• EDUC 100: Will This Be on the Test? Standardized Testing and American Education

    How and why have standardized tests become so central to our educational system? This seminar will explore the following topics, among others–the invention of standardized tests and the growth of the testing industry; psychometrics (the science of mental measurement); and the controversies surrounding the use of standardized tests, including charges that they are culturally biased and do not positively contribute to student learning. Our analyses will be informed by a close examination of authentic testing materials, ranging from intelligence tests to the SAT.

     Prerequisites:

    Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.

     6 credits; AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1; offered Fall 2024 · Jeff Snyder

  • EDUC 110: Introduction to Educational Studies

    This course will focus on education as a multidisciplinary field of study. We will explore the meanings of education within individual lives and institutional contexts, learn to critically examine the assumptions that writers, psychologists, sociologists and philosophers bring to the study of education, and read texts from a variety of disciplines. What has “education” meant in the past? What does “education” mean in contemporary American society? What might “education” mean to people with differing circumstances and perspectives? And what should “education” mean in the future? Open only to first-and second-year students. Prerequisites:

    Student has Sophomore Priority.

     6 credits; IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies, SI, Social Inquiry, WR2 Writing Requirement 2; offered Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025 · Anita Chikkatur, Jeff Snyder

  • EDUC 225: Issues in Urban Education

    This course is an introduction to urban education in the United States. Course readings and discussion will focus on various perspectives in the field in order to understand the key issues and debates confronting urban schools. We will examine historical, political, economic, and socio-cultural frameworks for understanding urban schools, students and teachers. Through course readings, field visits and class discussions, we explore the following: (1) student, teacher and researcher perspectives on urban education, (2) the broader sociopolitical urban context of K-12 schooling in cities, (3) teaching and learning in urban settings and (4) ideas about re-imagining urban education. 6 credits; IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies, SI, Social Inquiry; not offered 2024–2025

  • EDUC 234: Educational Psychology

    Human development and learning theories are studied in relation to the teaching-learning process and the sociocultural contexts of schools. Three hours outside of class per week are devoted to observing learning activities in public school elementary and secondary classrooms and working with students. 6 credits; SI, Social Inquiry; offered Fall 2024 · Deborah Appleman

  • EDUC 242: The Future is Now: Education and Technology in the 21st Century

    This course will examine the increasingly prominent role that technology is playing in education, inside and outside of schools. How is technology transforming teaching and learning? What are the potential costs and benefits of relying on technology to provide educational opportunities? Is technology re-wiring our brains? And who needs brains when we have Google and ChatGPT? This course will examine the following topics, among others: digital literacy, virtual reality, cyborgs and artificial intelligence. 

     6 credits; SI, Social Inquiry; offered Spring 2025 · Jeff Snyder

  • EDUC 245: School Reform: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

    This course explores major issues in the history of school reform in the United States, with an emphasis on the twentieth century. Readings and discussions examine the role of education in American society, the various and often competing goals of school reformers, and the dynamics of educational change. With particular focus on the American high school, this course looks at why so much reform has produced so little change. 6 credits; IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies, SI, Social Inquiry; not offered 2024–2025

  • EDUC 250: Fixing Schools: Politics and Policy in American Education

    How can we fix American public schools? What is “broken” about our schools? How should they be repaired? And who should lead the fix? This course will examine the two leading contemporary educational reform movements: accountability and school choice. With an emphasis on the nature of the teaching profession and the work of foundations, this course will analyze the policy agendas of different reform groups, exploring the dynamic interactions among the many different stakeholders responsible for shaping American education. 6 credits; IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies, SI, Social Inquiry; offered Fall 2024 · Jeff Snyder

  • EDUC 262: Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy: Teaching and Learning in Diverse Classrooms

    This course focuses on the importance of integrating students’ cultural backgrounds in all aspects of learning. We will study various theoretical perspectives on culturally relevant, responsive, and sustaining pedagogy and will explore several school sites that incorporate that perspective into their approach to teaching and learning. Students will design and teach culturally sustaining curriculum from their own disciplinary background in K-16 setting. Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): EDUC 100 – Argument and Inquiry or EDUC 110 – Introduction to Educational Studies with a grade of C- or better.

     6 credits; IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies, SI, Social Inquiry; not offered 2024–2025

  • EDUC 325: Democracy, Schools, and Power

    One of the foundational elements of an ideal democratic society is an educated and informed public. Simultaneously, the maintenance of power in society demands control over what and how the public is educated. This class examines how schools in the U.S. serve both as sites of promoting democratic life and ideals as well as reproducing social, political, and economic oppression. Throughout the class, we will explore the relationships, tensions, and contradictions between schools, power, and democracy with the goal of answering whether schools can protect and save democracy. 6 credits; IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies, No Exploration, WR2 Writing Requirement 2; not offered 2024–2025

  • EDUC 330: Refugee and Immigrant Experiences in Faribault, MN

    This course will examine the intersection of immigration and education at all levels in rural communities in the U.S. with a site-specific focus on Faribault, MN. Through readings, primary document analyses, discussions, written assignments, and virtual dialogues with community collaborators, students will understand the challenges and opportunities in Faribault for people with refugee and immigrant backgrounds and for educators and community members working with those communities to create supportive contexts (including educational, social, economic, political) that meet the needs and aspirations of those communities. Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): One 100 or 200 level Educational Studies (EDUC) course with grade of C- or better.

     6 credits; IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies, SI, Social Inquiry; not offered 2024–2025

  • EDUC 338: Multicultural Education

    This course focuses on the respect for human diversity, especially as these relate to various racial, cultural and economic groups, and to women. It includes lectures and discussions intended to aid students in relating to a wide variety of persons, cultures, and life styles.

     Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): One 100 or 200 level Educational Studies (EDUC) course with grade of C- or better.

     6 credits; IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies, SI, Social Inquiry; offered Spring 2025 · Anita Chikkatur

  • EDUC 340: Race, Immigration, and Schools

    This course explores the important role that public schools have played in the American national imagination as the way to socialize students about what it means to be American and to prepare them to participate as citizens in a democracy. Focusing on two periods of high rates of immigration into the United States (1890-1920 and 1965-present), the course examines how public schools have attempted to Americanize newly arrived immigrant children as well as to socialize racial minority children into the American mainstream. While most of the readings will focus on urban schools, the course will also consider the growing immigrant populations in rural schools through readings and applied academic civic engagement projects. Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): One 100 or 200 level Educational Studies (EDUC) course with grade of C- or better.

     6 credits; IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies, SI, Social Inquiry; not offered 2024–2025

  • EDUC 344: Teenage Wasteland: Adolescence and the American High School

    Is adolescence real or invented? How does the American high school affect the nature of American adolescence? How does adolescence affect the characteristics of middle and high schools? In addition to treating the concept historically, this interdisciplinary course focuses on psychological, sociological, and literary views of adolescence in and out of the classroom. We will also analyze how adolescence is represented in popular culture, including television, film, and music. Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): One 100 or 200 level Educational Studies (EDUC) course with grade of C- or better.

     6 credits; SI, Social Inquiry; not offered 2024–2025

  • EDUC 367: Culture Wars in the Classroom

    This course examines past and present school controversies, including school prayer, banned books, and student protests. Who controls the curriculum? How do we teach contentious issues such as evolution, racism, and climate change? To what extent do teachers and students enjoy the right to free expression? These are the kinds of questions “Culture Wars in the Classroom” will explore, as we consider the purpose of public education in a diverse, multicultural nation.

     6 credits; IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies, No Exploration; offered Winter 2025 · Jeff Snyder

  • EDUC 385: Schooling and Communities: A Practicum for Teacher Candidates

    This course permits licensure candidates to become more familiar with their student teaching sites through frequent observation and interaction. The course provides an opportunity to work directly in schools and community organizations related to schools and to reflect on that experience in a classroom setting. Recommended Preparation: Acceptance into Teacher Licensure Program and registration for fall student teaching.

     6 credits; No Exploration; offered Spring 2025 · Deborah Appleman

  • EDUC 395: Senior Seminar

    This is a capstone seminar for educational studies minors. It focuses on a contemporary issue in American education with a different topic each year. Recent seminars have focused on the school to prison pipeline, youth activism, intellectual freedom in schools, and gender and sexuality in education. Senior seminars often incorporate off campus work with public school students and teachers. Prerequisites:

    Student is an Educational Studies minor.

     6 credits; No Exploration; offered Spring 2025 · Deborah Appleman