Curriculum for Education Degree

Students will explore systems in the public, social, and economic realms with application to fields related to social sciences and human services. In this interdisciplinary class, we will examine how systems define, create, and share knowledge. We will explore the commonalities across systems as well as unique viewpoints. We will consider the impacts of implicit and explicit aspects of systems on people and institutions within society through artifacts, practices, policies, and social structures.

There is a difference between what science is, its history and meaning, and what science does through experimental and applied practices. This interdisciplinary course invites students to examine how scientific knowledge is defined, constructed, and communicated. Students will critically analyze different examples of science in society to understand how science shapes and is shaped by culture, power, and people. By the end of the course, students will be equipped to evaluate the ways in which science reflects and transforms the world around us.

This course introduces students to the notion of creative work as knowledge work-unique ways of understanding the world through the arts, design, humanities, and media. Drawing on diverse creative work, including their own, students will explore the potential for varied creative practices and tools to make meaning and how systems-political, economic, cultural-influence what people can make and whether it holds value. Students will also learn to apply critical frameworks in examining the world of creative expression and cultural production.

Students will explore intersecting policies that form and impact the global contexts from which knowledge and culture emerge in fields related to social sciences and human services. They will examine the complex relationships between power structures while applying analytical methods from these fields. Students will analyze the progression of policy development with current practices in fields related to social sciences and human services.

In this course, students will examine how historical forces have influenced the emergence of creative technologies and cultural production. They will learn to apply critical frameworks, including theories, to explore how power structures have intersected with popular appeal to alternately foster and limit creative innovation and expression. Students will also explore the dynamic nature of global culture, investigating how aesthetic ideas and creative practices have developed, spread, and influenced artists and creative production over time.

Students will explore contemporary questions and challenges that practitioners face in fields related to social sciences and human services. Students will examine their positionality in relationship to contemporary and emerging challenges in their respective fields. Students will generate innovative possibilities by connecting frameworks, theories, and interdisciplinary methods.

This course equips students with interdisciplinary tools and methods to analyze and respond to complex, real-world problems. Drawing on diverse frameworks and theories, students will explore how their own identities and experiences shape their understanding of contemporary issues. Emphasis is placed on synthesizing knowledge across fields to develop innovative, contextually relevant solutions. Students will communicate their insights effectively through a range of expressive modes tailored to varied audiences and purposes.

The course provides students with opportunities to develop specialized projects in art, humanities, and media production. Students will apply critical frameworks, including theories, and use interdisciplinary methods to explore how culture is shaped by popular appeal, innovation, and mechanisms of power. Students will work individually and collaboratively to bring creative work-narratives, images, multimedia forms-and rigorous scholarship to complex challenges in varied contexts.

Students will examine contemporary learning theories, models, and research-based practices in education which have evolved from historical and psychological perspectives on human development and learning. Working from these theoretical frameworks and approaches students will develop plans for student learning in inclusive, prosocial learning environments using a variety of instructional strategies. Students will explore community-based professional educational contexts.

Students will learn to facilitate the integration of technology skills and concepts through designing supporting curriculum, identifying and evaluating software, and developing and practicing methods for technology use. Students will design lessons and learning opportunities using the ISTE standards for middle/secondary level students. This course prepares education students to develop their professional portfolio.

This course focuses on understanding human behavior from an ecological perspective and covers the physiological, cognitive, social and emotional development of individuals from infancy through old age. Concepts such as social systems theory, human development theory, and human ecology will be introduced. Key concepts covered will include self-perception, family dynamics, moral growth, peer interactions, emotional challenges, and cultural influences applied to varied life experiences and stages. Students will gain practical insights into human development for effective practice in diverse contexts.

Course provides students with an understanding of children and youth with disabilities and other special needs. Students learn about the community services, educational programs, and services designed to help children with special needs reach their maximum potential. Emphasis is on the characteristics of various disabilities, their effect on children and their families, strategies for effective intervention, and special needs and strategies that promote the acceptance of diversity in the classroom. Best practices for inclusion including curriculum adaptations and accommodations, and effective strategies for collaboration among professionals will be discussed. (Spring only)

In preparation for completing their final licensure portfolio students will gain practice demonstrating proficiency in education program, Vermont licensure, and national level standards. Students will identify evidence that exhibits proficiency in specific practice behaviors for each standard. Students will describe and analyze the context and rationale for choosing artifacts that demonstrate meeting a standard, analyze the evidence in terms of proficiency of the standard and the theoretical frameworks informing practice, and finally, reflect on how they will continue to develop in each area.