Courses

EDUC 231. Perspectives on Education.This course introduces students to foundational perspectives (anthropological, historical, philosophical, psychological, and sociological) about education and their relationships to the realities present in contemporary schools and classrooms. Students consider several large questions: What should be the purpose of education in a democratic society? What should be the role of the school? What should be the ideal of an educated person? Should this be the same for all students or differentiated in some way for particular individuals or groups of students? Who should participate in making decisions about schools? Students must complete at least thirty hours of fieldwork. Not open to students who have received credit for EDUC 231A or 231B. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 28. Normally offered every semester. Community-Engaged Learning. Staff.Concentrations.  |   Interdisciplinary Programs.

EDUC 235. Teaching in the Sciences.We all possess an innate curiosity about the natural world. This is especially true during our 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 prepare to 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. Course reinstated Winter 2013. Enrollment limited to 18. W. Wallace.Concentrations.

EDUC 240. Gender Issues in Education.This course considers education in relation to recent theory, policy, practice and research on gender. In addition to providing a feminist philosophical perspective on education, the course explores the implications of gender, race, class, and sexual orientation on ways of knowing, developing, and interacting for education practice. The course includes a comparative and international focus. A thirty-hour field experience is required. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 25. [W2] Community-Engaged Learning. P. Buck.Concentrations.  |   Interdisciplinary Programs.

ED/SO 242. Race, Cultural Pluralism, and Equality in American Education.Through thematic investigation of school segregation, desegregation, and resegregation, this course explores the question: What would equal educational opportunity look like in a multicultural society? In light of contextual perspectives in educational thought, the course confronts contemporary debates surrounding how the race/ethnicity of students should affect the composition, curriculum, and teaching methods of schools, colleges, and universities. Specific issues explored include bilingual education, college admission, curriculum inclusion, desegregation, ethnic studies, and hiring practices. A thirty-hour field experience is required. Recommended background: EDUC 231. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 25. [W2] Community-Engaged Learning. M. Tieken.Concentrations.

EDUC 243. Issues in Early Childhood Education.This course focuses on the care and education of young children, birth to age five. Integrating developmental and sociocultural perspectives, the course explores local, state, federal, and international programs, practices, and policies. Topics include the importance of play, the universal preschool movement, culture and family influences, learning across multiple domains and disciplines, and policy issues. This course includes a thirty-hour field placement working in an early childhood environment with children in this age range. Recommended background: EDUC 231. Enrollment limited to 30. Community-Engaged Learning. A. Charles.Concentrations.

EDUC 245. Literacy in Preschool and Elementary Years.This course examines how literacy is defined and developed through a child's early and elementary years from developmental and sociocultural perspectives. Students connect these theories with practice by exploring various methods and materials that foster literacy development in elementary students and by doing fieldwork in local schools. Working collaboratively with classroom teachers, students design and implement literacy development strategies and projects with elementary students. A thirty-hour field experience is required. Recommended background: EDUC 231. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 25. [W2] Community-Engaged Learning. A. Charles.Concentrations.

EDUC 250. Critical Perspective on Teaching and Learning.This course examines and critiques shifting historical and contemporary notions of good pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment through the lens of critical theory. Particular emphasis is given to the ways teaching can contribute to social justice: teaching that critiques and transforms, that is culturally relevant, and that engages in activism. A thirty-hour field placement is required. Prerequisite(s): one course in education. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 25. [W2] Community-Engaged Learning. Staff.Concentrations.  |   Interdisciplinary Programs.

EDUC 255. Adolescent Literacy.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. Not open to students who have received credit for EDUC 355. Enrollment limited to 25. [W2] A. Charles.Concentrations.

ED/PY 262. Community-Based Research Methods.This course introduces research methods through collaborative community partnerships. Students collaborate with local professionals such as teachers on research projects that originate in their work sites. Class meetings introduce design issues, methods of data collection and analysis, and ways of reporting research. Prerequisite(s): PSYC 218 or EDUC 231. Enrollment limited to 15 per section. [W2] Normally offered every year. Community-Engaged Learning. K. Aronson, G. Nigro.Concentrations.

DN/ED 265. Teaching through the Arts.This course examines arts education theory and policy and methods and models of arts education, and considers career options. Class sessions include large- and small-group work, participatory experiences, lectures, group discussions, and student-led activities and presentations. Through a thirty-hour field placement, students explore teaching in and through the arts. Recommended background: EDUC 231. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 18. B. Sale.Concentrations.

EDUC 270. Educating for Democracy.Troubling voter turnout rates and levels of civic participation in the United States raise questions about the health of our democracy. Youth, in particular, express a sense of alienation from government and formal political processes. What does this say about education for democracy? If education is vital to the success of democratic governance, what might be done in schools and other educational institutions to better engage young people in public life? This course explores the relationship between education and democracy and various approaches to civic and citizenship education. A thirty-hour field experience is required. Recommended background: EDUC 231. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 25. Community-Engaged Learning. Staff.Concentrations.

ED/WS 280. Globalization and Education.We live in an era characterized by global flows of ideas and information, commodities, and people. In this course students examine the impacts of globalization upon educational policy and practices. Students explore how these transformative forces influence the educative process in different geographical, national, and cultural contexts. Topics address a set of concerns with enduring resonance to the field of educational studies, including social inequity and change; relations of power; and constructions of race, gender, and social class. A thirty-hour field experience is required. Recommended background: one course in education and one course in women and gender studies. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 28. [W2] Community-Engaged Learning. P. Buck.Concentrations.

EDUC 320. Community Education/Community Action.Education at its best builds on the strengths and actively addresses the needs of communities and neighborhoods. This guiding philosophy is manifested in the development of full-service community schools, after-school programs, adult and cooperative learning programs, and grassroots efforts to educate for social change. This course offers an introduction to the theory and principles of community education as well as engagement in community capacity building through service-learning projects. The course is well-suited to students committed to service-learning and centers on partnerships with schools and a variety of organizations in the community. A thirty-hour field placement is required. Enrollment limited to 15. P. Buck.Concentrations.

EDUC 325. Art Museum Education.In conjunction with a field placement in the education department of the Bates College Museum of Art, students develop and present units of instruction and/or educational experiences and materials for community members as well as for precollege students, utilizing the museum's collection. Students explore the field of art education in the context of the art museum. Students interested in art museum education should discuss their interest with the curator of education at the Bates College Museum of Art and the course instructor at least one semester in advance. Prerequisite(s): two courses in art and visual culture and two courses in education. Instructor permission is required. Community-Engaged Learning. B. Sale.Concentrations.

EDUC 343. Learning and Teaching: Theories and Practice.Students explore learning and teaching with an emphasis on reflective practice. They consider various theories and research on learning and motivation, educational philosophies, and current issues in education. This knowledge serves as a basis for critically examining curriculum development, classroom practice, and the roles of teachers and students in today's schools. Students apply what they learn by creating and teaching a mini-curriculum unit in a local classroom. The teaching fulfills part of the required thirty-hour field experience for the course. Recommended background: EDUC 231, PSYC 101. Enrollment limited to 15. Community-Engaged Learning. B. Sale.Concentrations.

EDUC 360. Independent Study.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. Normally offered every semester. Staff.Concentrations.

EDUC 362. Basic Concepts in Special Education.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. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 25. Normally offered every year. A. Charles, B. Sale.Concentrations.

EDUC 365. Special Topics.A course or seminar offered from time to time and reserved for a special topic selected by the department. Staff.Concentrations.

EDUC 378. Ethnographic Approaches to Education.This course provides an introduction to fieldwork for those planning to conduct qualitative research for a thesis in the social sciences. Ethnography focuses on the daily lives and meaning-making processes of people who associate regularly in local networks, institutions, or communities. Ethnographers observe, interview, and participate in the routine activities of the people they study. They also explore the connections between locally situated activity and broader realms of symbolic meaning and social organization. This course introduces students to interpretive methods with which to examine the webs of meaning that give shape to educational spaces. Through active engagement in empirical research in educational settings across the Lewiston-Auburn community, students grapple with theoretical assumptions, procedures, and standards of quality in ethnographic research. A thirty-hour field experience is required. Not open to students who have received credit for AN/ED 378. Enrollment limited to 15. [W2] P. Buck.Concentrations.  |   Interdisciplinary Programs.

ED/SO 380. Education, Reform, and Politics.The United States has experienced more than three centuries of growth and change in the organization of public and private education. The goals of this course are to examine 1) contemporary reform issues and political processes in relation to the constituencies of school, research, legal, and policy-making communities and 2) how educational policy is formulated, implemented, and evaluated. The study of these areas emphasizes public K–12 education but includes postsecondary education. Examples of specific educational policy arenas include governance, school choice (e.g., charter schools, magnet schools, and vouchers), school funding, standards and accountability, and parental and community involvement. A research-based field component of at least thirty hours is required. Recommended background: one or more courses in education and sociology. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 15. Community-Engaged Learning. Staff.Concentrations.

ED/WS 384. Globalization, Globalisms, and Education.We live in an era characterized by global flows of ideas and information, commodities, and people. In this course students examine the impacts of globalization and globalism upon educational policy and practices. Students explore how these transformative forces influence the educative processes in different geographical, national, and cultural contexts. Topics address a set of concerns with enduring resonance to the field of educational studies, including social inequity and change; relations of power; and constructions of race, gender, and social class. A thirty-hour field experience is required. Recommended background: one course in education and one course in women and gender studies. Course renumbered beginning Fall 2013 Not open to students who have received credit for ED/WS 280. Enrollment limited to 28. [W2] Community-Engaged Learning. P. Buck.Concentrations.

EDUC 447. Curriculum and Methods.This course continues study of the concepts needed to understand curriculum design and program evaluation, and helps students develop the skills needed to design and teach curriculum units in their subject area. The course is part workshop: as part of the seminar (448, taken concurrently), students plan, develop, teach, and evaluate their own curriculum units. At the same time, students read about and reflect on classic questions in curriculum and instruction, such as: To what extent are teachers responsible for developing their own curriculum? Should curriculum and instruction focus on transmitting established knowledge, developing individuals' talents, or preparing successful members of society? Can teachers assess students' knowledge in ways that allow them to learn from the assessments? What particular teaching methods are appropriate for the different disciplines? Students develop a repertoire of methods to use in student teaching and in future teaching. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 231 and 460. Corequisite(s): EDUC 448 and 461. Normally offered every year. Community-Engaged Learning. A. Charles, B. Sale, M. Tieken.Concentrations.

EDUC 448. Senior Seminar in Teacher Education: Reflection and Engagement.The seminar helps students reflect on and engage with their experiences as teachers. Students are encouraged to develop their own philosophies of education and to use these philosophies in planning and teaching their classes. The seminar also addresses three areas of practice—technology, community-based, and interdisciplinary approaches—and helps students incorporate these into their teaching. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 231, 362, and 460. Corequisite(s): EDUC 447 and 461. Instructor permission is required. Normally offered every year. Community-Engaged Learning. A. Charles, B. Sale, M. Tieken.Concentrations.

EDUC 450. Seminar in Educational Studies.Required of all students in the educational studies minor, this seminar helps students to reflect upon and synthesize their previous education courses, courses in related fields, and their field experiences. Students produce and present a culminating project. A thirty-hour field placement is required. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 231 and three additional courses in education. Open to seniors only. Normally offered every year. Community-Engaged Learning. P. Buck.Concentrations.

EDUC 460. Student Teaching I.This is an intensive field experience in secondary education. Students begin by observing a host teacher in their academic field, spending one or two class periods each day in the middle or high school. Soon they begin teaching at least one class per day. In regular, informal meetings, they are guided and supported by their host teachers and a supervisor from the Bates Department of Education. Students also meet for seminar sessions at Bates to address conceptual matters and to discuss problems and successes in the classroom. These seminars include workshops in content area methods and extensive informal reflective writing. Students begin to move toward proficiency in four areas of practice: curriculum, instruction, and evaluation; classroom management, interactions, and relationships; diversity; time management and organizational skills. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 231 and 362. Instructor permission is required. Normally offered every year. Community-Engaged Learning. A. Charles, B. Sale.Concentrations.

EDUC 461. Student Teaching II.This course continues and deepens the experiences and reflection begun in EDUC 460. Students spend four or five class periods each day in a local middle or high school observing, teaching, and becoming fully involved in the life of the school. Students continue to meet regularly with their host teacher and Bates supervisor. Integrated into the seminar (448), students spend extensive time planning their classes and reflecting in writing on their experiences. Prerequisite(s): EDUC 231, 362, and 460. Corequisite(s): EDUC 447 and 448. Normally offered every year. Community-Engaged Learning. A. Charles, B. Sale, M. Tieken.Concentrations.

EDUC s19. Theory and Practice of Writing and Tutoring.Winston Churchill is supposed to have asked, "How can I tell what I think until I see what I've said?" This course explores the intersection of thinking, learning, and writing in the academy, and in particular, the teaching and tutoring of writing. Students consider readings in current composition and peer-tutoring theory and have opportunities to apply and practice a variety of writing and tutoring strategies on campus and in the community. The course serves as aparticular useful foundation for students seeking to become peer-writing assistants and those interested in teaching writing at the secondary level. A thirty-hour field experience is required. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 20. J. Cole.Concentrations.

EDUC s20. Creating Educational Experiences at Morse Mountain.Many people have visited state or national parks, where they have taken part in ranger-led programs that engaged them in how the natural world works. In this course, students learn first-hand how experiential education works. They collaborate on building a project-based field trip. The planning addresses curriculum, instruction, assessment, and the logistics of running a field trip. They are then joined by students from the Phippsburg Community School, who participate in field trips at the nearby Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area. Experiential learning can be the foundation of some of the most authentic learning in a child's life. This course provides a framework to learn the importance of these experiences. Course reinstated beginning Short Term 2013. Enrollment limited to 13. W. Wallace.Concentrations.

EDUC s26. Qualitative Methods of Education Research.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 education-oriented community organization, students carry out a qualitative research project, articulating research design, conducting observations and interviews, analyzing data, and presenting results. New course beginning Short Term 2013. Enrollment limited to 15. Normally offered every year. M. Tieken.Concentrations.

EDUC s27. Literacy in the Community.The field of "new literacy studies" calls into question the traditional emphasis upon discrete reading and writing skills. In an expanded definition scholars place literacy within anthropological and cross-cultural frameworks that consider reading and writing practices within families, communities, and cultures. This course introduces students to the literature of new literacy studies and educational anthropology in conjunction with a thirty-hour service-learning placement in the Lewiston area. The course also offers an introduction to English Language Learning pedagogy. Students are asked to investigate the impact culturally informed knowledge and experience have upon the literacy practices of those community members with whom they work closely. Enrollment limited to 30. Normally offered every year. Community-Engaged Learning. P. Buck, A. Charles.Concentrations.  |   Interdisciplinary Programs.

ED/EN s28. Children's Writing Workshop.Students read and discuss a wide range of literature for and by children as well as pertinent critical studies, and travel weekly to Dunn Elementary School in New Gloucester to work with third, fourth, and fifth graders on well-known poetry and fiction as well as the children's own creative writing. With help from the children, they produce a classroom magazine and organize a poetry/fiction reading. A thirty-hour field experience is required. Prerequisite(s): one course in either English or education. Enrollment limited to 12. Community-Engaged Learning. L. Nayder.Concentrations.

DN/ED s29A. Tour, Teach, Perform I.This course uses the diverse collective skills of the students in the class as base material for the creation of a theater/dance piece that tours to elementary schools. The first two weeks are spent working intensively with a guest artist to create the performance piece. The remaining weeks are spent touring that piece, along with age-appropriate movement workshops, to elementary schools throughout the region. This course open to performers and would-be performers of all kinds. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 20. Normally offered every year. C. Dilley.Concentrations.

DN/ED s29B. Tour, Teach, Perform II.Continued study of the integration of dance and other arts for the purpose of producing a performance piece for elementary school children. Students participate in all aspects of creating the performance, encompassing a wide variety of topics and movement-based performance styles, and developing a creative movement workshop to be taught in the classrooms. This course is open to performers and would-be performers of all kinds. Prerequisite(s): DANC s29A. Enrollment limited to 6. Normally offered every year. C. Dilley.Concentrations.

EDUC s50. Independent Study.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. Normally offered every year. Staff.Concentrations.