Courses

Lisa Rosen  |  T 12:30 – 3:20 PM

How and why do educational outcomes and experiences vary across student populations? What role do schools play in a society’s system of stratification? How do schools both contribute to social mobility and to the reproduction of the prevailing social order? This course examines these questions through the lens of social and cultural theory, engaging current academic debates on the causes and consequences of social inequality in educational outcomes. We will engage these debates by studying foundational and emerging theories and examining empirical research on how social inequalities are reproduced or ameliorated through schools. Through close readings of historical, anthropological and sociological case studies of schooling in the U.S, students will develop an understanding of the structural forces and cultural processes that produce inequality in neighborhoods and schools, how they contribute to unequal opportunities, experiences, and achievement outcomes for students along lines of race/ethnicity, class, gender, and immigration status, and how students themselves navigate and interpret this unequal terrain. We will cover such topics as neighborhood and school segregation; peer culture; social networks; elite schooling; the interaction between home, society and educational institutions; and dynamics of assimilation for students from immigrant communities.

Emilia Wenzel  |  W 10:30 AM – 1:20 PM

In this course, we will investigate critical issues within early childhood education. The questions we will engage with throughout the course are: What makes early childhood a pivotal stage of development? How do families, teachers and preschool curricula shape children’s experiences? How do systemic inequalities manifest in early learning environments? We will address these questions by examining early learning contexts through various interdisciplinary lenses including developmental psychology, sociology, public policy and education. The course will examine the state of early childhood education in the US, the role of parents and communities, ways to affirm identity in the early years, the influence of teachers in early learning environments and strategies to support early math and language development. Research, policy and real-world examples will drive learning for this course, enabling us to bridge theory and practice. Throughout the quarter, we will search for academic sources as well as news sources to deeply engage with critical issues within early childhood education.

Kate O’Doherty  |  T R 12:30 – 1:50 PM

This discussion-based, advanced seminar is designed to investigate how preschool and elementary students think, act, and learn, as well as examine developmentally appropriate practices and culturally responsive teaching in the classroom. This course emphasizes the application of theory and research from the field of psychology to the realm of teaching and learning in contemporary classrooms. Course concepts will be grounded in empirical research and activities geared towards understanding the nuances and complexities of topics such as cognitive development (memory, attention, language), early assessment systems, standardized testing, “mindset”, “grit”, exercise/nutrition, emotion regulation, and more.

Ariel Kalil 

The goal of this course is to introduce students to the literature on early child development and explore how an understanding of core developmental concepts can inform social policies. This goal will be addressed through an integrated, multidisciplinary approach. The course will emphasize research on the science of early child development from the prenatal period through school entry. The central debate about the role of early experience in development will provide a unifying strand for the course. Students will be introduced to research in neuroscience, psychology, economics, sociology, and public policy as it bears on questions about “what develops?”, critical periods in development, the nature vs. nurture debate, and the ways in which environmental contexts (e.g., parents, families, peers, schools, institutions, communities) affect early development and developmental trajectories. The first part of the course will introduce students to the major disciplinary streams in the developmental sciences and the enduring and new debates and perspectives within the field. The second part will examine the multiple contexts of early development to understand which aspects of young children’s environments affect their development and how those impacts arise. Throughout the course, we will explore how the principles of early childhood development can guide the design of policies and practices that enhance the healthy development of young children.

Ming-Te Wang   |  T 9:30 AM – 12:20 PM

This course focuses on developmental pathways from middle childhood through adolescence within the context of school, family, community, and culture. Because human development is an applied field, we will be paying special attention to how sociocultural and historical influences affect academic, socioemotional, and identity development in the context of real-world challenges and opportunities faced by adolescents. In addition to learning about developmental and sociocultural theories, students will apply research to policy and practice by creating resources geared toward youth, parents, or those who work with youth. 

Melinh Lai  |  T R 2:00 – 3:20 PM

What is the relationship between physical processes in the brain and body and the processes of thought and consciousness that constitute our mental life? Philosophers and others have puzzled over this question for millennia. Many have concluded it to be intractable. In recent decades, the field of cognitive science–encompassing philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, computer science, linguistics, and other disciplines–has proposed a new form of answer. The driving idea is that the interaction of the mental and the physical may be understood via a third level of analysis: that of the computational. This course offers a critical introduction to the elements of this approach, and surveys some of the alternative models and theories that fall within it. Readings are drawn from a range of historical and contemporary sources in philosophy, psychology, linguistics, and computer science. 

Marshall Jean  |  T R 3:30 – 4:50 PM 

This course examines the social organization of formal education – how schools are shaped by the social context in which they are situated, and how students’ experiences in turn shape our society. It focuses specifically on schools as the link between macrosociological phenomena (e.g. culture, political systems, segregation, inequality) and the microsociological interactions of individual students and educators. The focus will be on contemporary American education, although lessons from the past and abroad will inform our learning. Prior introductory coursework in sociology will be useful but is not required.

Rosen  |  T 2:00 - 4:50 PM 

This course examines the dynamic relations between schooling and identity. We will explore how schools both enable and constrain the identities available to students and the consequences of this for academic achievement. We will examine these relations from multiple disciplinary perspectives, applying psychological, anthropological, sociological, and critical theories to understanding how students not only construct identities for themselves within schools, but also negotiate the identities imposed on them by others. Topics will include the role of peer culture, adult expectations, school practices, and enduring social structures in shaping processes of identity formation in students and how these processes influence school engagement and achievement. We will consider how these processes unfold at all levels of schooling, from preschool through college, and for students who navigate a range of social identities, from marginalized to privileged.

Instructor: Numanbayraktaroglu  |  T R 2:00 - 3:20 PM 

This course provides an overview of theory and research on bilingualism. Through a critical examination of psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic approaches to bilingualism, we will aim to arrive at a comprehensive account of bilingual experience and its practical implications for education and mental health in a globalizing world.

In the course, we will address the following topics:

1. Theoretical and methodological foundations of bilingualism and multilingualism.
2. Bilingual and multilingual society, super-diversity, and translanguaging.
3. The relationship between bilingualism and cognition, emotion, and self.
4. Code-switching and identity.
5. Implications of bilingualism for education.

It is expected that, by the end of the course, you will develop a comprehensive understanding of bilingualism and multilingualism and apply this knowledge to your academic and professional context.

Casillas Tice  |  T TR 11:00 AM -12:20 PM 

This course examines the social and cognitive mechanisms that drive language learning in the first few years of life. Nearly all children learn the language(s) of their community, despite the fact that human languages and caregiving practices offer immense diversity around the globe. What enables the learning system to adapt so robustly to the environment it finds itself in? We discuss the evidence for and against multiple factors that have been proposed to support language development across the world’s communities. We also critically examine how these ideas intersect with current deficit models of language learning. It is expected that, by the end of the course, students will grasp the basic mechanisms proposed to underlie early language learning.

Raikhel |  TR 2:00 - 4:50 PM

This course draws on a range of perspectives from across the interpretive, critical, and humanistic social sciences to examine the issues of mental health, illness, and distress in higher education.

Instructor: Vasan   |  W 9:30 AM – 12:20 PM

Undergraduate and MA students only. This seminar centers individuals who reside on the margins of formal education in the US. We will focus on the ways of knowing, being, and doing that are marked as deviant in the context of education in the United States through a study of the experiences of students and educators holding non-dominant social locations due to their race, sexuality, gender, disability, and/or class. Course materials will primarily concern public K-12 schooling, with some supplementary readings from non-school educational contexts. In responding to course readings, we will consider together questions such as: What does education look like for students and teachers who occupy “deviant” social locations? What can we learn about educational realities and possibilities from the perspectives of students and teachers who hold non-dominant identities? What types of individual and collective action are available to those who occupy the margins of public schooling? What is the role of the researcher in producing scholarship that bears accurate and care-full witness to experiences outside of the mainstream? In this course, we will engage largely with empirical qualitative scholarship, as well as conceptual and theoretical texts, from anthropological, sociological, developmental, and non-academic scholars.

Lebowski | T TR 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM 

What is the relationship between physical processes in the brain and body and the processes of thought and consciousness that constitute our mental life? Philosophers and others have puzzled over this question for millennia. Many have concluded it to be intractable. In recent decades, the field of cognitive science–encompassing philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, computer science, linguistics, and other disciplines–has proposed a new form of answer. The driving idea is that the interaction of the mental and the physical may be understood via a third level of analysis: that of the computational. This course offers a critical introduction to the elements of this approach, and surveys some of the alternative models and theories that fall within it. Readings are drawn from a range of historical and contemporary sources in philosophy, psychology, linguistics, and computer science. 

Instructor: Bose | M W 3:00 - 4:20 PM 

In 1900, the Swedish feminist sociologist, Ellen Key wrote a book called The Century of the Child, anticipating the age when “childhood” as a social construct would universally come under unprecedented legal, cultural and political scrutiny. Taking a cue from Key’s work, this course explores how the “child” became the center of many social, cultural, religious and educational controversies in the history of modern South Asia. We will examine how “childhood” with an accompanying notion of "infantilization", was not only a potent concept in questions of empire, civilization and racial hierarchies, but also one that still gets invoked in contemporary conversations about “development” and “progress”. Being a concept loaded with discourses of power, “childhood” lends itself to ideologically inconsistent formations. On one hand, we will see how colonial educational policies, nationalist reckonings and postcolonial reconstructions have variously positioned the “normative child” as the future of the nation, society and family. On the other hand, we will note how children, whose lives do not follow the normative codes, could be perceived as unchildlike, vis-à-vis their class, caste and gender identities. By centering the figure of the “child”, we will examine how children’s literature, textbooks, biographies, short stories, photographs, advertisements and comics could be important sources for rethinking institutions, social systems and cultural genres of South Asia.

Instructor: Jo | M 3:00 - 5:50 PM 

This seminar critically examines the intricate relationship between social stratification and our modern world. Over nine weeks, students will explore how social structure shapes individual potential for social reproduction and/or mobility, with a particular focus on how attributes of our modern society act as barriers and/or advantages for diverse pathways.

Rosen  |  W 1:30 - 4:20 PM

Passionate conflicts over school curriculum and educational policy are a recurring phenomenon in the history of US schooling. Why are schools such frequent sites of struggle and what is at stake in these conflicts? In this discussion-based seminar, we will consider schools as battlegrounds in the US “culture wars”: contests over competing visions of national identity, morality, social order, the fundamental purposes of public education, and the role of the state vis-à-vis the family. Drawing on case studies from history, anthropology, sociology and critical race and gender studies, we will examine both past and contemporary debates over school curriculum and school policy. Topics may include clashes over: the teaching of evolution, sex and sexuality education, busing/desegregation, prayer in schools, multiculturalism, the content of the literary canon, the teaching of reading, mathematics and history, and the closure of underperforming urban schools. Our inquiry will examine how social and political movements have used schools to advance or resist particular agendas and social projects.

Instructor: Parrott-Sheffer |  R 9:30 AM - 12:20 PM

This course will explore contemporary approaches to K-12 teaching and learning, looking at how the theoretical foundations that ground each approach lead to different perspectives on the purpose of public education, what students should learn, and how teachers should teach. The class will put these approaches in conversation with one another, exploring areas of agreement and conflict. Students will learn to observe and analyze classroom instruction. For students interested in K-12 education, this course will provide a helpful survey of some of the current debates around teaching and learning in public education.

Parrott-Sheffer  |  R 2:00 - 4:50 PM 

The U.S. pre K-12 education landscape is covered in the vestiges of failed or only partially fulfilled efforts to improve our schools. Yet our public schools now educate more people, for more time, in content areas beyond the “3 R’s”, and with better results than at any time in our history as a nation. This course gives students an opportunity to critically examine several promising school-level improvement strategies within the context of larger reform efforts. Students will consider the role that values, beliefs about learning and people, and local context play in the success of school improvement efforts. Additionally, students will consider the factors that are necessary for sustaining the implementation of school improvement strategies. Ultimately, students will leave the course with a deeper understanding of what they believe the purpose of school is, how people and organizations learn and change, and strategies for influencing change in their own careers, regardless of sector. The course includes one field experience for students to consider the impact of reforms on preK-12 education institutions.

Smith | T 3:30 - 6:20 PM

This course explores the complex history of American urban education from the 19th century to modern times. Our primary analytical lens will be the role of place, race, and ethnicity in the making of contemporary schools, schooling, and curriculum in US urban centers. We will undertake this exploration by examining a selection of books, some of which are "foundational" texts in the history of American urban education, others that have opened new and important areas of research in the field, and still others that have addressed vital issues in the history of urban education in a particularly compelling way.

Instructor: Jo | M 3:00 - 5:50 PM

This course offers an in-depth introduction to the sociological study of higher education in both the United States and globally. It explores the evolving significance of college education for students and families, while analyzing how national and international social structures influence students’ educational trajectories. Key topics include college access, campus experiences, academic achievement, and post-graduation outcomes. Through these lenses, students will engage with critical questions about the role and impact of higher education in contemporary society.

Instructor: Abdelhadi | W 3:00 - 4:20 PM 

The purpose of this course is to expose CHD majors in college to a broad range of methods in social sciences with a focus on human development research. The faculty in Comparative Human Development is engaged in interdisciplinary research encompassing anthropology, biology, psychology, sociology, and applied statistics. The types of data and methods used by faculty span the gamut of possible methodologies for addressing novel and important research questions. In this course, students will study how appropriate research methods are chosen and employed in influential research and will gain hands-on experience with data collection and data analysis. In general, the class will meet as a whole on Mondays and will have lab/discussion sections on Wednesdays. The lab/discussion sections are designed to review the key concepts, practice through applying some of the methods, and prepare students for the assignments. Students in each section will be assigned to small groups. Some of the assignments are group-based while others are individual-based.

Instructor: Casillas | TBD

Language may be learned by individuals, but we most often use it for communication between groups. How is it that we manage to transmit our internal thoughts to others' minds? How is it that we can understand what others mean to express to us? Whether we are greeting a passerby, ordering a meal, or debating politics, there are a number of invisible processes that bring language to life in the space between individuals. This course investigates the social and cognitive processes that enable us to successfully communicate with others. The theories we cover are built on observations of adult language use and child development in multiple cultural settings, taking inspiration also from non-human animal communication.

It is expected that, by the end of the course, students will be able to explain the limitations of language for communication and will be able to elaborate on a number of social and other cognitive processes that critically support communicative language use.

Han | TBD

This course is initiated by my first-hand ethnographic material in Tibet (Tibet Autonomous Region in China) as a case study with deep and nuanced analysis to reveal youths’ real-life experiences at home and in schools. Specifically, this case focuses on youths’ self-construal and moral development processes in an area with ideological tension: Buddhist inheritance at home vs. Communist inculcation in schools. The second half of the quarter will expand to global youth studies by comparing diverse ideological tensions in different cultural communities or religious traditions. Students will explore youth development through diverse perspectives and empirical examples. Through this course, students will examine how global and local historical-political-economic-cultural power dynamics have scripted youth development in text and how Tibetan youth have re-scripted and trans-cripted in reality. Students can gain a better insight into their development trajectory by understanding youth development and challenges globally and comparatively.