Schedule of Classes for Educational Studies and cross-listed courses at Trinity College
one-year schedule grid - updated Sept. 2009 (check back for regular updates)

Syllabi for all courses offered by the Educational Studies Program

Educ 200 Analyzing Schools
This course introduces the study of schooling within an interdisciplinary framework. Drawing upon sociology, we investigate the resources, structures, and social contexts which influence student opportunities and outcomes in the United States and other countries. Drawing upon psychology, we contrast theories of learning, both in the abstract and in practice. Drawing upon philosophy, we examine competing educational goals and their underlying assumptions regarding human nature, justice, and democracy. In addition, a community learning component, where students observe and participate in nearby K-12 classrooms for three hours per week, will be integrated with course readings and written assignments.
NOTE: Each student must reserve one three-hour block of time in their weekly schedule (anytime between 9am - 3pm weekdays) for a community learning placement in a neighborhood Hartford public school, to be arranged by the instructor during the first week of the course. Enrollment limited to 32.
Offered each semester.
Fall 2007 syllabus with Professor Andrea Dyrness
Spring 2009 syllabus with Professor Jack Dougherty

Educ 216 Education and Technology (not currently offered)
Schools and colleges have invested billions of dollars in computer technology, but how do we evaluate its effectiveness and hidden costs? Who designs technology and how does it reflect their values and beliefs? Who has access to computers and how are they actually used in our society? Students will explore these questions, critically evaluate software products, and engage in community learning placements to research how technology has shaped the context of schooling.
Fall 2002 syllabus (PDF file) with Professor Barbara Henriques

Educ 300 Education Reform: Past & Present 
How do we explain the rise and decline of education reform movements? How do we evaluate their level of “success” from different sources of evidence? Drawing upon primary source materials and historical interpretations, this course examines a broad array of elementary, secondary, and higher education reform movements from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, analyzing social, material, and ideological contexts. This intermediate-level seminar explores a topic common to all branches of educational studies from both theoretical and comparative perspectives. Prerequisite: Ed 200 or permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 24.
Spring 2009 syllabus with Professor Jen Sandler
Spring 2008 syllabus with Professor Jack Dougherty
Resources for teaching educational history

EDUC 305 Immigrants and Education
How have schools played a role in the experiences of diverse immigrant communities in the United States? How have immigrants and their children encountered U.S. culture and policies through schools and, trhough the encounters, negotiated their own roles in U.S. culture and society. In this class, we will examine both historical and contemporary efforts by educational institutions to address linguistic, cultural and religious practices, race and academic opportunity in relation to a variety of immigrant communities. The course will include a community learning component in which students will conduct interviews with immigrants who have been involved in U.S. education institutions. A prior course in Educational Studies or International Studies or Permission of Instructor.
Spring 2009 syllabus with Professor Jen Sandler

Educ 307 Latinos in Education:  Local Realities, Transnational Perspectives
This course investigates the education of Latinos, the largest and fastest growing minority group in the United States. By examining both the domestic and transnational contexts, we explore these central questions: How do cultural constructions of Latinos (as immigrants and natives, citizens and noncitizens) shape educational policy and teaching practices? What views of citizenship and identity underlie school programs such as bilingual education, as well as Latino responses to them? This course fulfills the related field requirement for Hispanic Studies majors. It also will include a community learning component involving a qualitative research project in a Hartford school or community organization. Prerequisite: Educ 200 or ANTH majors or INTS/LACS majors or HISP majors or permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 20.
Spring 2007 syllabus with Professor Andrea Dyrness

Educ 308: Cities, Suburbs, and Schools
How did city dwellers' dreams of better schooling, along with public policy decisions in housing and transportation, contribute to the rise of suburbia in the twentieth century? How do city-suburban disparities affect teaching and learning in classrooms today? What promise do Sheff v O'Neill remedies for racial isolation, such as magnet schools at the Learning Corridor, hold for the future? Students will investigate these questions while developing their skills in oral history, ethnographic fieldwork, and geographical information system (GIS) software. Community learning experiences will be integrated with seminar readings and research projects. Prerequisite: Ed 200 or Psyc 225 or the Cities Program or permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 20.
Fall 2008 syllabus with Professor Jack Dougherty
See also Cities, Suburbs, and Schools website

Educ 309 Race, Class, and Educational Policy
How do competing theories explain educational inequality? How do different policies attempt to address it? Topics include economic and cultural capital, racial identity formation, desegregation, multiculturalism, detracking, school choice, school-family relationships, and affirmative action. Student groups will expand upon the readings by designing, conducting, and presenting research projects as part of the community-learning component for this seminar. Enrollment limited to 20.
Spring 2007 syllabus with Professor Jack Dougherty

Educ 315 Higher Education in America
America has developed one of the largest and most diverse systems of higher education in the world, with curricula that range from the study of Greek, Latin and antiquity to the decorating of cakes. Despite this diffuseness, American higher education enjoys an enviable global reputation and each year the number of students from around the world applying to colleges and universities in the United States far surpasses the number of American students seeking to matriculate abroad.  This course will examine the forces that shaped the development of American higher education from its origins to the present, and then focus on several salient issues (such as diversity, student misbehavior, academic freedom, and athletics) that vex and enrich modern institutions. Students will be required to conduct a field research project that analyzes a current issue and compares how two or more institutions have reacted.  Pre-requisite: Educ 200 or permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 20.
Spring 2008 syllabus with Dean of Students Fred Alford

Educ 317 Alternative Education (not currently offered)
This course examines alternatives to mainstream education, such as charter and magnet schools, Montessori programs, home-schooling, and for-profit enterprises. What historical and political factors led to the rise of the alternative movement? What social and cognitive issues do they raise about quality teaching and learning? What effects have these alternative models had on the broader educational system? The course will include a community learning component to offer students first-hand knowledge about Hartford-area alternative models and how they are implemented. Prerequisites: Ed 200 or permission of instructor. Enrollment limited.
Fall 2001 syllabus with Professor Barbara Henriques

Educ 318: Special Education
How are children labeled (or mislabeled) as having learning and developmental disabilities, autism, or attention deficit disorder? How have definitions and diagnoses of learning disorders changed over time? How does the law seek to ensure the accommodation of the needs of individuals with learning disabilities? Students will critically analyze current research on disorders, examine special education case law and advocacy, and explore issues through community learning placements and interviews with teachers and parents.
Prerequisite: Ed 200 or Psyc 295 or permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 24.
Spring 2009 syllabus with Visiting Professor John Foshay

Educ 320: Anthropology and Education
The anthropology of education has a rich history of investigating the links between culture, learning, and schooling. Anthropologists studying education have sought to illuminate learning and educational achievement as social processes and cultural products that cannot be understood apart from the socio-cultural contexts in which they occur. In this upper-level seminar, we will explore selected works in the anthropology of education -- both classic and contemporary -- in order to understand the unique contributions anthropology makes to the study of education, and in particular, the experience of minority groups in education. We will explore topics such as race, gender, and language in education and how they have been addressed by anthropologists. Students will have an opportunity to read critically a variety of detailed ethnographic and qualitative studies focusing on formal schooling and informal education in the United States and in other countries. Reviewing these studies, we will explore the central questions: What is a cultural analysis of schooling? What unique insights does ethnography -- anthropology¹s signature method -- offer into key educational problems? And finally, how can a cultural analysis of schooling inform efforts to create a more socially just educational system?
Prerequisite: A C- or better in Ed 200 or Anthropology 201 or permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 20.
Spring 2007 syllabus with Professor Andrea Dyrness

Educ 322: Comparative Education -- Japan and the United States (not currently offered)
How have social and political factors shaped schooling in Japan and the United States, particularly as economic competition between the two nations has increased in recent decades? In turn, how do Japanese and U.S. schools express their vision of what it means to be an educated citizen? Students will critically examine how racial, class, and gender discrimination have influenced educational policies and practices in both nations, as well as the extent and efficacy of school reform efforts addressing diversity and globalization. Prerequisite: a prior course in Educational Studies or International Studies, or permission of the instructor.
Fall 2004 syllabus (PDF) with Visiting Instructor Eugenie Kang

Educ 350 Teaching and Learning
This seminar will explore theoretical, policy, and practical issues of teaching and learning. Who should teach in public schools, and what kind of preparation is necessary? What type of curriculum should be taught, and how do different interest groups shape that decision? How should we assess the quality of student learning? Finally, how do debates on all of these questions influence the nature of teachers’ work and classroom life? For the community learning component, students will design, teach, and evaluate curricular units in cooperation with neighborhood schools and after school programs. Prerequisite: Ed 200 or juniors/seniors from any major with permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 20.
Fall 2007 sylllabus with Professor Jack Dougherty

Educ 400 Senior Research Seminar
To fulfill the senior exercise requirement, students carry out an independent research project which builds upon acquired skills and evolving interests. The weekly seminar provides a thematic focus as well as a continuous forum for both support and critical feedback from peers, in preparation for a public presentation of the student's work at the end of the semester. Each year, the seminar will be organized around a broad theme in educational studies. Ordinarily taken in the fall semester of the senior year, with the option of continuing as a one-credit senior thesis (Educ 497) in the spring semester.
Fall 2008 syllabus with Professor Jen Sandler
See students' research projects located in  Research
 

Educ 497 Senior Thesis
Open to senior majors in spring semester, who have received B+ or better in Ed 400, as a continuation of their independent research projects. By arrangement with professor.

First-Year Seminar - Borders and their Trespassers: (Im)migration, Human Rights, and Imagined Communities with Professors Andrea Dyrness and Anne Gebelein
This course will consider the border politics involved in the making of local and (trans) national communities. Using the U.S./Mexican border and the Trinity/ Hartford border as our two primary loci of inquiry, we will explore the rights and reception of those who cross borders: not only geopolitical, but also linguistic, racial, economic, and cultural ones. Examining immigration policy and admissions policy, law enforcement along the border, media representations of migrants and natives, and the stories of border crossers, we will attempt to understand the forces that expand and constrain membership rights in these intersecting communities. How are borders constructed and contested by groups on both sides of the border? How are rights of belonging and membership transformed by migrants and “trespassers”? Border politics will be considered from an anthropological perspective (Prof. Dyrness) and from a cultural studies perspective (Prof. Gebelein), allowing us to consider a wide variety of scholarly work in fiction and nonfiction, contemporary media, and border studies.
Fall 2007 syllabus