CI5102: Culture, Schools, & Communities: Human Relations I

This course provides teacher candidates with the knowledge and skills to address social and cultural dimensions of education. Students explore a wide range of challenges and dilemmas facing contemporary educators in the U.S. and in other global locations. They examine original research and theory from the social sciences, and learn how research and theories have informed various educational policies and actual approaches to teaching. The course begins with a focused study of how U.S. educational history has been shaped by competing norms and purposes. It then moves into the role of philosophy in defining those purposes, and shaping actual approaches to teaching. The course then shifts to examine multiple dimensions of humanity including race, culture, gender, gender orientation, class, worldview, perception, and language in and out of school. These concepts lay the foundation for study of cultural transmission and acquisition, the learning preferences of diverse students, and ultimately, culturally relevant pedagogy, cultural competence, and cultural intelligence. Throughout the course, teacher candidates will consider their own positionality and what that means for their practice. Learning experiences are made up of class meetings involving speakers, simulations, and multi-media presentations; readings; small group discussions, activities, exercises and projects.

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