Buy a whiteboard. Work the problems until you can do them in your sleep.Don’t be afraid to go to your professor’s office hours. I was shy, painfully so, but I would never have survived without the help of our incredible faculty at ESU. To say they were helpful would be an immense understatement, almost insultingly so. I spent countless hours over my four years here in and out of their offices, always coming out feeling more secure about tomorrow’s quiz.Here at ESU, your professors will greet you by name when you stop by their office. They won’t try to rush you along, desperate to get back to their precious research like some at big name universities will. Your success is just as important to them as it is to you, and that will become immediately apparent to you as soon as you talk to them.Off campus, you’ll be gaining valuable experience inside of our community partner districts. ESU’s nationwide reputation as a producer of high-quality educators has garnered for you a rich network of districts willing to open their door to you. By the time you don your cap and gown at the end of your journey here, you will be prepared to tackle the challenging, but highly rewarding field of education. In fact, ESU will over prepare you; its courses’ cumulative hourly requirements are well over the state’s minimum for pre-service teacher field experience.Look into the university’s honors program. Although I was at first hesitant to join, I promise you that you will not regret it. Guest speakers from a variety of backgrounds speak to you monthly about anything from Civil War prisons being a source of entertainment for 19th century people to how to go about applying for graduate school. We were even taught how to spot a bogus letter of recommendation from a well thought out and genuinely written one! Each monthly meeting was full of surprises and never a drag to attend. Perhaps one of my favorite memories from college was completing a thesis paper as part of the program’s graduation requirements. Now, I know what you’re thinking, but consider this. How often in courses do you get to pick a topic of your choice to deeply delve into? I chose to study mathematics anxiety in pre-service teachers and found myself thoroughly engaged in my research to the point where I’ll admit that I pushed other less interesting assignments aside.I found numerous rewarding employment opportunities through our student work program to keep me occupied when I wasn’t gushing to anyone who would listen about my studies. I highly recommend signing up to tutor for our Math Question Center in SciTech. I was able to complete my own homework between study sessions with tutorees, which opened up more free time to enjoy myself when I’d finally go home for the day. There can’t be anything better than that: getting paid to do something you already had to do! Perhaps even better, explaining content I had previously studied helped me keep current with material I had not looked at in more than a year. I believe it is because of this that I was able to pass the math content PRAXIS on only my first attempt.Our secondary education program is intentionally set up so that you are building a network of like-minded professionals during your studies, not after. In fact, I am proud to still be employed here in a position one of my professors suggested to me during my senior year. Working at ESU’s TRIO Upward Bound, a program working with underserved youth, has been my pride and joy for three years now.Having passed the trials you are about to undergo, I can firmly attest that you are making the right decision by choosing East Stroudsburg University to achieve great things in your near future. I do not regret for a single second attending ESU. During my time there, I watched myself and the many friends I made along the way transition from lost college students to professionals, ready to take on whatever life after school threw at us. College, and your career post-graduation, will not be without its hardships, but I can tell you that no place will prepare you for the great unknown like here.I sincerely wish you the best of luck in your pursuit of mathematics at ESU. I know that you, too, will not regret it.

What had I gotten myself into? Well, about the same thing you’re about to get yourself into.

I would be lying if I said college is not a stressful experience, but I would also be doing you a great injustice if I didn’t tell you the pride that comes with fighting tooth and nail to get through it.

If you are a secondary education concentration like me, you’ll find yourself wondering why you’re required to learn realms of math very rarely found in high school - polar coordinates, spherical geometry, and multivariate calculus, just to name a few. You may not understand until you find yourself in your first teaching job, but the depth of study you will be provided will aid you immensely in the classroom. Only through extensive study of mathematics do you gain the maturity necessary to teach even its simplest theorems.

We have an exceptionally rigorous mathematics program. My first piece of advice for you is to buy a small whiteboard. I rolled my eyes when my professor said you couldn’t study math by just staring at it in a notebook like you could other subjects. Heck, that always worked for me in high school! Why wouldn’t it work now? I was immediately smacked into reality with the roughest test of my life the following week. Buy a whiteboard. Work the problems until you can do them in your sleep.

Don’t be afraid to go to your professor’s office hours. I was shy, painfully so, but I would never have survived without the help of our incredible faculty at ESU. To say they were helpful would be an immense understatement, almost insultingly so. I spent countless hours over my four years here in and out of their offices, always coming out feeling more secure about tomorrow’s quiz.

Here at ESU, your professors will greet you by name when you stop by their office. They won’t try to rush you along, desperate to get back to their precious research like some at big name universities will. Your success is just as important to them as it is to you, and that will become immediately apparent to you as soon as you talk to them.

Off campus, you’ll be gaining valuable experience inside of our community partner districts. ESU’s nationwide reputation as a producer of high-quality educators has garnered for you a rich network of districts willing to open their door to you. By the time you don your cap and gown at the end of your journey here, you will be prepared to tackle the challenging, but highly rewarding field of education. In fact, ESU will over prepare you; its courses’ cumulative hourly requirements are well over the state’s minimum for pre-service teacher field experience.

Look into the university’s honors program. Although I was at first hesitant to join, I promise you that you will not regret it. Guest speakers from a variety of backgrounds speak to you monthly about anything from Civil War prisons being a source of entertainment for 19th century people to how to go about applying for graduate school. We were even taught how to spot a bogus letter of recommendation from a well thought out and genuinely written one! Each monthly meeting was full of surprises and never a drag to attend. Perhaps one of my favorite memories from college was completing a thesis paper as part of the program’s graduation requirements. Now, I know what you’re thinking, but consider this. How often in courses do you get to pick a topic of your choice to deeply delve into? I chose to study mathematics anxiety in pre-service teachers and found myself thoroughly engaged in my research to the point where I’ll admit that I pushed other less interesting assignments aside.

I found numerous rewarding employment opportunities through our student work program to keep me occupied when I wasn’t gushing to anyone who would listen about my studies. I highly recommend signing up to tutor for our Math Question Center in SciTech. I was able to complete my own homework between study sessions with tutorees, which opened up more free time to enjoy myself when I’d finally go home for the day. There can’t be anything better than that: getting paid to do something you already had to do! Perhaps even better, explaining content I had previously studied helped me keep current with material I had not looked at in more than a year. I believe it is because of this that I was able to pass the math content PRAXIS on only my first attempt.

Our secondary education program is intentionally set up so that you are building a network of like-minded professionals during your studies, not after. In fact, I am proud to still be employed here in a position one of my professors suggested to me during my senior year. Working at ESU’s TRIO Upward Bound, a program working with underserved youth, has been my pride and joy for three years now.

Having passed the trials you are about to undergo, I can firmly attest that you are making the right decision by choosing East Stroudsburg University to achieve great things in your near future. I do not regret for a single second attending ESU. During my time there, I watched myself and the many friends I made along the way transition from lost college students to professionals, ready to take on whatever life after school threw at us. College, and your career post-graduation, will not be without its hardships, but I can tell you that no place will prepare you for the great unknown like here.

I sincerely wish you the best of luck in your pursuit of mathematics at ESU. I know that you, too, will not regret it.

Career Opportunities

Secondary Mathematics majors are ready for teaching and other careers. Alumni of the program have gained positions as:

Mathematics Teacher, Stroudsburg Area School District
Graduate Student MEd in Professional and Secondary Education – Advanced Sport Performance and Coaching Track, East Stroudsburg University
Adjunct Professor, Shenandoah University
Mathematics Teacher, Strasburg High School
Instructor, Pleasant Valley School District
Instructor, Upward Bound, ESU
Principal, Wyoming Area Primary Center
Assistant Central Planning Manager, LEGOLAND New York
Law Student, Pace University
Education Coordinator for the Institute of Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Student Organizations

Students play the game Tantrix at a math club meeting.

The Math Club meets monthly during the semester to play games with underlying math content, talk about mathematical topics, and eat pizza. They take a field trip to the Museum of Math in New York City in the spring.

Honor Society

Sigma Xi - The Scientific Honor Society The 2019 Sigma Xi math major awardees and some of the math faculty.

Sigma Xi, the scientific honor society, holds several events for the science community each year. Chillifest in the fall gathers scientists around homemade chili while Dessertfest with Trivia allows the community to sample homemade baked goods while being challenged by scientific trivia. Each spring, the math department honors several graduating seniors at the Sigma Xi award banquet. Students proudly display their award certificates and list the honor on their resumes.

ESU Today. Counseling Professional Tomorrow.

/mathematics/images/Danielle_Williams_profile.jpg Danielle Williams '14
Secondary Education Mathematics major

From study sessions with my peers before class to the annual chili fest, ESU always felt like a place to be myself.

One of my most treasured memories was from my Mathematical Modeling course. As a math major, the question, "Well when will I ever use this?" comes up frequently. Math modeling was a course where we used math in real life circumstances, from how on navigate the Showcase Showdown on "The Price is Right" to making houses more energy efficient.

The Modern Geometry class partnered with an art class to create string art around campus.

Like all ESU math majors, secondary ed students participate in a service-learning project in MATH 425 Introduction to Mathematical Modeling.

The spring 2021 class investigated the viability of reusing grey water at the Pocono Environmental Education Center. In addition to using Excel to explore the economic viability of reusing grey water, the students developed educational posters to describe how the sink-toilets and shower loops work.

Secondary Education majors may pursue independent study opportunities. Recent students have worked with math faculty members to explore math anxiety in math majors, using technology to teach math, and the effectiveness of ESU's remedial math class.

Student teaching is the ultimate hands-on learning experience. ESU mathematics student teachers are supported by both mathematics-education specialists and education faculty members. Secondary education majors will student teach in both a high school classroom and a middle school classroom.

ESU Today. High School Math Teacher Tomorrow.

/mathematics/images/Emily_Vail_profile.jpg Emily Vail '19
Secondary Education Mathematics major

Hello there! My name is Emily Vail, and I am a recent graduate from East Stroudsburg University! I graduated in December 2019 with a degree in Mathematics with a concentration in Professional and Secondary Education, and I have my teaching certification for grades 7-12. After graduation, I worked as a long-term substitute for Nazareth High School, and now I am a high school math teacher at Stroudsburg Area School District!

I love my job, and I go to work thankful everyday that I attended ESU because it prepared me so well for the classroom environment that I have been able to create in my first year.

When I was a senior in high school and the time came to apply to college, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, but I questioned that decision come high school. I applied to a bunch of different colleges, but ultimately chose Northampton Community College, with the intention of transferring to ESU after 2 years. My transfer to ESU was seamless and one of the easiest processes to go through, and the minute I stepped onto ESU’s campus, I knew I was home. The campus was a perfect size and the class sizes were perfect for me and my learning style. The professors, faculty, and staff were all so helpful and kind, and I could always get an answer to any question I had. I met so many people from so many different walks of life, and for that, I am forever grateful to ESU.During my second semester at ESU, I decided to become an orientation leader. That decision truly changed my college experience. Not only was I able to expand upon my positive experiences and knowledge of the university myself, but I was able to pass that knowledge and passion along to other accepted students and their families. I created so many meaningful, lifelong relationships while holding that position for 2 years, and I really do feel that the skills learned and relationships formed through the program helped shape me into the outgoing, knowledgeable professional that I am today.As soon as I made my decision to study mathematics at ESU and I took my first few courses, I had zero regrets about that major. The professors are extremely knowledgeable in the content, but most importantly (to me, anyway), they care about their students and the content they are teaching us. I always knew I could go to any of my professors if I ran into a problem with the content, and eventually I became so comfortable with some of them that I knew I could go to them with anything. I am extremely grateful to have had such caring and bright professors, because I keep their radiance in mind everyday while teaching my classes.In all, ESU was the best college decision I could have made. I learned so much about my content, my inner self, and the career that I chose to love. ESU prepared me for both my personal and professional development, and for that I am forever grateful.

During my second semester at ESU, I decided to become an orientation leader. That decision truly changed my college experience. Not only was I able to expand upon my positive experiences and knowledge of the university myself, but I was able to pass that knowledge and passion along to other accepted students and their families. I created so many meaningful, lifelong relationships while holding that position for 2 years, and I really do feel that the skills learned and relationships formed through the program helped shape me into the outgoing, knowledgeable professional that I am today.

As soon as I made my decision to study mathematics at ESU and I took my first few courses, I had zero regrets about that major. The professors are extremely knowledgeable in the content, but most importantly (to me, anyway), they care about their students and the content they are teaching us. I always knew I could go to any of my professors if I ran into a problem with the content, and eventually I became so comfortable with some of them that I knew I could go to them with anything. I am extremely grateful to have had such caring and bright professors, because I keep their radiance in mind everyday while teaching my classes.

In all, ESU was the best college decision I could have made. I learned so much about my content, my inner self, and the career that I chose to love. ESU prepared me for both my personal and professional development, and for that I am forever grateful.

Innovative Faculty

Two math education specialists, several subject matter specialists, and faculty from the College of Education support the secondary education concentration.

Learn more about ESU and the Secondary Education Mathematics major.

For more information on the programs offered in the Mathematics department, please contact cgetz@esu.edu.

Contact Information

Campus Address: Science & Technology 118
Phone:: (570) 422-3447
Fax:: (570) 422-3899 (Fax)

Title of Department Leader: Department Chair
Name: Olivia Carducci
E:: ocarducci@esu.edu
Phone:: (570) 422-3444

Secondary Education Mathematics (B.S.)

All About Secondary Education Mathematics at ESU

What do students learn to do?

All About Secondary Education Mathematics at ESU

What do students learn to do?

Career Opportunities

Hands-on Learning

Innovative Faculty

Learn more about ESU and the Secondary Education Mathematics major.

Contact Us

Contact Information