57 courses with the subject EDUC, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
(Cross-listed as ENGL 001C ) Open only to those selected as WAs. Meets distribution requirements but does not count toward the major. Graded CR/NC. Social sciences. Writing.
( cross-listed with PSYC 004 ) Schools are excellent settings in which to understand human thinking and behavior. Educational psychology, or the study of human teaching and learning, provides a great applied introduction to psychological concepts. This area of psychology also draws upon different areas of the discipline, including cognitive and developmental psychology. In this seminar, we will consider and explore psychology in school settings. To do so, we will rely primarily on academic texts, in addition to essays, film, and personal narratives to support our learning and exploration. In many ways, we will build on our own schooling experiences (what has worked and what hasn’t) to think globally about school learning, teaching, and belonging. PSYC 004 does not serve as an alternate prerequisite for further work in the department. Social sciences. 1 credit.
(Cross-listed as ENGL 009C ) Look past the brochures and the info sessions and ask: what is college in the early 21st Century, how did it get that way? Why do people go to college? Should they? Students in this course will examine the history of higher education, and study controversies over the economics, mission, and values of colleges and universities as they appear in curricula, admissions and financial aid policies, student life, and more. Students will develop an understanding of the behind-the-scenes operations of higher education institutions like Swarthmore through reading, seminar discussion, visits from experts, and independent research. Social Sciences. Writing course. 1 credit.
Cross-listed as ASAM 011 In light of persistent anti-Asian racism, organizers across the US have pushed for state legislation to teach Asian American history in public schools and have achieved some levels of success. In 2022, Connecticut mandated the teaching of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) history in grades K-12. In this course, we will collaborate with Connecticut-based organizers who are drafting a model AAPI history curriculum for the state education department, and we will explore the politics of public schooling and curriculum design, including whose histories are taught, and how. All students are welcome to participate in the work of creating curricula that advances more inclusive and accurate histories, and combats harmful stereotypes. No previous coursework or experience needed. Social Sciences. 1 credit. Eligible for ASAM. Spring 2027. Liu.
Schools are complex social institutions. Within schools, inequalities can be maintained or challenged as children and educators negotiate the historical, political, social, and economic realities of the nation. This course explores major questions in educational policy, theory, and practice. Students read material from multiple disciplines, write, discuss, and complete fieldwork in area schools (three hours per week including travel) as an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of educational studies. EDUC 014 or the first-year seminar EDUC 014F, is required for students pursuing teacher certification. Social sciences. Writing course. 1 credit. Eligible for ESCH. Fall 2026. Staff. Spring 2027. Staff. Fall 2027 Staff. Spring 2028 Staff.
Schools are complex social institutions. Within schools, inequalities can be maintained or challenged as children and educators negotiate the historical, political, social, and economic realities of the nation. This course explores major questions in educational policy, theory, and practice. Students read material from multiple disciplines, write, discuss, and complete fieldwork in area schools as an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of educational studies. EDUC 014 or the first-year seminar EDUC 014F, is required for students pursuing teacher certification. Social sciences. Writing course. 1 credit. Eligible for ESCH. Fall 2026. Staff. Spring 2027. Staff. Fall 2027 Staff. Spring 2028 Staff.
In this course, students strengthen their critical reading, writing, and thinking skills by examining a selected theme for the semester. The course is designed to support the development of critical analysis and reflection in a workshop format, as students read, write, talk, and think together doing projects of significance to learners and institutions, such as schools, and in the interest of civic engagement, engaged scholarship, and social justice. The course will draw upon historical, socio-political, research, and theoretical frameworks to explore questions of engagement, stasis, reform, and change. This course may or may not include fieldwork.
(Cross-listed as DANC 020) This course will explore both the theory and practice of dance education from an interdisciplinary perspective. Students will become familiar with the socio-political, historical, and philosophical underpinnings of dance education in the United States. In addition, the course will investigate research on teaching multiple dance genres across cultures. An emphasis will be placed on culturally responsive and antiracist pedagogies via student-centered experiential learning. Assignments will include reading, writing lesson plans, peer teaching, and a final research project based on students’ individual interests. A community-based fieldwork component will give students an opportunity to develop, teach, and assess a workshop for school-aged populations. Through this course, dance majors can learn about teaching dance in a variety of academic, studio, K-12, and community settings. Educational Studies majors can learn how to integrate movement into the K-12 STEM or Language Arts classrooms. Students from any major can learn how to think critically about creating equitable educational spaces and how to approach learners holistically as embodied agents. No dance experience necessary. Social sciences. 1 credit.
This course provides students with a representative sampling of work in learning and motivation that has particular relevance to asset-based pedagogical practices. It is discussion-based, has a workshop-like format. and is designed to accommodate differences in students’ interests and purpose. Students read with original source materials (research articles and chapters), tutor, and in collaboration with local middle school teachers, participate in a field-based, laboratory research project. This course is required for students pursuing special majors in psychology and educational studies, and for all students pursuing teacher certification. Social sciences. 1 credit. Eligible for ESCH. Fall 2026. Renninger. Fall 2027 Renninger.
Cross-listed as PEAC 022. In this introductory course, students will explore the historical, ethical, and theoretical foundations of peace education, a subfield of peace and conflict studies. Students will consider different approaches towards peace education: should peace education be oriented towards eliminating physical violence? Facilitating co-existence and understanding? Teaching human rights or citizenship? Empowering the dispossessed and eliminating inequality and injustice? Is peace education best integrated in the existing schooling system, an extracurricular activity, or should it be distinct from schooling? Using case studies, students will critically examine different types of peace education and explore existing research on how they do-or do not-work. Social sciences. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC.
In this course, students examine adolescent development from psychological, sociological, and life-span perspectives, reading both traditional theory and challenges to that theory that consider issues of race, class, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. During the first part of the term, students explore various aspects of individual development (e.g., cognitive, affective, physiological, etc.). The second part focuses on the adolescent’s experience in a range of social contexts (e.g., family, peer group, school, etc.). Required for students pursuing secondary teacher certification. Not recommended for first-year students.
Formerly EDUC 023A, this course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the educational and emotional issues faced by adolescents with disabilities. We will explore aspects of identity development and experiences of adolescents with disabilities, as well as frameworks used to understand disability and special education. We will also begin to practice strategies useful for supporting students with disabilities and creating accessible classrooms. Students will complete a 15-hour practicum in a setting for adolescents with special needs. This course is a complement to EDUC23, Adolescence and EDUC026, Special Education.
This course is designed to provide students with a critical overview of special education, including its history, the classification and description of exceptionalities, and its legal regulation. Major issues related to identification, assessment, educational and therapeutic interventions, psychosocial aspects, and inclusion are examined. Course includes a field placement. Required for students pursuing teacher certification. Social sciences. 1 credit. Spring 2027. Staff. Spring 2028 Staff.
Cross-listed as BLST 032 This course examines the lives of Black children and youth in American education from a socio-historical perspective. A particular focus is placed on the Black struggle for educational access and equality, and educational policies and programs designed to advance the education of Black students. The goal is to reconsider how schools and classrooms can realize the promise and potential of Blacks in the United States.
The academic field of education is unique for integrating sociology, psychology, and government policy, all of which have disparate approaches to the conceptualization of race and identity. While sociology addresses the systemic and constructed nature of race, psychology concerns itself with the individual, internal experience of identity. State and national governmental policy on race changes regularly; the racial categories on any individual census have never been the same as the one before it. This course examines the individual experience of racial identity formation as well as the social phenomena of race, which gives meaning to our identities in ways that are consistent with and divergent from our unique experiences. This class will attend to all racial categories as they have evolved throughout US history, including the category of “white” (the earliest census called it “Caucasoid”) which is often omitted from conversations about race. We will look at the uses and misuses of race in education, examining how an awareness of race can help build a more inclusive society while recognizing the risks it poses as well. Risks include constructed division as well as the potential for abuse of governmental record keeping regarding racial, religious, and citizenship status. The central inquiry of the course is this: What conceptualization of race helps us build healthy, diverse, multiracial, democratic schools? Social sciences. 1 credit. Eligible for BLST Fall 2026. Michael.
This course examines preK-Higher Education policy as a site of struggle. Students will develop a working knowledge of the policy landscape on the federal, state, and local levels and use this knowledge to examine the relationship between policy, power, and practice. The course will examine a range of current policy topics, potentially including school finance, issues of adequacy and equity, based reform, assessment and accountability, bilingual education, school choice, early childhood education, special education, desegregation, and teacher quality and compensation. Drawing primarily from a critical policy studies framework, students will examine education policies and develop strategies and projects that would support, critique, and transform extant policies. There will be an 8 hour field requirement for the course.
Why do children play? What is the role of culture in child development? What does it mean to learn? This course explores the ways in which children play, develop, and construct meaning in their personal, communal, and academic lives. Students will survey learning theories and optimal learning environments for diverse young learners, including: English Language Learners; racially, ethnically and socioeconomically diverse populations; culturally non-mainstream students; gender expansive students; students with learning differences and disabilities; and students with socioemotional classifications. Students in this course engage in weekly hands-on fieldwork, supporting and leading lessons in preschool, primary, and middle grade classrooms. This course is required for elementary certification. Social sciences. Writing course. 1 credit. Spring 2027. Staff. Spring 2028 Staff.
This course is an exploration of the lives of teachers: how they are framed within popular culture and policy, and how they frame themselves within the politics of the classroom, schools and broader society. Students will work with various critical social theories and analytical tools to think through teacher narratives, historical and sociological texts, film, policy debates, guest presentations, and other sources. Assignments will include conducting interviews with educators and producing mixed media projects that reframe educator identities. Social sciences. 1 credit.
This course explores the intersections of literacy practices and identities of gender, race, class, religion, ethnicity, and sexual orientation within communities of practice. It includes but is not limited to school settings. Students will work with diverse theory and analytical tools that draw on educational, anthropological, historical, sociological, linguistic, fictional, visual, popular readings and “scenes of literacy” from everyday practice. Fieldwork may be required and includes a Learning for Life partnership, tutoring, or community service in a literacy program. Social sciences. Writing course. 1 credit. Eligible for GSST, LALS.
(Cross-listed as SOAN 040M ) This course examines race, nation- and empire-building projects. Drawing on the rubrics of anthropology, history, and cultural studies, we explore processes of subject formation, especially as it articulates with ideas about race and un/belonging. Because these topics are of course not limited to the sphere of education, readings will encompass broader themes outside of education. We will, however, focus on how educational processes shape the material, psychological, economic, social, and political aspects of people’s lives, and how these contend within a changing global landscape. This course explores the different ways in which education figures into nation- and empire-building projects. These include schools as institutions that create internalized colonized mindsets; intelligence as a discourse for rationalizing scientific racism; and institutions of higher education as products of imperialism and its role in the new imperialism of neoliberalism.
What is ethnic studies? How can ethnic studies be part of efforts to transform educational and social conditions today from the position of the undercommons? This course is an examination of the origins, theories, pedagogies, politics, and policies that have come to define ethnic studies in US education. What key historical events and struggles in U.S. society and education have contributed to ethnic studies as an”undiscipline,” and as curriculum? Colonialism, race, ethnicity, nationalism, diversity, inclusion, segregation, community control, resistance and survivance, are among the potential topics to be examined in relation to ethnic studies pedagogies, policies, and social movements in formal (N-Higher Ed) and informal (afterschools, CBOs, museums, social movements, etc) settings. Coupled to this inquiry will be a weekly field assignment where students will be collaborating with educators (N-Higher Ed) in crafting or further developing curricular projects that apply an ethnic studies lens. Social science. 1 credit. Eligible for LALS, BLST, ASAM Spring 2027. Mayorga.
(Cross-listed as LING 053 ) Emergent bilingual youth– those students who speak another language at home and are in the process of learning English at school– are one of the fastest growing and most underserved populations in U.S. schools today. This course examines their experiences through multiple lenses, exploring the impact of immigration policy on schools, linguistic discrimination and English-only ideologies, theories of bilingualism and language development, policies and practices for teaching multilingual students, and asset-based approaches to curriculum, instruction, and parent engagement. Students in the course complete weekly fieldwork in area classrooms serving emergent bilinguals and a small-group study of the neighborhood and school context. Required for students pursuing teacher certification and an essential first course for the ESL Program Specialist certificate.
(Cross-listed as LING 054 ) We examine children’s dialogue and its rendering in children’s literature, focusing on the voices of minority children within an American setting. Each student will pick an age group to study. There will be regular fiction-writing assignments as well as primary research assignments with children. This course is for linguists, writers of children’s fiction, and anyone else interested in child development or reading skills. It is a course in which we learn through doing. This is a 1 credit, ungraded course. Social sciences. Writing course. 1 credit.
This hands-on course in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) provides students with experience designing and delivering content, and theme-based instruction for emergent bilinguals. Through readings in applied linguistics and language pedagogy, collaborative group work, and weekly apprenticeship in an ESOL classroom, students explore current issues and approaches to ESOL curriculum development, pedagogy, and assessment while developing the skills they need to support emergent bilinguals in ESOL and content classrooms, K-12. Required for the ESL Program Specialist Certificate.
This course examines how gender relations shape everyday life in schools. The course begins with the history and theory of gender and education in the United States, and then explores popular discourse and key debates in the field, with a focus on the core themes of access and equity in urban schools; the intersections of race, class, and sexuality; and the implications of gender issues for school policy and classroom practice. The goal is a reconsideration of what constitutes effective schooling for all students
(Cross-listed as SOCI 062B ) This course will examine urban schools and classrooms in the United States from a sociological perspective. Students are introduced to the theory and method of the sociological study of education, and the core issues taken up in the field, such as social stratification and mobility, and educational equity and opportunity. Emphasis will be placed on the influence of local, state, and federal policies on the social organization of schools, relationships among social actors within these institutions, and patterns of inequality in what students learn. Variation among these issues will be primarily explored through race and ethnicity, citizenship status and native language, gender and sexual orientation, and disability/ability. The course will conclude with applying knowledge in the field to policy and practice at the PreK-12 and postsecondary level. Social sciences. Writing course. 1 credit. Fall 2027 Nelson.
How can educational research change policy and practice? How can educational research be anti-racist, anti-colonialist, and useful in both theory and practice? Students learn the basics of qualitative research methodology as they participate in a research. Topics include developing a question, reviewing literature, collecting and analyzing data, and communicating findings for various audiences. This course is essential for students planning to write 1- or 2-credit theses in Educational Studies.
In this course, students will examine institutions of higher education as spaces within which individuals and social structures are both reproduced and recreated. Questions to be explored include: How has the history of US postsecondary education shaped the present? What are the goals of the many different forms of postsecondary institutions? Who has access - and who controls that access? How do institutional structures and cultures impact student learning, student identity, and student experience? The course will focus explicitly on how institutions and student experiences are shaped by the intersections of race, class, gender, sexual orientation.
This course examines urbanism and environmental justice as seen through the lens of urban education politics. Course readings, discussions and related field experiences will focus on key issues and debates confronting urban education as it relates to urban development and environmental sustainability and justice. We will draw on theories and approaches from critical geography and critical theories of race and political economy to examine research, policy, pedagogy and social movements as vehicles for addressing the challenges that shape the conditions of teaching, learning and community development. We will focus on - and try to build alongside - the city of Philadelphia, its racially and ethnically diverse communities, and its public schools. Taught in Philadelphia as part of the Tri-Co Philly Program .
(Cross-listed as SOAN 020B ) Urban education is commonly and uncritically coded as the education of Black and Brown students. The first third of the course deconstructs what is meant by “urban education” by critically interrogating how changes in the urban political economy, and shifting demographics because of migration, white flight, and gentrification impact urban public schools. During the second part of the course, we will look at urban school reform issues including school closure, the marketization of education, and the school-to-prison nexus. For the last part of the course, we will look at issues relevant to educating diverse students including diversifying the teacher workforce, the role of teachers and principals in impacting change, and pedagogies of liberation. To get a deeper sense of context, we will frequently use Philadelphia as a case study for understanding issues concerning urban education. Social sciences. 1 credit. Eligible for BLST, LALS, ESCH, ASAM. Fall 2026. Liu.
(Cross-listed as ECON 046 ) EDUC 014 is required to receive Educational Studies Department credit for this course.
This course is offered in conjunction with the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. It is designed to support students involved in educational and community-based outreach in urban settings. Students’ volunteer experiences will provide text and case material for course work. Historical grounding in the construction of cities in general, and Chester, PA, in particular, will be provided. Criteria for effective practices will be identified for the range of volunteer roles in community service projects. 0.5 or 1 credit. Eligible for ESCH.
Cross-listed as PEAC 072. This course will introduce students to the theory and practice of humanitarianism and, specifically, the provision of education as a humanitarian intervention-what practitioners call “education in emergencies.” The course will delve into the foundations and history of humanitarianism and track how humanitarian intervention evolved over the course of the 20th century, broadening and deepening in scope. It will explore continuing debates over the appropriateness of education as a humanitarian intervention and examine what types of educational interventions are prioritized by humanitarian agencies, as well as the goals that those interventions are trying to achieve. For example, what is the relationship between education and conflict and how do education in emergencies providers intervene to alter that relationship? Students will have the opportunity to study specific examples of education in emergencies programming in countries such as Afghanistan, Colombia, Nepal, Sierra Leone, and Syria, and to hear from guest speakers working in the field of education in emergencies. The course will encourage students to apply what they have learned to policy-oriented exercises. Social sciences. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC.
(Cross-listed as ENGL 070L ) Where do arts, education and activism meet? In this course students will explore artistic affinities through creative writing activities and consider arts education and advocacy through diverse texts. Students will cultivate skills necessary to becoming Teaching Artists in imaginative writing at the elementary level through coursework as well as through volunteer placement in local schools. Topics covered include: creative curriculum development and presentation, educational climate for grades K-5 and teaching pedagogy. Graded CR/NC. Humanities. 1 credit. Eligible for ESCH.
(Cross-listed as PHYS 095) This course is designed for students who are interested in learning about issues surrounding science education, particularly at the high school and college level. How do students most effectively learn science? How can we facilitate this learning process as instructors and educators? How do we best assess whether such learning is happening? Since the course will integrate educational theory with concrete, practical strategies for becoming better teachers, it will be particularly relevant for students currently serving as Science Associates (or those who are interested in being Science Associates.) We will touch on issues related to students’ conceptual development and conceptual change, collaborative learning, as well as practical issues encountered when engaging in responsive, interactive teaching. This is a seminar course where students are responsible for weekly readings (1-2 papers per week from the education research literature), in class discussions, and brief written reflections. Students will be encouraged to bring to the discussion their own unique experiences as both science students and science teachers. Instructor approval required for enrollment. 0.5 credit.
In this field-based practicum for students pursuing teacher certification, students will progress from observing, to working with individuals and small groups, to planning and teaching a full class lesson. Students will be placed in a classroom for 4-5 hours/week at the same grade level and/or subject level at which they will student teach. Supervision will be provided. Open to sophomores and juniors (and seniors pursuing the 9th semester) who plan to student teach. Graded CR/NC. 0.5 - 1 credit.
With permission of the instructor, qualified students may choose to pursue a topic of special interest in education through a field project involving classroom or school practice. Graded CR/NC. 0.5 - 1 credit.
With permission of the instructor, students may choose to pursue a topic of special interest by designing an independent reading or project that usually requires a comprehensive literature review, laboratory work, and/or field-based research. 0.5 - 1 credit.
This seminar is taken concurrently with EDUC 093 by students pursuing teacher certification. The goal of this course is to explore praxis: the application of educational research and theory to the classroom practices of student teachers. Course content covers: lesson planning; classroom management; inquiry-oriented teaching strategies; questioning and discussion methods; literacy; the integration of technology and media; classroom-based and standardized assessments; instruction of special needs populations; multicultural, nonracist, and nonsexist education; and the legal rights of students and teachers. As part of the seminar, students take a series of special methods workshops, tailored to their content area. Required for students pursuing teacher certification Social sciences. 2 credits. Fall 2026. Mayorga. Fall 2027 Staff.
This course involves supervised full-time teaching in either secondary or elementary schools for students pursuing teacher certification. Students pursuing certification must take EDUC 092 concurrently. (Single-credit practice teaching may be arranged for individuals not seeking certification.) Social sciences. 2 credits. Fall 2026. Staff. Fall 2027 Staff.
Normally in conjunction with a special major. Social sciences. Writing course. 1 - 2 credits. Fall 2026. Staff. Fall 2027 Staff.
Normally in conjunction with a special major. Social sciences. Writing course. 1 - 2 credits. Spring 2027. Staff. Spring 2028 Staff.
Normally in conjunction with a special major. Social sciences. 1 - 2 credits.
Cross-listed as PEAC 104. This honors seminar will explore paradigms of humanitarian aid, particularly focusing on the subfield of “education in emergencies.” The semester will begin by considering Western forms of humanitarian aid in relation to other forms of aid, such as mutual aid and solidarity. Next, we will explore the relationship between education and armed conflict, including the role of outside education providers. We will discuss the ways in which global discourses and norms shape humanitarian aid to education. We will finish the semester by specifically looking at refugee education. Throughout the semester we will interrogate the extent to which humanitarian aid helps to improve people’s lives and to achieve social justice and equity. Case studies will include Afghanistan, Guatemala, Nepal, Palestine, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Kenya. Social Sciences. 2 credits. Eligible for GLBL-paired, PEAC
This seminar focuses on general developmental principles specific to understanding motivation and its relation to learning. Seminar foci include: (1) use of the literatures in cognitive, developmental, educational, and social psychology, the learning sciences, neuroscience to identify key indicators of motivation and learning; (2) preparation of a literature review on a topic of the student’s choice related to motivation and learning; and (3) collaborative work on an evaluation research project addressing a “live” issue or problem identified by a stakeholder (e.g., teacher, school, or community organization). Honors candidates must take the seminar for two credits, course students may opt to take it as a 2- or a 1- credit seminar.
This class is rooted in narrative analysis and disability using lenses and practices developed within disability justice and disability studies in education. Unpacking notions like disability, ability, capacity, and debility, we will explore narratives and stories, both fiction and nonfiction, that can help us explore schools and educational spaces through critical disability theories. We will also engage in narrative and discourse analysis as research methods to examine such stories. In doing so, we will learn and practice multiple ways of knowing and being when considering ableism and education.
In this seminar, students examine schools as institutions that both reflect and challenge existing social and cultural patterns of thought, behavior, and knowledge production. Seminar participants study and use qualitative methods of research and examine topics including the aims of schooling, parent/school/community interaction, schooling and identity development, and classroom and school restructuring.
(Cross-listed as BLST 133 ) This seminar examines the lives of Black boys in U.S. schools and classrooms. Black boyhood and Black masculinity are utilized as frameworks to interpret how aspects of school life influence their learning and identities, such as teacher expectations, school discipline policy, and special education referral processes. Rooted in boys’ agency and resistance, its goal is to inform a (re)imagining of educational spaces in ways that cultivate the promise of Black boys, and other boys (and girls) of color. Social sciences. 2 credits. Eligible for BLST, GSST. Fall 2027 Nelson.
This honors seminar examines educational policy research, analysis and action for the public good. The course focuses on the educational system of the U.S. city of Philadelphia and related social issues to study the design, implementation, analysis and evaluation of educational policy and educational policy formation processes. While grounded in a framework of critical education policy studies, the course will introduce a variety of traditions of policy analysis to expand our collective “policy analysis toolbox,” including historical, political, sociological and educational approaches. Fieldwork, related to the Cultivating Community Together research study, as a way to apply what is being taught in the course is required. Honors candidates and students using this seminar as the capstone must take the seminar for two credits, course students may opt to take it as a 2- or a 1- credit seminar.
While delving deeply into literacies and curriculum theories, and recent research, such as that which recognizes that prior knowledge is more predictive of reading success than other factors (Korbey, 2020), we will build a humanistic, book-centered, anti-racist, interdisciplinary elementary curriculum. We will use the many beautiful, diverse, celebratory, children’s books published in the last decade about Black Americans who work with their hands and minds – quilters, painters, reclamation artists, puppet-makers, basketmakers. We will create an engaged set of experiences for teachers and children that celebrate and honor the accomplishments of Black and other underrepresented Americans, to work for an anti-oppressive state of literacy curricula that honors people’s spoken and visual languages, and choose books intentionally to develops spirit-serving, uplifting, empathetic, honoring, engaging, and critical spaces for young readers. We will focus on creating mirrors, windows, and doors for children’s expanding identities through literature, diverse role models, community exploration and celebration, artifact finding and making, and honoring the essential, hope-engendering, and artful work that people do in their everyday lives. In doing so we will use Gholdy Muhammad’s Historically Responsive Literacy (HRL) model.
In this collaborative research seminar, students will study intersections between immigration and education policy and practice in the United States, with a focus on methodology. By exploring key topics, theoretical frameworks, and research methodologies that have shaped this field, students will develop an understanding of how immigration policies impact the everyday experiences and future prospects of immigrant youth at different ages and educational stages in the United States, from childhood through higher ed. All students in the seminar will join an ongoing research project related to immigration and education, thereby learning key skills in qualitative and mixed-method data collection, analysis, and communication, including special considerations in conducting research with immigrant youth and families in the U.S. and transnationally.
Amidst talk of a border wall and “bad hombres”, ramped up deportations, and rising unease about immigration and educational policy shifts to come, what can schools and teachers do to support Latino students and families? This Honors research seminar will explore the schooling experiences of Latinos in the U.S. with a special focus on confronting the challenges undocumented students face in the current era. Participants will examine questions around educational quality and access, language and culture, immigration and demographic change, curriculum and pedagogy, and community activism in relation to Latino education.
Urban Policy, Politics & Education is an honors seminar that explores the intersections of social policy, urban politics, and urban schooling. Drawing on a racial-economic analytic framework we will study the geo-political formation of U.S. cities (Philadelphia serves as our primary case study), policy and social movement. We will also look at urban education policy and pedagogical practices. With this literature as a foundation, students will receive training in theories and methods of critical, participatory action research (CPAR) as they relate to policy studies and advocacy. Over the course of the semester students will be participating in the Cultivating Community Together research project that examines school+community partnerships in Philadelphia in the past and present. Honors candidates and students using this seminar as the capstone must take the seminar for two credits, course students may opt to take it as a 2- or a 1- credit seminar.
This seminar examines how schools and school districts conduct research about themselves. Students will consider how the production of knowledge by schools about themselves is related to pedagogy, policy, and power. All students in the seminar will join an ongoing research project related to school-based research in Pennsylvania, utilizing qualitative and mixed-methods data collection, analysis, and communication. As part of this ongoing research, the seminar will aim to support school district partners in their research needs. Honors candidates and students using this seminar as the major capstone must take the seminar for two credits, course students may opt to take it as a 2- or a 1- credit seminar.
In this seminar, students will examine institutions of higher education as spaces within which individuals and social structures are both reproduced and recreated. Questions to be explored include: How has the history of US postsecondary education shaped the present? What are the goals of the many different forms of postsecondary institutions? Who has access - and who controls that access? How do institutional structures and cultures impact student learning, student identity, and student experience? The seminar will focus explicitly on how institutions and student experiences are shaped by the intersections of race, class, gender, sexual orientation.
This course explores the struggle for racial equality in education through examining federal and state lawsuits. We will look at changing ideologies about race and inequality, moving from the notion of “separate but equal” in Plessy v. Ferguson, to “separate as inherently unequal” in Brown v. Board of Education , to today’s school funding lawsuits which strategically sidestep the use of race as a legal argument. Students will develop theoretical frameworks, drawn from the fields of legal anthropology and critical race theory. Since this is a community-based learning (ESCH) course, fieldwork and research is a major component of the course. In addition to readings, assignments, and class time, students will conduct interviews with lawyers and judges from past school funding lawsuits. Students will also partner with local groups that are active in the campaign for school funding to learn about and contribute to advancing racial equality in education.
A 2-credit thesis is required for students completing special honors majors including educational studies. The thesis may be counted for 2 credits in educational studies or for 1 credit in educational studies and 1 credit in the other discipline in the student’s Honors Program. Writing course. 2 credits. Fall 2026. Staff. Spring 2027. Staff. Fall 2027 Staff. Spring 2028 Staff.
Source: Swarthmore College's catalog, linked per course · table learning_unit · CourseShelf publish 59
