Program in Education Course Listings

Additional information about many of our courses is available on their CourseInfo Blackboard sites. Click here, log in as "guest" (password: "guest"), and look under "Courses" - "Arts and Sciences" - "Education"

EDUC 49S: First-Year Seminar

Topics vary each semester. Topics have included Childhood, Society and Media; From Mother Goose to MTV and Specific Learning Disabilities/Disorders.

EDUC 100: Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education

Interdisciplinary examination of issues confronting American education, incorporating historical, political, economical, philosophical, and social perspectives. Students participate in structured service learning experiences within Durham Public Schools.

EDUC 108S: Teaching Practices in Elementary Language Arts and Content Areas

Exploration of elementary curriculum with emphasis on meeting the needs of students from diverse cultural groups in public school settings. Sequential, field-based experiences in classrooms analyzed with a focus on comparing ethical teaching practices.

EDUC 109S: Elementary Curriculum

Analysis, development, and evaluation of elementary curriculum with emphasis on integrating the expressive arts with literacy, mathematics, social studies, and science. Students write comprehensive curriculum units that focus on meeting the needs of learners from diverse social, ethnic, and cultural groups.

EDUC 110: Research/Reflective Practice in Elementary Education

Reflection on the teaching internship, classroom action research focusing on elementary instruction, and a case study analyzing a student with special learning needs.

EDUC 112S/PPS 109S: Children, Schools, and Society

Through schooling, children become academically "educated," but they also acquire social skills, moral values, and a sense of their role in society. Whether these are proper goals of schooling, how schooling shapes children’s development, and how school policy is formed are questions addressed in this course.

EDUC 113S: Educational Technology

Exploration of the history and theories of education in general and of educational technology in specific.

EDUC 118: Educational Psychology

Principles of developmental, social, and cognitive psychology as applied to education, with a focus on how children learn. Students participate in structured service learning experiences within Durham Public Schools.

EDUC 120: Elementary Education Internship

Engagement, as part of a teaching internship in elementary schools, in active classroom research projects by designing, implementing, and evaluating units of instruction.

EDUC 121: Infancy, Early Childhood and Educational Programs

Comprehensive introduction to the field of early childhood education and child development from infancy to age eight. Involves structured service learning experiences in which students engage in comparative analysis of children of various cultures.

EDUC 123: Motivation and At-Risk Students

Exploration of current motivational theories and how these theories can be applied to motivating at-risk students. Includes multicultural issues in teaching at-risk students.

EDUC 133: Legal Issues in Education

Case analysis approach giving students an opportunity to identify and review past, current, and emerging legal issues and theories in education. Topics include students' rights, institutional liability and teacher's rights at the elementary and secondary levels and in the college setting.

EDUC 137: Contemporary Issues in Education

Investigation of current issues and problems in teh field of education including areas of race, gender, equity, and educational policy. Examines issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. Includes fieldwork in local public schools.

 

EDUC 139: Marxism and Society

Critical appraisal of Marxism as a scholarly methodology for understanding human societies. Topics include sexual and social inequality, alienation, class formation, imperialism, and revolution. Core course for the program in Perspectives on Marxism and Society.

EDUC 144S: Literacy and Photography

Children's self-expression and child development through writing, photography, and documentary work. The history, philosophy, and methodology of Literacy Through Photography. Includes internship in elementary/middle school classrooms.

EDUC 145S: Gender and Race

Examination of learning and socialization processes and how they are shaped by race and gender dynamics, as well as by socio-political matters. Involves internship in elementary/middle school classrooms utilizing the Literacy through Photography methodology.

EDUC 147: Urban Education

An interdisciplinary examination of contemporary educational problems in American cities, with particular attention to race and class, and the formation of public policy for urban schools and school reform.

EDUC 148S: Learning to Read

Development of reading skills, psychology of reading, reading education. Topics include developmental theories of reading, learning to read in other languages, reading difficulties and dyslexia, home environment and cultural effects, and teaching methods.

EDUC 151S: Literacy and Service Learning

Recent research on the role of service learning in promoting literacy development in children; the impact of service learning, volunteering, and school-based tutoring programs ons tudents in K-12 schools; literacy issues such as phonics versus whole language; cognitive approaches to developing reading comprehension; methods of teaching beginning reading; reading learning disabilities; and the impact of cultural diversity on literacy. Includes a service-learning component in the local schools.

EDUC 152S: Civic Engagement and the Duke-Durham Partnership

Examination of the impact University-Community partnerships have on the community and participating University students. Investigation of effective models of collaboration between universities and their surrounding communities. Whether University efforts to develop partnerships with local communities result in meaningful social change; how these partnerships can help bridge the educational gap between students from diverse cultural bacgrounds; the ethical issues involved in doing research on problems in local communities. Includes a service-learning component in neighborhood community centers in which students turn in weekly reflections on the ethical issues and social justice concerns they encounter.

EDUC 153S: Research in Service Learning.

Community-based research including design, implementation, evaluation of research in community settings. Examination of existing models of collaboration on research projects between universities and communities. Includes student participation in community-based service learning and research, writing about the ethical issues that emerge. Instructor permission required.

EDUC 160S: Early Childhood Internship

Structured supervised internship in an early childhood program integrated with a reflective seminar in which students examine ethical issues in early childhood education. For Early Childhood Education Studies Certificate Students only.

EDUC 170S: Selected Topics

Topics vary each semester. Topics have included Why Do I Teach?; A Novel Approach: Literature in Schools; and Unrecognized Talent.

 

EDUC 172T: Junior/Senior Tutorial

Small group discussions of significant authors and ideas in education. Different courses indicated by letter. May be repeated. Consent of instructor required.

EDUC 190: Trends, Techniques and Innovative Technologies for the 21st Century

Focus on the schools and classrooms of the twenty-first century as molded by five issues: diversity of student population, curriculum design, alternative assessment, technological innovation, and professionalization of educators. Includes structured weekly field-based experience in the local schools in which students explore ethical issues in teaching.

EDUC 191: Research Independent Study

Individual research in a field of special interest under the supervision of a faculty member. Consent of instructor and director of undergraduate studies required.

EDUC 192: Independent Study

Directed readings in a field of special interest under the supervision of a faculty member. Consent of instructor and director of undergraduate studies required.

EDUC 196S: Teaching High School English

Secondary School curriculum and instruction with focus on teaching of English, special emphasis placed on meeting the needs of high school students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Includes field-based experience with a focus on examing ethical teaching practices.

 

EDUC 197S: Teaching High School Math

Secondary School curriculum and instruction with focus on teaching of Math, special emphasis placed on meeting the needs of high school students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Includes field-based experience wtih a focus on examing ethical teaching practices.

 

EDUC 198S: Teaching High School Science

Secondary School curriculum and instruction with focus on teaching of Science, special emphasis placed on meeting the needs of high school students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Includes field-based experience with a focus on examing ethical teaching practices.

 

EDUC 199S: Teaching High School Social Studies

Secondary School curriculum and instruction with focus on teaching of Social Studies, special emphasis placed on meeting the needs of high school students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Includes field-based experience with a focus on examing ethical teaching practices.

 

EDUC 215S: Seminar in Secondary School Teaching

Principles, practices, and problems in secondary school instruction, including a focus on values and ethics in teaching.

EDUC 216: Secondary Education Internship

Supervised internship in a teaching center in a senior high school involving full-time teaching. Students also complete an action research project focused on an important issue in classroom teaching. For student teachers only.