This course introduces students to foundational perspectives (anthropological, historical, philosophical, psychological, and sociological) on education and helps students apply these perspectives to contemporary schools and classrooms. The course considers several large questions: What should be the purpose of education in a democratic society? What should be the role of the school? Who should participate in making decisions about schools? In what ways do schools reflect and perpetuate larger social inequities, and, alternately, how can they contribute to a more just and inclusive society? Students must complete at least thirty hours of fieldwork.

We all possess an innate curiosity about the natural world, especially during childhood. This course explores the excitement and challenges of teaching sciences in the traditional classroom setting and experientially through lab and outdoor experiences. Through readings, conversation, research, writing, practice, and field placement in local schools, students approach the teaching of science as visionaries whose classrooms are ones of imagination, curiosity, investigation, and skepticism. A thirty-hour field placement in a local school is required. Recommended background: math or science majors preferred. A previous education class is recommended.

This course considers how racial identity, class, culture, and privilege intersect with education systems and structures to shape students’ schooling experiences and academic outcomes. Through readings, discussion, projects, and fieldwork, students explore several questions: What are race and racism, and how do they matter to education? How has the U.S. tradition of racially segregated and unequal schooling played out historically? What are the effects of that legacy for children and for society today? And how do schools currently work to address opportunity gaps? Topics covered include bilingual education, tracking, and access to higher education. A thirty-hour field experience is required. Recommended background: EDUC 231.

This course examines various perspectives on and issues in adolescent literacy in today's middle and high schools, focusing primarily on critical sociocultural frameworks for the study of current practices and beliefs. Topics include not only what we mean by literacy, but also how youths today make meaning within various discourse communities and contexts. Topics include multiple literacies, literacy across the curriculum, the influence of complex technologies, diverse learners, and current policies and paradigms influencing instruction. This course interweaves theory with practice through a required thirty-hour field placement in a local middle or high school. Recommended background: EDUC 231.

This course explores education across international contexts. Students reflect on similarities and differences in educational systems around the world, and understand that institutional practices reflect social, cultural, and national ideologies. Students evaluate educational systems against international standards and outcomes, and consider relationships among schooling, society, and development. Topics include global aims, policies, and outcomes; learning environments and pedagogies; and issues of equity across class, gender, race, ethnicity, and dis/ability. Additionally, students engage in research on an educational system of one country from among a selection of choices representing different regions of the world. Recommended background: EDUC 231.

In this course students explore interdisciplinary approaches to integrating the arts into all subjects in schools. Students consider methods and models of utilizing the arts in educational settings as well as theories of creativity. Class sessions include large- and small-group work, participatory experiences, lectures, group discussions, and student-led activities and presentations. A thirty-hour field placement in a local school is required. Recommended background: EDUC 231.

A comprehensive introduction to current thinking and research in educational psychology, including theoretical, empirical, and applied issues. This course addresses our understanding of what constitutes knowledge, how we motivate and direct learning, and how we can work with diverse learners. Students adopt tools and thinking strategies to develop a critical lens of key educational psychology topics. As such, this course emphasizes critical thinking, research, and applications to teaching and learning (e.g., creating lesson plans). A thirty-hour field placement experience is required. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 231 or PSYC 101.

Students explore teaching with an emphasis on reflective practice. They consider various theories and research on instructional design, culturally responsive teaching, learning, and educational philosophy. This knowledge serves as a basis for critically examining curriculum, classroom practice, and the roles of teachers and students in today's schools. Students apply what they learn by creating a mini-curriculum unit and teaching a lesson in a local classroom. The teaching fulfills part of the required thirty-hour field experience for the course. Recommended background: EDUC 231 and 362.

Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study per semester.

Students learn the legal requirements (IDEA, ADA) for providing special services to, and the characteristics of, students who need additional support to learn. They explore a variety of strategies and modifications teachers can use to help students with various learning differences, styles, and abilities succeed in the mainstream classroom. They critically examine how differences in students' gender, cultural, socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds affect the quality of the education they receive. A thirty-hour field experience is required. Because this course is required for certification as a teacher in Maine, it is also required for Bates students pursuing the minor in Teacher Education. Recommended background: EDUC 231.

The United States has experienced more than three centuries of growth and change in the organization of public education. This course examines 1) contemporary reform issues and political processes in relation to school, research, legal, policymaking, and student/family constituencies and 2) how educational policy is formulated and implemented. The study of these areas emphasizes public K-12 education but includes postsecondary education. Examples of specific educational policy arenas include school choice (e.g., charter schools, magnet schools, and vouchers), school funding, standards and accountability, and college access. A thirty-hour field experience is required. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 231.

In this course students expand and further develop the concepts and skills needed to understand curriculum design and teaching methodologies in their subject area. The course is integrated with the seminar (EDUC 448, taken concurrently), allowing students to plan, develop, teach, and evaluate their own curriculum units. At the same time, students also reflect on questions in curriculum and instruction, such as: How can teachers work within the context of mandated standards to create their own curriculum? What are the central goals of curriculum and instruction in schools? How might assessment and evaluation be developed and implemented in ways that support and respond to all learners? What strategies and methods best match certain subject areas to enhance meaningful learning? Prerequisite(s): EDUC 231, 362 and 460.

The seminar supports students as they reflect upon and engage with their experiences as teachers. Students refine their own philosophies of education and build on these philosophies to plan and teach classes in their placement. The seminar provides opportunities to critically and creatively reflect on, develop, and refine effective practices, and addresses essential questions such as: What does good teaching look like? How do I plan lessons to ensure the engagement and success of all students? Why is it important to be a reflective practitioner? Candidates complete a state-mandated portfolio that demonstrates an understanding of the knowledge, skills, and dispositions expected of those entering the teaching profession. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 231, 362, and 460.

In this capstone course students explore the question: What is the purpose of education? Course assignments and class discussion allow students to reflect upon and synthesize material introduced in previous education courses, courses in related fields, and their field experiences. Students produce and present a culminating collaborative project. This course does not have a required field work component. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 231 and three additional courses in education. Open to seniors only.

EDUC 460 is an intensive field experience in secondary education. Students begin by observing a cooperating teacher in their academic field, spending one or two class periods each day in a middle or high school. Through a carefully scaffolded experience, students begin developing and teaching lessons and units. They are guided and supported by their cooperating teachers and a Bates faculty supervisor. Students meet for seminar sessions at Bates to address conceptual methods and models of teaching and instructional design. Students begin to move toward proficiency in four areas of practice: curriculum, instruction, and assessment; classroom management, interactions, and relationships; diversity, equity, and inclusion; time management and organizational skills. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 231 and 362. Course includes a 60 hour field placement.

This course continues and deepens the student teaching experience begun in EDUC 460. Students spend full school days (M-F) in a local middle or high school, taking responsibility for planning and teaching at least three courses in partnership with their cooperating teacher. Students meet with, and are observed and supported by their cooperating teacher and Bates faculty supervisor. Integrated into curriculum and methods (447) and the Bates seminar (448), students spend extensive time planning and teaching lessons and units. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 231, 362, and 460.

This course explores the intersection of identity, writing, and power and, in particular, the teaching and tutoring of writing in colleges and writing centers around the world. Students consider their own histories and perceptions of literacy, while expanding their understanding of tutoring as a global practice and field of research, and of writing centers and writing classrooms as potential sites of social justice and anti-oppression. Through various collaborative and research activities, students grapple with theories of linguistic justice, peer-led learning, and equity-minded writing pedagogy and apply course content by engaging with their classmates as writers, observing and meeting with current SWLC tutors, and collaborating with teachers and student-writers in the Lewiston-Auburn community. Though not a required prerequisite, this course will build on content offered in EXDS 201. Both courses may be of interest to students seeking to improve their own writing or who would like to tutor or teach writing.

In this course, we will examine the various approaches to interdisciplinary curriculum and instruction utilized in k-12 schools such as: concept-based education, expeditionary learning, STEM, arts integration, humanities, and creativity education. In addition to critically examining a variety of interdisciplinary models, students will apply what they learn by designing curricular components that utilize works from the permanent collection at the Bates Museum of Art in partnership with the Curator of Education and local teachers. Prerequisites: EDUC 235, EDUC 265, EDUC 274, or EDUC 343.

This course will explore the complex elements of childhood literacy learning and instruction, from birth to upper elementary school. The course builds upon the theoretical lens of an interactive strategies approach, integrating printed word recognition, language development, and instructional strategies that are contextual, interactive, and responsive to learners. Additional topics include critical literacy studies, integration of new technologies and tools, and intersectionalities of identities with literacy development. Students will access and explore storybooks available at Ladd Library through the Diverse Bookfinder project, examining representations of race, ethnicity, class, and gender in picture books. Students will also engage in a sustained, weekly field experience at a local school system, tutoring children in literacy development. Recommended background: EDUC 231.

Policymakers and practitioners often rely upon rich descriptive data to inform their understandings of schools and students. This sort of ethnographic, qualitative research typically involves observation and interviewing. This course introduces students to these methods, exploring the fundamentals of research design, data collection, and data analysis. Students consider questions concerning validity, positionality, and the ethics of qualitative research. Working in partnership with a local school or organization, students carry out a community-engaged qualitative research project, articulating research design, conducting observations and interviews, analyzing data, and presenting results. A thirty-hour field experience is required.

Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study during a Short Term.

As part of the Short Term Innovative Pedagogy program students and instructor will collaborate to map and redesign the curriculum of the senior sequence of courses required for all Teacher Education minors. Through reflection, reading, and alumni interviews we will together identify any changes needed to align with RPPC requirements at Bates. We will also work to strengthen and expand inclusive teaching models and methods explored in the courses. Recommended background: EDUC 242, 343, or 362. Prerequisite(s): Declared minors in education who have completed at least three education courses.

This course is an opportunity to work collaboratively with students and the instructor to redesign PSYC/EDUC 274. PSYC/EDUC 274 provides a comprehensive introduction to current thinking and research in educational psychology, including theoretical, empirical, and applied issues. Students adopt tools and thinking strategies to develop a critical lens of key educational psychology topics. As such, this course emphasizes critical thinking, research, and applications to every day (e.g., creating lesson plans). Recommended background: prior coursework in psychology and education.