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Purpose of the Course

Course Objectives

1.  elucidate the relationships among sociology of education, philosophies of education, and multicultural education.

2.  identify the historical foundations of education in the U.S.A.

3.  relate the impact of technological and societal changes to conditions in schools.

4.  analyze beliefs and their effects in schools.

5.  relate research to the sociocultural forces which influence the practices of schools.

6.  explain the role of culture in socialization and the bases for cultural differences.

7.  analyze concepts, issues, and trends in the education of diverse populations.

8.  explain how educational policies have affected specific class, gender, exceptional, racial, cultural, and linguistic populations.

9.  recognize the common and different needs which underlie conflict in schools.

10.  identify strategies of prosocial-conflict transformation and peace education.

11.  recognize the relevance of sociological concepts and research.

12.  develop and use techniques for sociological research in an current education context.

Course Requirements

Class Participation

            Students are expected to participate in the activities of each class meeting. Sharing of ‘air time’ (verbal expressions) will be a consideration by all to ensure optimal contributions by each member of our class. Practice with nonviolent communication (Rosenberg, 2003) will be encouraged for skill-building in processes of conflict transformation.

Content Response

            Each week students will write one response to the material presented in their readings, class meeting and related experiences beyond this class. This review exercise encourages reflection and the identification of relevant information that the student may immediately or eventually use. Any legible format of this content response that best suits the student’s thinking style is acceptable for credit. Graphics may be included with this writing. Students will submit in class for course credit their weekly content response. They will also be invited to share with their classmates the relevancy of course material to their current lives.

Case Studies

            Each student will conduct a case study of one conflict in an education setting. Techniques for accomplishing this will be explained in the class. To obtain ideas for data collection and analysis, students may also access online the free research guide provided in this course.

            As a community of learners, students will share their research with their class members. They will write about the collective work of the class in their content responses and final exam. The identities of the subjects in these studies will be kept anonymous. Toward that goal, the students will create pseudonyms for the subjects of their studies, including individual and organizational names. The intention is to learn from the subjects of their case studies as well as assist them with a sociological conflict they are experiencing.

Visioning

            Students will create in class a collective vision of their peaceful society and describe education among other aspects of its occurrences. Throughout this semester, students should collect, and implement where possible, their ideas about how a peaceful society occurs. Students are encouraged to obtain suggestions for developing a peaceful environment from diverse voices in their society and beyond.

Transformation Plan

            Students will develop a personal and professional transformation plan for their contributions to the peaceful society that they collectively envisioned. This transformation plan will be submitted in the format of commitment statements written in any style.

Evaluation of Student Participation

25 percent of grade

35 percent of grade

20 percent of grade

20 percent of grade