Course Offerings

Fall A Courses

EDUC BC1510 Educational Foundations. 4.00 points.

Students are required to attend a discussion section.

Introduction to the psychological, philosophical, sociological, and historical foundations of education as way to understand what education is, how education has become what it is, and to envision what education should be

EDUC BC3045 Complicating Class: Education and the Limits of Equity. 4 points.

In this course, we start from the premise that a failure to understand what social class is and how social class matters in daily life stops us from having conversations about the possibilities and limitations of schooling and, as such, prevents us from doing what we can to improve the schooling experiences of poor and working-class students. Throughout the semester, we will work to “complicate class”, reconsidering what class is, why class matters, and how we can best think about the relationship between social class and schooling. You will develop a language for talking about class, considering the affordances and constraints of various conceptions of class. You will also leave with critical questions about the possibilities and limitations of relying on schools as a solution to social problems. Recognizing restraints, we will conclude by reflecting on how we might work toward creating more equitable learning environments for poor and working-class students.

EDUC BC3064 Critical Inquiry in Urban Teaching. 4 points.

Corequisites: EDUC BC3063 or EDUC BC3065. Enrollment limited to student teachers enrolled in the Education Program.

Designed to help student teachers develop as reflective practictioners who can think critically about issues facing urban schools, particularly how race, class and gender influence schooling; and to examine the challenges and possibilities for providing intellectually engaging, meaningful curriculum to all students in urban classrooms.

Fall B Courses

EDUC BC1510 Educational Foundations. 4.00 points.

Students are required to attend a discussion section.

Introduction to the psychological, philosophical, sociological, and historical foundations of education as way to understand what education is, how education has become what it is, and to envision what education should be

EDUC BC3025 Inclusive Approaches to Teaching Literacy: Theory and Practice. 4 points.

This seminar engages students in an exploration of how schools prepare students to be literate across multiple subject areas. Engaging students with theory and practice, we will look at how students learn to read and write, considering approaches for literacy instruction from early childhood through adolescence. Understanding that schools are required to meet the needs of diverse learners, we will explore literacy instruction for K-12 students with special needs, multilingual learners, and students from diverse cultural backgrounds.

EDUC BC3032 Investigating the Purposes and Aims of Education Policy. 4 points.

Prerequisites: The instructor's permission.

This course explores a broad continuum of educational policies, with a critical eye toward the impact these policies have on promoting equity and justice. Because no one course can do everything, our focus will be on educational policy in the United States. However, a major research assignment will be for you to do a critical analysis of one of these policies in the context of another country.

EDUC BC3040 Migration, Globalization, and Education. 4 points.

Globalization and mass migration are reconfiguring the modern world and reshaping the contours of nation-states. New technologies that facilitate the movement of information, goods, and people across borders have made it easier for people to remain culturally, politically, economically and socially connected to the places from which they migrated. This seminar focuses on the experiences of the youngest members of these global migration patterns—children and youth—and asks: What do these global flows mean for educating young people to be members of the multiple communities to which they belong? 

EDUC BC3050 Science in the City. 4 points.

Prerequisites: the instructor's permission.

In partnership with the American Museum of Natural History students investigate science, science pedagogical methods, and ways to use New York City as a resource for science teaching and learning. Sessions will be held at Barnard and the museum. Field trips and fieldwork required. Non-science majors pre-service elementary students and first year students, welcome. Note: Students in the Childhood Urban Teaching Program may use this course as a pedagogical elective.

EDUC BC3051 Seminar in Urban Education. 4 points.

This seminar serves as the capstone course for students pursuing the Education Studies minor/special concentration or the Urban Studies major/concentration with an Urban Education Specialization.

The Seminar in Urban Education explores the historical, political and socio-cultural dynamics of urban education in the U.S. context. Over time, a range of social actors have intervened in the “problem” of urban education, attempting to reshape and reform urban schools. Others have disputed this “problem” focused approach, arguing that policy makers, teachers, and researchers should start from the strengths and capacities located in urban communities. Despite decades of wide ranging reform efforts, however, many urban schools still fail to provide their students with an adequate, equitable education. Seminar in Urban Education investigates this paradox by pursuing three central course questions: 1) How have various social actors tried to achieve equity in urban schools over time? 2) What are the range and variation of assets and challenges found in urban schools? and 3) Considering this history and context, what would effective reform in a global city like NYC look like? Students will engage these questions not only through course readings and seminar discussions, but through a 40-hour field placement in a New York City public school classroom, extra-curricular program, or other education based site. 

EDUC BC3055 Arts and Humanities in the City: Critical Literacy and Digital Storytelling. 4 points.

Using the theme of “Arts and Humanities in the City”, this seminar will build participants’ knowledge of critical literacy, digital storytelling methods, and ways to use New York City as a resource for teaching the Arts (Dance, Theatre, Music, and Visual Arts), Social Studies, and English Language Arts in grades K-12. Critical literacy is an approach to teaching and learning that focuses on developing students’ abilities to read, analyze, understand, question, and critique hidden perspectives and socially-constructed power relations embedded in what it means to be literate in a content area.

Semester-long Courses

EDUC BC3055 Arts and Humanities in the City: Critical Literacy and Digital Storytelling. 4 points.

Using the theme of “Arts and Humanities in the City”, this seminar will build participants’ knowledge of critical literacy, digital storytelling methods, and ways to use New York City as a resource for teaching the Arts (Dance, Theatre, Music, and Visual Arts), Social Studies, and English Language Arts in grades K-12. Critical literacy is an approach to teaching and learning that focuses on developing students’ abilities to read, analyze, understand, question, and critique hidden perspectives and socially-constructed power relations embedded in what it means to be literate in a content area.

EDUC BC3058 Science in the City II: Preparing Future Scientists Now. 4 points.

Prerequisites: the instructor's permission. Open to Non-science majors, pre-service elementary students, and first-year students.

Students investigate the science of learning, the Next Generation Science Standards, scientific inquiry and engineering design practices, and strategies to include families in fostering student achievement and persistence in science. Fieldwork required. Note: Students in the Childhood Urban Teaching Program may use this course as a pedagogical elective.

EDUC BC3063 Elementary Student Teaching in Urban Schools. 6 points.

Prerequisites: completion of EDUC BC2052 or EDUC BC2062 and EDUC BC2055, with grades of B or better. NYCDOE Fingerprinting. Corequisites: EDUC BC3064. Enrollment limited.

Supervised student teaching in elementary schools includes creating lesson plans, involving students in active learning, using cooperative methods, developmentally appropriate assessment, and meeting the needs of diverse learners in urban schools. Teaching skills developed through weekly individual and/or group supervision meetings (to be scheduled at the beginning of the semester), conferences, and portfolio design. Requires 100 hours of teaching at two different grade levels, full-time for one semester. Note: Students are only permitted to leave their student teaching placements early twice a week, once for EDUC BC3064 and one other day for one additional course having a start time of 2 pm or later. Students are only permitted to take one additional course while enrolled in EDUC BC3063 and EDUC BC3064.

EDUC BC3065 Secondary Student Teaching in Urban Schools. 6 points.

Prerequisites: Completion of EDUC BC2052 or EDUC BC2062 and EDUC BC2055, with grades of B or better. NYCDOE Fingerprinting required. Corequisites: EDUC BC3064. Enrollment limited.

Supervised student teaching in secondary schools includes creating lesson plans, involving students in active learning, using cooperative methods, developmentally appropriate assessment, and meeting the needs of diverse learners in urban schools. Teaching skills developed through weekly individual and/or group supervision meetings (to be scheduled at the beginning of the semester), conferences, and portfolio design. Requires 100 hours of teaching at two different grade levels, full-time for one semester. Note: Students are only permitted to leave their student teaching placements early twice a week, once for EDUC BC3064 and one other day for one additional course having a start time of 2 pm or later. Students are only permitted to take one additional course while enrolled in EDUC BC3064 and EDUC BC3065.

Spring A Courses

EDUC BC3042 Gender, Sexuality, and Schooling . 4 points.

Broadly, this course explores the relationship between gender, sexuality, and schooling across national contexts. We begin by considering theoretical perspectives, exploring the ways in which gender and sexuality have been studied and understood in the interdisciplinary field of education. Next, we consider the ways in which the subjective experience of gender and sexuality in schools is often overlooked or inadequately theorized. Exploring the ways that race, class, citizenship, religion and other categories of identity intersect with gender and sexuality, we give primacy to the contention that subjectivity is historically complex, and does not adhere to the analytically distinct identity categories we might try to impose on it.

EDUC BC3051 Seminar in Urban Education. 4 points.

This seminar serves as the capstone course for students pursuing the Education Studies minor/special concentration or the Urban Studies major/concentration with an Urban Education Specialization.

The Seminar in Urban Education explores the historical, political and socio-cultural dynamics of urban education in the U.S. context. Over time, a range of social actors have intervened in the “problem” of urban education, attempting to reshape and reform urban schools. Others have disputed this “problem” focused approach, arguing that policy makers, teachers, and researchers should start from the strengths and capacities located in urban communities. Despite decades of wide ranging reform efforts, however, many urban schools still fail to provide their students with an adequate, equitable education. Seminar in Urban Education investigates this paradox by pursuing three central course questions: 1) How have various social actors tried to achieve equity in urban schools over time? 2) What are the range and variation of assets and challenges found in urban schools? and 3) Considering this history and context, what would effective reform in a global city like NYC look like? Students will engage these questions not only through course readings and seminar discussions, but through a 40-hour field placement in a New York City public school classroom, extra-curricular program, or other education based site. 

URBS UN3310 Race, Space, and Urban Schools. 3 points.

Many people don’t think of themselves as having attended segregated schools. And yet, most of us went to schools attended primarily by people who looked very much like us. In fact, schools have become more segregated over the past 30 years, even as the country becomes increasingly multiracial. In this class, we will use public schools as an example to examine the role race plays in shaping urban spaces and institutions. We will begin by unpacking the concept of racialization, or the process by which a person, place, phenomenon, or characteristic becomes associated with a certain race. Then, we will explore the following questions: What are the connections between city schools and their local contexts? What does it mean to be a “neighborhood school”? How do changes in neighborhoods change schools? We will use ethnographies, narrative non-fiction, and educational research to explore these questions from a variety of perspectives. You will apply what you have learned to your own experiences and to current debates over urban policies and public schools. This course will extend your understanding of key anthropological and sociological perspectives on urban inequality in the United States, as well as introduce you to critical theory.

Spring B Courses

EDUC BC1510 EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS. 4.00 points.

Students are required to attend a discussion section.

Introduction to the psychological, philosophical, sociological, and historical foundations of education as way to understand what education is, how education has become what it is, and to envision what education should be

EDUC BC3030 Critical Pedagogies. 4.00 points.

This course explores education as a process through which critical consciousness and epistemic justice combat oppression in communities. Students will connect seminal work by critical pedagogues, such as Paolo Freire and bell hooks, to systemic educational challenges and lived experience. As a class, we will investigate power dynamics and structural inequalities at the systemic, institutional, interpersonal and individual levels. Students will problem-pose, dialogue and create pedagogical tools through praxis, by integrating the theory learned in the class to educational practice

EDUC BC3034 Families, Communities, and Schools. 4.00 points.

This course seeks to examine the role families and communities play in P-12 public schools in the United States, with a focus on urban school systems. We will be using New York City as a case study, and comparing what we see happening in the nation’s largest public school district to other districts around the country. While much of our focus will be on the NYC Department of Education, which serves approximately 1.3 million students each year, students will be asked to look close to home to examine the relationships between families, communities, educators and educational institutions in their own communities

Summer A Courses

EDUC BC1510 Educational Foundations. 3.00 points.

Students are required to attend a discussion section.

Introduction to the psychological, philosophical, sociological, and historical foundations of education as way to understand what education is, how education has become what it is, and to envision what education should be.

EDUC BC3052 Math and the City. 3 points.

Prerequisites: the instructor's permission.

In partnership with NYC public school teachers, students will have opportunities to engage in mathematical learning, lesson study, curriculum development, and implementation, with a focus on using the City as a resource. Students will explore implications for working with diverse populations. Non-math majors, pre-service elementary students and first-year students welcome. Fieldwork and field trips required. Note: Students in the Childhood Urban Teaching Program may use this course as a pedagogical elective.

EDUC BC3061 Performance Assessment of Teaching. 3 points.

Open to Urban Teaching students in the Education Program.

EDUC BC3250 EDUCATION IN A POLARIZED AND UNEQUAL SOCIETY. 3 points.

The rise in political polarization and social inequality over the past few decades has challenged the ideals that public schools were founded on nearly two centuries ago. In the past few years, we have witnessed a surge in homophobic, racist, misogynist, and xenophobic rhetoric in our society and our schools. At the same time, teachers in classrooms across this country have been engaged in the difficult work of challenging oppression and injustice in their schools, communities, and nation. These teachers know that the future of our democracy is at stake. Using a historical and sociological framework, this course examines the past and present conditions that have led to political polarization, escalating inequality, and persistent injustice. It seeks to examine the lineage of racism, sexism, nativism, and imperialism on our nation and its schools and to consider the extent to which these challenges are uniquely American or part of a more global phenomenon. It offers an introduction to the deep current of American social, political, and economic culture that many argue has produced the challenges that our nation faces today: personal and political gain marred by intolerance, derived from wealth, and rooted in the history of segregation, sexism, and exploitation. Instead of seeing these challenges as separate entities, the course acknowledges the intersectional nature of power and politics. Students will consider how these conditions affect their roles as educators and the lives of the youth and families in their schools and communities. They will leave the course with a deeper appreciation and understanding of the historical and sociological antecedents that have contributed to polarization, inequity, and injustice around the globe.

BC3300 Topics in American Studies: The Wealth of Natives

Economics (Barnard)

BC3012 Economics of Education

Sociology (Barnard)

Sociology of Education