Spring 2025

Course Offerings List

Beginner's American Sign Language II
Subject associations
ASL 102

This course is the second course in the introductory American Sign Language (ASL) course sequence. This course aims to improve conversational skills in ASL, review and refine knowledge of basic grammar, broaden vocabulary, develop ASL-English translation skills, and increase awareness of Deaf culture and disability issues. Students will develop their ASL skills through in-class interactive activities, and out-of-class readings and exercises.

Instructors
Allison Marie Bloom
Democracy and Education (HA)
Subject associations
ECS 363 / FRE 348 / HUM 358

What's the point of education? What should anyone truly learn, why, and how? Who gets to attend school? Is it a right, a privilege, a duty, an investment, or a form of discipline? Do schools level the playing field or entrench inequalities? Should they fashion workers, citizens, or individuals? Moving from France to the US, and from the Enlightenment to the present, we look at the vexed but crucial relationship between education and democracy in novels, films, essays, and philosophy, examining both the emancipatory and repressive potential of modern schooling. Topics include: Brown, class, meritocracy, testing, and alternative pedagogies.

Instructors
Göran Magnus Blix
Critical Pedagogy: Teaching History in the College Classroom (Half-Term)
Subject associations
HIS 505

This class is designed to help prepare students for university teaching. The focus of this course is both practical and theoretical. In our interrogation of teaching and learning practices we cover critical scholarship on the academy and the exclusions and limitations of higher education. Students are asked to consider the purposes and challenges of teaching college courses, and to evaluate diverse approaches to university education. Some of our readings are primarily instructional and are designed to offer guidance on some "best practices" for becoming an effective history educator.

Instructors
Elizabeth Ellis
Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience (EC)
Subject associations
NEU 202 / PSY 259

Cognitive neuroscience is a young and exciting field with many questions yet to be answered. This course surveys current knowledge about the neural basis of perception, cognition and action and will comprehensively cover topics such as high-level vision, attention, memory, language, decision making, as well as their typical and atypical development. Precepts will discuss the assigned research articles, pertaining to topics covered in class with an emphasis on developing critical reading skills of scientific literature.

Instructors
Jesse Gomez
Kirsten Ziman
Social Psychology (SA)
Subject associations
PSY 252

The scientific study of social behavior, with an emphasis on social interaction and group influence. Topics covered will include social perception, the formation of attitudes and prejudice, attraction, conformity and obedience, altruism and aggression, and group dynamics.

Instructors
Rebecca M. Carey
Educational Psychology (EC)
Subject associations
PSY 307 / TPP 307

Principles of psychology relevant to the theory and practice of education. Through readings, discussion, and classroom observations, students study theories of development, learning, cognition (including literacy), and motivation, as well as relevant individual and group differences; assessment; and the social psychology of the classroom. The course focuses on two main topics: 1) how learning at multiple school levels is influenced by one's own characteristics, experiences, and various learning contexts; and 2) how the practice of teaching is, in fact, a clinical practice and what that means for educators, students, schools and society.

Instructors
Mark Glat
Statistics for Social Science (QCR)
Subject associations
SPI 200

The course is an introduction to probability and statistical methods for social science research focused on public policy. Topics include data analysis, descriptive statistics, distributions, random variables, sampling, estimation, hypothesis testing, bivariate regression, and multiple regression. Examples will be discussed from tax, health, environment, energy, education, security, law, and other policy areas. Students will be introduced to the statistical software R. (No prior experience with statistics, programing or calculus is required)

Instructors
Rocío Titiunik
Schooled: Education, Opportunity, and Inequality (SA)
Subject associations
SOC 228 / SPI 220

Who succeeds in school, and why? What do schools teach students, in addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic? What is the role of schools in modern society? How do schools reproduce, interrupt, or legitimate the social order? In this course, you will apply sociological perspectives to the study of education.

Instructors
Jennifer L. Jennings
Systemic Racism: Myths and Realities (SA)
Subject associations
SOC 373 / AMS 428 / URB 373

This seminar focuses on the structural and institutional foundations of racial discrimination in the United States. It emphasizes the contributions of sociologists, some of whom will participate as invited guests. The course gives a historical overview followed by an investigation of key legislative actions and economic factors inhibiting racial equality. Subsequent topics include migration and immigration; urban development; and residential segregation. The end of the course reviews resistance movements and policies aimed at addressing systemic racism, including restorative justice and reparations.

Instructors
Patricia Fernández-Kelly
Sociology of Education (Half Term)
Subject associations
SOC 530

Poor students lag academically behind their more advantaged peers, and explanations for this achievement gap are hotly debated. While some have pointed to the quality of education offered in public schools as the primary culprit, others have drawn attention to the role of out-of-school factors in creating and exacerbating these gaps. In this course, which is a graduate-level introduction to the sociology of education, we make sense of competing explanations of pre-K-12 educational performance through a sociological lens, and evaluate the possibilities for and barriers to closing achievement gaps.

Instructors
Jennifer L. Jennings
Policing, Civil Rights and Social Change (CD or SA)
Subject associations
SPI 336

This course covers policing in the United States as it intersects with constitutional rights and racial justice. Topics include studying the history of police institutions, from slave patrols to big city police departments; the constitutional framework for policing powers, including police use of force and search and seizure powers; various theories and tactics of policing, such as Broken Windows policing and other proactive policing strategies; policing practices in the context of schools, drug enforcement and immigration enforcement; and various models of police accountability and the challenges they face.

Instructors
Udi Ofer
Prejudice: Its Causes, Consequences, and Cures (EC)
Subject associations
SPI 345 / PSY 384 / AAS 384

Prejudice is one of the most contentious topics in modern American society. There is debate regarding its causes, pervasiveness, and impact. This goal of this course is to familiarize students with the psychological research relevant to these questions. We will review theoretical perspectives on prejudice to develop an understanding of its cognitive, affective, and motivational underpinnings. We will also discuss how these psychological biases relate to evaluations of, and behavior toward, members of targeted groups. In addition, research-based strategies for reducing prejudice will be discussed.

Instructors
Stacey A. Sinclair
Sociological Studies of Inequality (Half-Term)
Subject associations
SPI 590C / SOC 571

Sociologists see social inequality as produced by market exchanges, non-market organization of social groups, and political institutions. This unit aims to (1) develop an understanding of sociological analysis of inequality, and (2) introduce key empirical research in stratification and inequality. Weber's essay provides the classic statement of this approach, elaborated in theories of market networks, cultural transmission of group identities, and forms of citizenship.

Instructors
Kathryn J. Edin
Seminar on Student Learning and Methods for Teaching (SA)
Subject associations
TPP 301

A study of essential methods of learning and teaching, including learner characteristics and needs, organization and structure of educational institutions, development of curriculum and instructional goals, preparation of evaluation and assessment, and design of subject/level specific methodologies and classroom management techniques. Required course work includes 22 hours of site-based field experience and evening laboratory sessions. Students should have one morning of unscheduled time available each week to allow for school visits. The course is open to any student who has an interest in teaching.

Instructors
Todd W. Kent
Kathleen M. Nolan
Seminar on Instructional Practice and Pedagogy
Subject associations
TPP 403

TPP 403 is designed to complement TPP 404, Clinical Practice. The course is structured by four themes: The Learner and Learning, Content Knowledge: Planning Instruction and Assessment, Instructional Practice and Pedagogy, and Professional Responsibilities. Major course assignments address these themes through a focus on the research and practice of meeting the diverse needs of learners. The course is designed to help students connect theory and practice, become self-reflective practitioners, use data from formative and summative assessments to inform instruction, and to prepare them for being in the classroom.

Instructors
Ashley T. Jaffee
Jessica R. Monaghan
Seminar on Education-Theory and Practice
Subject associations
TPP 405

The Seminar on Education-Theory and Practice is designed to intersect with and compliment Practice Teaching (TPP 406). Students will read and reflect on educational research and reflect on how to best integrate theory and practice in the reality of their school setting. Students investigate the processes of curriculum development and implementation, develop learning goals and lesson plans, and learn strategies for measuring student learning by applying both formative and summative assessments. Prerequisite: permission from the Director of Teacher Certification. Students enroll in the seminar concurrently with TPP 406.

Instructors
Kathleen M. Nolan