BATES COLLEGE
EDUCATION 450
Seminar in Educational Studies
FALL 2009
PETTENGILL 116
T/Th 2:40-4
Patricia Buck, PhD.
Associate Professor
pbuck@bates.edu
786-6282
Office Hours: Thursday 10-12 and by Appointment
The Education Department
Departmental Mission
The Bates College Department of Education seeks to foster the democratic possibilities of
schooling through the study of American public education and other comparative systems. The
aim of the department is to create an environment in which students and faculty together
analyze the complex dynamics between the purposes and products of schooling, and the social
structures and cultural processes that comprise the broader context for education. In
particular, we want to nurture in our students the development of these qualities:
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Critical action and civic responsibility –Because we want our students to develop a
sense of social responsibility and concern for the common good, we encourage them to
be involved in the local community and beyond through field work, service learning
projects, policy analysis, student teaching, and empirical research.
Reflection and engagement – In our vision of education, reflection and engagement
work together to deepen students’ understanding and foster their personal growth.
Imagination and a passion for learning - With imagination, a passion for learning, and
the skills and knowledge that we help them develop, our students are well prepared to
pursue their interests in education.
Commitment to social justice – Throughout our program, we encourage students to
recognize and address the influence of social context on the democratic possibilities of
schooling.
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The Service Learning Requirement
Every course offered within the Education Department includes a 30 hour field placement
requirement. Placements are most often in local schools, institutions, or community
organizations and are coordinated through the Harward Center for Community Partnership.
Placements are designed to provide a “service” to both participating parties. The Bates
education student is provided with an opportunity to spend time in a setting in which many of
themes, issues, and perspectives introduced in the college classroom are manifest in daily life.
Through engagement in the dialectic relationship between first hand participant observation,
critical reading and writing, and classroom discussion, students in education courses are invited
to construct personalized knowledge and philosophies about pertinent lines of inquiry and
debate within the field of education. For their part, local hosts are provided an additional
educational resource. The service provided by Bates education students varies widely
depending on the nature of the Education Department course in which they are enrolled, their
level of experience, initiative and interest, and the expressed need(s) of the community host.
Sometimes students simply offer an extra pair of hands providing one on one tutoring or
serving as a “reading buddy” for individual pupils. Other times Bates students work closely with
their host to develop in depth research projects; lesson plans and curriculum units; or
educational events, workshops, or programs. The exact form of any given field placement is
shaped collaboratively by the student, community host, education coordinator for the Harward
Center, and Education Department faculty. Given the long term and reciprocal relations upon
which the service learning program depends, it is imperative that education students meet
their service learning obligations through regular attendance and maintenance of open lines of
communication with the community host.
Department Library
The Education Department lounge houses a wide-ranging collection of books and journals,
organized in broad topic sections. Feel free to browse there and to sign out an item by
completing a check out card and filing it in the box left for that purpose on a small table in the
lounge. Please cross out your name when you return the item.
The Course
Course Description
Required of all students in the educational studies minor, the educational studies seminar helps
senior students to reflect upon and synthesize their previous education courses, courses in
related fields, and their field experiences. Students produce and present a culminating project
through which they lend depth to the breadth of knowledge they have acquired in the field of
educational foundations. A thirty hour field placement is required.
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Course Readings
Chapter 5, ‘Reflection and Reflective Practice’ in Anne Brockbank’s (2007) Facilitating Reflective
Learning in Higher Education. New York : McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing
(Ebook)
Chapter 14, ‘Writing About Yourself: The Memoir’ in Howard Zissner’s On Writing Well: An
Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction. New York : Harper & Row (Lyceum)
Barnett and Coates’ (2004) Engaging the Curriculum in Higher Education Maidenhead :
McGraw-Hill Education Blacklick. (Ebook)
J. Jipson et al. (2004) Repositioning Feminism and Education: Perspectives on Educating for
Social Change. (On Reserve in Ladd and Available at Bookstore)
A.J. Angulo's (2008) William Barton Rogers and the Idea of MIT. Johns Hopkins University Press.
(On Reserve in Ladd and Available at Bookstore)
P. Carter’s (2007) Keepin' It Real: School Success Beyond Black and White. Oxford University
Press. (Ebook)
Assignments
Journal Entries: Over the course of the semester, students will complete four journal entries. In
the first three entries students are asked to reflect back upon aspects of their life at Bates.
These entries should be informed by the topics, controversies and lines of inquiry introduced in
the appropriate assigned readings and class discussions. The final journal entry asks students to
apply key lessons and identified interests to the development of a culminating project in
educational studies.
Journal Conventions: Each entry should be 5-8 pages, double spaced with proper citations.
Journal Entry I: Reflecting on Personal Life at Bates, Due September 24th
Journal Entry II: Reflecting on Academic Life at Bates, Due October 6th
Journal Entry III: Reflecting on the Education, Due October 15th
Journal Entry IV: Proposing a Culminating Project, Due October 19th
Culminating Project: The nature of these projects will vary and will be developed in close
consultation with me, Due December 10th
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Portfolio
The final portfolio should include
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An introduction (3-5 pages) that offers a descriptive evaluation of the course and
your engagement within it. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each?
How are course and personal strengths and weaknesses reflected in the
accumulated work?
Journal Entries I-IV
Your Culminating Project
Completed Log Sheet and Teacher Evaluation
Due December 10th
Assessment
Class Participation
Journal Entry I
Journal Entry II
Journal Entry III
Journal Entry IV
Culminating Project
Portfolio
15 Percent
10 Percent
10 Percent
10 Percent
10 Percent
40 Percent
5 Percent
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CLASS SCHEDULE
CLASS
Thursday
September 10th
Tuesday
September
15th
TOPIC
READING
DUE
UNIT ONE: LOOKING BACK, MOVING FORWARD
Introduction
Thinking Reflectively
Thursday
September
17th
Tuesday
September
22nd
Thursday
September
24th
Students Present on
Personal Life at Bates
Tuesday
September
29th
Thursday
October 8th
Tuesday
October 13th
In Class
Refection
Carousel
In Class
Expansion:
Reflecting on
Personal
Experience
Journal Entry I:
Reflecting on
Personal Life at
Bates
Engaging the
Curriculum in Higher
Education (Ebook)
Barnett and Coates’
Thursday
October 1st
Tuesday
October 6th
Chapter 5, ‘Reflection
and Reflective
Practice’ in Facilitating
Reflective Learning in
Higher Education
(Ebook)
Chapter 14, ‘Writing
About Yourself: The
Memoir’ in Writing
Well (Lyceum)
Selections from C.
Rosen’s My
Fundamentalist
Education (Lyceum)
Selections from C.
Rosen’s My
Fundamentalist
Education (Lyceum)
Barnett and Coates’
NOTES
Engaging the
Curriculum in Higher
Education (Ebook)
Students Present on
Academic Life at Bates
Journal Entry II:
Reflecting on
Academic Life
at Bates
J. Jipson et al.
Repositioning
Feminism and
Education:
Perspectives on
Educating for Social
Change
J. Jipson et al.
Repositioning
Feminism and
5
Education:
Perspectives on
Educating for Social
Change
Thursday
October 15th
Tuesday
October 19th
Tuesday
October 27th
Thursday
October 29th
Tuesday
November 3rd
Thursday
November 5th
FIELDTRIP!
Students Present on
Educational Studies at
Bates
Journal Entry
III: Reflecting
on the
Education
Minor
Students Present on
Journal Entry
Proposed Projects
IV: Proposed
Project: What
is your Project?
Why this
project? How
is it related to
results of
reflective
process?
UNIT TWO: THE FIELD OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES
History of Education
A.J. Angulo's William
Barton Rogers and the
Idea of MIT
A.J. Angulo's William
Barton Rogers and the
Idea of MIT
Sociology/Anthropology P. Carter’s Keepin' It
of Education
Real: School Success
Beyond Black and
White (Ebook
American Educational
P. Carter’s Keepin' It
Studies Association
Real: School Success
Meetings
Beyond Black and
White (Ebook
Discuss AESA Meetings
Tuesday
November 10th
TBA
Thursday
th
November 12
Student Selected SubTuesday
th
Field Within
November 17
Thursday
November 19th
Student Selected
Reading From SubEducational Studies
Field Within
Educational Studies
Student Selected SubStudent Selected
Field Within
Reading From SubEducational Studies
Field Within
(cont.)
Educational Studies
UNIT THREE: THE FINAL LAP
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Tuesday
December 1st
Thursday
December 3rd
Tuesday
December 8th
Thursday
December 10th
Student Presentation of
Final Project
Student Presentation of
Final Project
Student Presentation of
Final Project
Wrap-Up
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