Pre-Service Teacher Seminar
This seminar for social science and history teaching majors at UNI in their junior or senior year promotes evidence-based strategies to encourage innovative instruction in American history, civics and government and geography. It includes a three-day in-person seminar at UNI and a series of post-seminar activities with assigned readings, written reflections and virtual discussions with a master teacher and content expert held over three weeks.
Participants will improve their knowledge of the American political tradition and the ideas, traditions, institutions, and texts essential to American Constitutional government and our American history and heritage. Through their participation, pre-service social studies teachers will:
- Expand their content knowledge and facility with interpretation and teaching of primary texts.
- Create lesson plans connecting Iowa’s social studies standards to the ideas, institutions, texts, and traditions of the American founding connected to updated social studies standards.
- Develop best practices in non-partisan civics education related to civic virtues and the American founding, individual rights, Iowa as a constitutional subject and applied pedagogy related to the civic experience.
With the support of master teachers and content experts from UNI’s faculty, members of the Iowa Civic Educators Institute Pre-Service Teachers Seminar will participate in the following activities:
- An in-person seminar at the University of Northern Iowa May 18-20, 2026.
- Professional development activities over 3 weeks after the in-person seminar, including but not limited to post-session paperwork, assigned readings and written reflections and virtual discussions with a master teacher.
| Timeline for 2026 |
|---|
| Application deadline: January 15, 2026 |
| Acceptances sent: February 15, 2026 |
| Seminar at UNI: May 18-20, 2026 |
| Online asynchronous seminar: May 21-June 12, 2026 |
The Center for Civic Education covers expenses associated with participating in the Iowa Civic Educators Institute as well as offering a scholarship to all participants. This includes meals during the workshop and a $2500 scholarship.
In 2026, the inaugural Pre-Service Teacher Seminar will focus on Civic Virtues.
Civic Virtues: This seminar emphasizes the values, traits and dispositions that underlie the founders’ ability to create the institutions and processes laid out in — and our ability to continue — America’s Constitutional tradition. Leveraging a range of primary and secondary sources, participants will explore concepts such as civic friendship, personal liberty, and human dignity. After participating in this seminar, educators will be able to clearly articulate how founding documents — including the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights — invoke and reinforce these concepts.
Questions can be directed to: civiced@uni.edu