Education Courses

Courses of Instruction

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WRITING 101: SCHOOL AND SOCIETY IN THE NOVEL
First-year writing-intensive seminar on educational themes in selected novels. Texts will represent public and private settings at the secondary and post-secondary levels. Open only to first-year students.

EDU 121: HISTORY OF EDUCATIONAL THEORY & PRACTICE
Traces historical development and underlying philosophies of educational institutions and practices in the United States; considers current roles and functions of the school in relation to other social institutions such as state and church.

EDU 221: SCHOOLS AND SOCIETY
What really constitutes school success? Is a liberal education the best education? Do teachers treat children from different backgrounds unfairly? What aspects of society do schools reproduce? These are some of the questions that students will examine in this introductory course on contemporary educational theory and practice in schools. Using theoretical autobiography as a tool, students will build an understanding of major social theories that have shaped their thinking about educational problems. In addition, students will construct and reconstruct their own theoretical perspective to educational trends and debates in the United States. The course requires the completion of 15 structured contact hours in a school, a midterm and a final review.

EDU 241: CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Individual development of normal children with emphasis on learning, social and emotional development, cognitive and language development. Special study of behavioral, social learning, and cognitive theories of development. Includes observations at local day-care centers. Cross listed as Psychology 421. Prerequisite: Psychology 101.

EDU 242: EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY AND TEACHING EXCEPTIONALITIES
Psychology of learning as it relates to teaching. Focus on contemporary theories of learning, retention, transfer, motivation, educational assessment, and adolescent psychology, and their particular application to classroom teaching. Includes special emphasis on teaching exceptional students and appropriate clinical experiences in educational institutions. Prerequisite: Psychology 101. It is strongly recommended that students who are earning teaching licensure take this course in the spring term of their junior year.

EDU 243: ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT
An in-depth examination of specific theories, concepts, and methods related to the period of adolescence. Students will explore a wide range of topics including: cognitive development, moral development, identity formation, gender role, social relationships, and the effects of culture on adolescent development. Prerequisite: Psychology 101

EDU 250: MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION
This course will examine the critical issues related to diversifying today’s educational system. Specific topics will be discussed relating to curricular content and assessment techniques along with broad topics related to the educational system’s role in preparing its citizens to live and work in a global society. This course views the multicultural education as encompassing teachers, parents, students, administrators, employees, employers, and society at large. The main purpose of this course is captured in the following statement by Guild (1994): “Ensuring success for the diverse population that schools serve calls for continual reexamination of traditional assumptions, expectations, and biases.”

EDU 260: SOCIAL DIVERSITY & INEQUALITY IN EDUCATION
This course focuses on issues of social diversity, social inequality, and social justice in education. We sill examine education as a central site of conflict over the gap between the United States' egalitarian mission and its unequal structure, processes, and outcomes. Students will rethink contemporary solutions to social diversity in education, develop a social justice framework which emphasizes inequality, and design an institutional ethnographic project as a critical intervention in schools and society.

EDU 300: SEMINAR: SPECIAL TOPICS IN EDUCATION
Individual research on topics requested by students under conditions specified in a written contract arranged no later than the end of the first week of the term in which credit is to be authorized. Contract must include project title, summary statement of project objectives and proposed activities, preliminary bibliography, specific evaluation criteria and techniques, and schedule of conferences with the instructor. Prerequisite: Approval of the department chair and acceptance of contract by the faculty sponsor of the department.

EDU 301: INDEPENDENT STUDY IN EDUCATION
Areas of study vary according to educational objectives and preferences of interested students. Includes experiences in school settings (public or private) and any level (elementary or secondary) for any subject. The independent study is under the direction and supervision of a faculty member who has approved a written contract arranged no later than the first week of the term. Prerequisite: Approval of the instructor.

EDU 302: FIELD PLACEMENT IN EDUCATION
An Independent Study for students completing the Interdisciplinary Concentration in Education. Areas of study and experience vary according to educational objectives and preferences of interested students. Requires approximately eighty hours in a public or private school and the production of a portfolio, which will serve to synthesize the courses completed for the concentration. The independent study is under the direction and supervision of a faculty member who has approved a written contract arranged no later than the first week of the term. Prerequisite: Approval of the instructor.

EDU 320: GROWING UP JIM CROW
What is the origin and legacy of “Jim Crow” in the United States? During the Age of Jim Crow, how did generations of white and black children learn race and racism? What are the public and hidden transcripts of resistance to white supremacy across race, gender, and class? What are examples of continuity and change in race relations from roughly the 1870s to the 1970s? These are some of the questions that we will encounter in this course. From the perspectives of white and black southerners, we will examine oral histories, literary narratives, and visual representations of numerous topics: “Jim Crow” education, white supremacy, disenfranchisement, lynching, rape, resistance, interracial harmony, and desegregation. Students will also analyze films and videos as complex texts that can be viewed through multiple and intersecting lenses. Course requirements include various writing assignments, film analyses, and a major research paper.

EDU 330: SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION
An introduction to the sociological study of education in the United States, including an examination of the school as an organization within the larger environment. Explores the link between schools and social stratification by analyzing the mutually generative functions of schools and considers how processes within schools can lead to different outcomes for stakeholders. Cross-listed as Sociology 330. Provides major credit in Sociology, satisfies a distribution requirement in the social sciences, and satisfies a requirement in the Education Concentration.

EDU 340: EDUCATION IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN SOCIETY
This course explores the social and historical forces shaping the education of people of African descent in the United States from slavery to the 21^st century. We will examine values, beliefs, and perspectives on education across gender and class lines, individual and group efforts toward building educational institutions and organizations, hidden or forgotten educational initiatives and programming, and cross-cultural projects to promote literacy and achievement in African-American society. Students will write a seminar paper and complete a midterm and final review.

EDU 4 00: ORGANIZATION FOR TEACHING
Procedures for effective organization and presentation of subject matter in particular academic disciplines at the high-school level. Approximately one- third of this course is taken under the direct supervision of one or more Davidson College professors in the academic discipline of anticipated licensure. Includes work in teaching of reading in the content areas. Requires appropriate clinical experiences in schools. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

EDU 410, 411: INTERNSHIP IN TEACHING
Ten to twelve weeks of full-time involvement in the secondary school spent in observing, classroom teaching, and other tasks appropriate to accomplished professional teaching. Close classroom supervision by the local secondary school and Davidson professors. Prerequisite: Approval of college committee on teacher education.

EDU 4 20: SEMINAR IN SECONDARY EDUCATION
Function of the secondary school, nature of the secondary student, and secondary school curriculum. Emphasis on diagnostic and remedial procedures for secondary students. Discussion includes evaluation and shared experiences resulting from the internship experience. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

"Poverty and ignorance have affected the black man just as they affected the white man. But the day is breaking, and education will bring the complete light."

Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

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