B.A. Educational Studies

Includes classroom visits and tutoring in a local school. Details of time and location will be shared in EDU 1540. A $50 background check is required before students are allowed to enroll in this course. This field experience portion of the introductory course is taken concurrently with EDU 1540.

Introduces schooling, teaching and the foundations of education. The major purpose is to help students clarify their thoughts and feelings about becoming a teacher. Topics include teachers, students, schools, teaching, curriculum, instruction, school governance, school finance, history of U.S. education, philosophy of education.

Examines adolescent health issues and health problems within the context of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. Suicide, eating disorders, violence in school, family and relationships, sexual abuse, and STDs are explored by defining the issues and problems, identifying causal factors, looking at the effects on learning and discussing prevention as well as intervention and follow-up.

Examines children’s cognitive, social, moral, and emotional development as a function of their social and cultural context: the school. The course introduces theories of intelligence, learning, memory, motivation, and behavior. Application of theory to practice is emphasized, with a focus on critical thinking, metacognition, models of instruction, and classroom management approaches.

This field experience involves observing and helping in local schools. The student will connect learning from EDU course(s) to the field experience and produce documentation of said learning. Note: Completing and passing the SOE background study is required prior to starting this field experience.

This course stresses understanding, knowledge, attitudes and habits necessary for healthful living. It explores elementary school physical and health education content and pedagogy and prepares the K-6 educator for meaningful strategies that promote physical and health education in the classroom and beyond. Alcohol, drugs, and mood altering chemicals and their effects on the individual, the family and society are also addressed. School as well as community resources dealing with prevention, intervention, treatment and follow up are explored.

Provides students with an understanding of the importance of using multicultural approaches and diversity sensitive behaviors in the classroom. Students explore their own monocultural/multicultural socialization and examine their own assumptions and beliefs as they study the complex dynamics of the teaching/learning relationship. Topics include: the social construction of difference - race, class, gender, and sexual orientation; power, privilege, and the dehumanization process; the relationship between education and social justice.

Addresses teacher’s roles in educating children and youth with disabilities. Students examine the social construction of disability, disability legislation; rights and responsibilities of parents, educators, and students; and universal design for learning. Topics include historical and theoretical frameworks and legal mandates that have shaped the current field of special education, as well as the needs and characteristics of individuals with exceptionalities.

Inquires into the essence of the assessment process. The purpose and process of assessment will be investigated from a theoretical, phenomenological, personal, and experiential perspective. Topics include a brief history of assessment in education, underlying assumptions driving our assessment practices, the forms, purposes and effects of assessment used in classrooms today and new directions for assessment being advocated. This course is also listed as a benchmark course for the teaching portfolio. Students will share their whole portfolio with the education faculty to receive feedback.