Minor Pairings for Elementary Education Majors – Five Great Choices
- Psychology
- Child Development
- Sociology
- Communications
- Special Education
Elementary education is a major that focuses on the noble goals related to providing the best educational experience possible to children in the elementary grade levels. What are some of the best suited minor concentrations for this particular degree program? The following are widely considered to be among some of the top choices.
Related resource: Top 50 Most Affordable Bachelor’s in Elementary Education or Early Childhood Education
1. Psychology
Psychology is a great minor for anyone working in or in conjunction with education. Educators of all kinds of students can find themselves ahead of the game when they understand certain motivations, memorization techniques, specialized methods in conflict resolution, and any number of other psychological tools learned in this concentration. If the student’s school of choice provides child psychology programs, in particular, this concentration within psychology itself is an even more directly applicable area of study.
2. Child Development
Anyone working around elementary-aged children who also understand some of the finer points of child development science truly offers a whole other area of value to the position. With the aid of this concentration, educators and the like can recognize proper and improper growth patterns and markers in many areas and then go on to further help the student and their family as needed in that area of concern. Mental, as well as physical child development elements, are taught here.
3. Sociology
Knowledge in sociology can also help elementary educators in addition to bolstering their value and credentials. Per the American Sociological Association, sociology is many things including the study of behaviors, societies, social processes, and more. With this minor concentration, the graduate is armed with a better understanding of human interactions, conflict, agreement, and many other things that take place in classrooms each and every day.
4. Communications
An effective communicator is said to hold the power of the world in their hands. This is because of how profoundly skills in this area can truly impact one’s life and their subsequent abilities to handle a whole range of situations. In the elementary education setting, this skill can not only help facilitate great teaching, but it can also instill in students, just through exposure, a greater wherewithal in the very same area. Listening, understanding, proper word choice, message content, emotions in information conveyance – these are the elements one will gain some greater mastery over here.
5. Special Education
Special education minors are yet another great way to bolster that resume and one’s own skill set. With this study focus, the student will learn the foundations of special education, how it works, the various conditions served, its ethics and legal parameters, and plenty more. Per the Council for Exceptional Children, “Special education is an integral part of the total educational enterprise, not a separate order. In any school system, special education is a means of enlarging the capacity of the system to serve the educational needs of all children.” Having established knowledge here directly translates to greater versatility and overall value in the employee.
There are certainly many approaches today’s student can take when it comes to choosing a preferred minor to pair with the elementary education major. While personal preferences and interests are great motivators in choice, applicability to one’s own future career plans is the best guide in making this important selection. The above-mentioned minors are among the most applicable and valuable today in elementary education.
