PhD Program in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education

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Curriculum, Instruction, & Teacher Education Ph. D.
Courses for Spring 2013

 

For a full listing of courses, see the university schedule of courses.

TE 902: Proseminar in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education
Tuesdays, 4:10-7:00 p.m., Wells Hall C114
Instructors: Dr. Lynn Paine and Dr. Robert Floden

 

TE 918: Disciplinary Knowledge and School Subjects
Thursdays, 4:10-7:00 p.m., Erickson Hall 224
Instructor: Dr. Sandra Crespo

This course offers a cross-disciplinary investigation of two basic questions—What counts as knowledge? and Whose knowledge counts?—in the academic disciplines and in school contexts. The goal of the course is to invite students to venture out of their disciplinary comfort zones to explore disciplinary divides as well as connections. We begin by reading C.P. Snow’s portrayal of long-standing debates in academic circles between the sciences and the humanities in “The Two Cultures.” We will consider the mechanisms used to distinguish and draw boundaries among the humanities, the sciences, and the arts as separate areas of study. We then move to consider the methods, tools, and practices by which academic disciplines claim to come to know, produce and contest knowledge. We ask questions such ask:

  • How is knowledge developed? Where do new ideas come from? How do scholars explore? What sorts of tools and materials do they use in their explorations? What is the nature of their inquiry?
  • What makes something true or accepted? On what basis do scholars come to believe something? How are claims inspected, to what end, and what constitutes evidence or proof? What does argument and contestation look like? How do new claims relate to previous accepted knowledge?
  • What is the role of community? How do scholars relate to and communicate with one another? Who gets included and excluded from these communities? What are the purposes and outcomes of collaborations with other disciplines; with non-academics; with the workplace?

We will investigate these questions from the perspectives of practitioners of the discipline as well as from educators who teach that discipline. All throughout we will draw connections and implications for how disciplinary knowledge is represented, organized, and experienced in school settings.

 

TE 920: Social Analysis of Education Policy
Thursdays, 4:10-7:00 p.m., Ernst Bessey Hall 112
Instructor: Dr. Jeff Bale

The purpose of this course is to understand in broad terms how education policy has been used - and more often abused - to define, explore, resolve and/or reinforce enduring dilemmas in K-12 education.The clear assumption is that education policy is not a neutral process of identifying a problem at school, creating a solution to it, implementing that solution and then seeing if it all worked out. Each step of that process - if we can even think of it in such discrete steps in the first place - is contested, politically charged and value-laden. Making sense of education policies--whether formal or informal ones--requires sharp analysis grounded in critical social and political theories from multiple disciplinary perspectives. In this course, such perspectives entail:

  • policy as social practice, from anthropological perspectives
  • the forms of capital (in particular, cultural and social), from sociological perspectives
  • correspondence theory and other Marxist approaches to policy analysis
  • historiography

Book-length studies included on the syllabus are as follows:

  • Contested Policy: The Rise and Fall of Bilingual Education in the United States, 1960-2001, by Guadalupe San Miguel, Jr.
  • Education and Capitalism: Struggles for Learning and Liberation, edited by Jeff Bale and Sarah Knopp
  • English Learners Left Behind: Standardized Testing as Language Policy,by Kate Menken
  • The Global Assault on Teaching, Teachers and Their Unions: Stories of Resistance, edited by Mary Compton and Lois Weiner
  • The New Political Economy of Urban Education: Neoliberalism, Race and the Right to the City, by Pauline Lipman
  • Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life,by Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis

TE 923: Comparative Perspectives on Teaching, Curriculum and Teacher Education
Wednesdays, 4:10-7:00 p.m., Erickson Hall 222
Instructor: Dr. Lynn Paine

"Comparative research begins, in my view, with a destabilization of self--with a felt need for encounters with difference that invite one to imagine alternatives. While we would not want to abandon the efforts to generate theories and concepts that transcend cultures, we also want theories that address real human experiences. Culture nearly always entails encounter with the unexpected….To imagine culture, then, and at the same time to culture the imagination, is the task of comparative education in the next century."
--Hoffman, 1999

"And if thou appearest to be entirely lost, Compare thyself. Know what thou art."
--Goethe, Torquato Tasso, v. 5

Comparison is a central part of educational inquiry. This course provides an opportunity to consider the value of comparison for our understanding of education and to engage in thinking and seeing comparatively. We will examine both methodological challenges associated with comparison and conceptual contributions that comparative research offers. We will undertake contrastive analysis of national and local responses to universal questions in education, focusing particularly on globalization, education reform, and teaching and teacher learning.

This course begins with several assumptions:

  • our ability to understand curriculum, teaching and teacher education is too often limited by our familiarity with education. Comparative research lets us “make the familiar strange”. The result not only enriches our understanding of educational phenomena elsewhere but also sharpens our critical insights into our own educational experiences.
  • discourse about education in the U.S. too often ignores context. Comparative work allows us to problematize notions of context, both its meaning and significance. We will explore what constitutes context—such as politics, economics, social forces, historical processes, culture, and organization.
  • discussions of education, as well as education policies and practices, exist within global and local discourses. Throughout this course, we will want to be attentive to and explore the ways in which globally and locally circulating ideas come into play.

Course readings will include some introduction to the field of comparative education as well as case studies that focus on understanding education, especially teaching and teacher education, in the context of globalization. We will use data from research projects underway to think about how notions of “good teaching” and “good teacher education” reflect larger transnational, national and local debates, assumptions and traditions.

Who should take this course? The course is intended for people who have an interest in international or comparative work as well as those with interests in understanding education in broader socio-cultural and political contexts. No specific prior course experience is required.

 

TE/CEP 930: Educational Inquiry
Mondays, 4:10-7:00 pm, room to be announced
Instructors: Dr. Suzanne M Wilson and (perhaps) Dr. Raven McCrory

This course, intended for doctoral students in the College of Education, is designed to introduce students to the plural worlds of educational research. Drawing on multiple research traditions, the course examines the major phases of research, including the conception of a research-able project, the design of a study, data collection, data analysis, interpretation, and reporting. Special attention is given to a view of educational research as a social and intellectual process, and the centrality of learning to reason when learning to do research.

CEP 930 is intended to provide a broad foundation that can serve as the platform for more specialized study in research methodology. It aims to help students: (1) understand how educational research is situated within a broader intellectual, political, historical, and social context; (2) differentiate among alternative modes of educational research; (3) read, interpret, and reflect critically on research; (4) appreciate the subtlety, artistry, thoughtfulness, and hard work of good research, in its various phases and forms; and (5) learn about the purposes and limitations of good social science.

The course begins with an examination of the personal and professional purposes of research, and the ways in which one’s values shape one’s research. We will then consider the process of conceiving research, and translating that conception into a design. The emphasis will be on reasoning, and so we will consider issue of causation, reliability, and validity as intellectual problems that require logic and reason. We shall also examine how one puts those bigger ideas into action through data collection and analysis, and the interpretation, reporting, and use of research results.

The course’s architecture entails two major strands of reading. First, there are conceptual/abstract readings concerning issues in research and issues in learning to conduct high quality research, most of which we will provide. Second, there are examples of research, drawn from a wide array of fields, many of which you will search out for yourselves and (sometimes) provide to classmates. Our intention is to move back and forth between the concrete and abstract, with the hope that this moving between will help you develop your capacities to reason thoughtfully about consuming and doing education research. In addition, we should note that the readings are selected to provide insight into a breadth of research methods, and to not privilege particular methods, nor particular domains of study. Because this is a cross-college course, and because you will bring multiple interests with you, we cannot determine ahead of time what the best concrete cases of research will be. So this syllabus sketches out the landscape of our work and intentions, and the details will be filled in as we get to know one another and do the work of the course.

All students will write a literature review of research in their area of interest. The course is writing intensive.

 

TE 931: Introduction to Qualitative Methods in Education Research
Thursdays, 4:10-7:00 p.m., Wells Hall C211
Instructor: Dr. Elizabeth Heilman

 

TE 934: Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Education Research
Mondays, 4:00-6:50 p.m., 224 EH
Instructor: Dr. Amelia Gotwals

This course is a hands-on introductory course in quantitative research methods, data analysis, and conceptualization that focuses on non-experimental methods. As such, the course emphasizes the application of statistical concepts to practical questions in social science, policy, and evaluation, while also including instruction in appropriate statistical theory. The course has two parts: a consumer-based component and a producer-based component. You will learn to become a smart reader of quantitative studies and you will also develop skills for doing your own quantitative data analysis.

This course is intended to help you develop your own knowledge, skills, and dispositions for the practice of quantitative research throughout your professional career, as you access and use the existing education knowledge base and as you add to that knowledge base by engaging in research. You will learn to locate, read, and evaluate quantitative research; you will learn to write summaries and reviews about research for a variety of audiences; and you will learn the basic elements of planning and conducting original research projects utilizing a range of different research designs and data collection and analysis strategies.

This course should be useful to you if you are planning to be a “scholar-practitioner” who incorporates inquiry of a quantitative nature into your regular professional practice, if you want to interpret research reports on different topics and, and if you want to be able to convey that knowledge effectively to others. It will also be foundational to those researchers who plan to take higher level quantitative methods courses.

 

TE 939: Advanced Topics in Qualitative Research: Case Study Research in Education
Tuesdays, 12:40-3:30 p.m., Brody Hall 136
Instructor: Dr. Dorothea Anagnostopoulos

This seminar is intended for advanced graduate students who have or plan to utilize case study methods in their own research. Over the semester, we will examine the logic, design, and ethics of case study research in education and the social sciences. The class will explore single, multiple, and mixed-methods designs and attendant methods of data collection, interpretation, and analysis. We will consider key questions facing case study methods: What constitutes a “case”? Is case study research generalizable? What are the role of induction and deduction in case study research? What is the relationship between case study and the verification and generation of theory? We will also consider practical questions such as the following: How do you go about starting a project? How do you connect research design and data collection? How do you connect theory, design, and analysis? What kinds of data are useful to address different types of questions? What kind of coding is useful for particular research questions and with different types of data? How does one write a persuasive report/paper on case study research? Students’ own projects will be at the center of this course. In addition to examining and discussing course readings, students will be also expected to present and discuss their own research projects throughout the semester, both in small groups and whole class presentations. One of the main goals of the course is, thus, to assist students in developing an understanding of the purposes, tools, assumptions, uses, and limitations of case study research, and to prepare students to conduct such research critically, rigorously, and ethically. The other major goal is to help students develop the knowledge and dispositions to participate as thoughtful and productive members of a research community.

 

TE 944: Seminar in English Education
Mondays, 12:40-3:30 p.m., Hubbard Hall G032
Instructor: Dr. Mary Juzwik

Note: This course is part of the Literacy specialization.

 

TE 946: Current Perspectives on Literacy Research & Instruction
Wednesdays, 4:10-7:00 p.m., Erickson Hall 224
Instructor: Dr. Patricia Edwards

Note: This course is part of the Literacy specialization.

 

TE 950: Mathematical Ways of Knowing
Tuesdays, 4:10-7:00 p.m., Wells Hall C202
Instructor: Dr. Beth Herbel-Eisenmann

Since mathematics involves jargons, codes, symbols, myths, and specific ways of reasoning and inferring (especially jargons?), it can be thought of as a “pan-cultural phenomenon” (Bishop, 1988). Mathematics entails patterns and groups of symbols that people create, use to make sense of their lives, and are historically constructed and maintained through social interactions. To what degree and in what sense these patterns and symbols are significant are issues we will discuss in some depth in this seminar. This will also be the case related to the role of political and socioeconomic factors in shaping the symbol systems that have come to be called mathematical. This course focuses on the philosophy of mathematics and, in particular, two subsets of philosophy, i.e., the ontology and epistemology of mathematics. We will address questions like, What is mathematical (and, by virtue of what I consider mathematical, what is not)? Who benefits from status quo decisions related to what mathematics is? What is the purpose of teaching and learning mathematics? How do I know something is true in mathematics? How does a 4th grader know something is true in mathematics? What are the fundamental assumptions of the different ways something might be considered “true”? Who gets to decide what is true? Our pan-cultural inquiries through mathematical ways of knowing will involve the intellectual are(n)as of politics, sociology, history, anthropology, psychology, linguistics, and possibly others, as well as philosophy.

 

TE 959: Language & Literacy Development
Wednesdays, 12:40-3:30 p.m., Wonders Hall C101
Instructor: Dr. Doug Hartman

Note: This course is part of the Literacy specialization.

 

TE 963: Critical Race Theory in Education
Mondays, 4:10-7:00 p.m., Wells Hall C301
Instructor: Dr. Dorinda Carter-Andrews

Note: This course is part of the Urban specialization.

This course will allow students to explore Critical Race Theory as an analytical framework that provides race-based epistemological, methodological, and pedagogical approaches to the study of everyday inequalities in P-20 education. Key foci of this seminar are to help students understand CRT as a theoretical framework, examine its utility and limitations, and consider its application to students' own research and practice.

We will begin by exploring the historical development of CRT from Critical Legal Studies (CLS) and move through its contemporary nuances. In addition, we will work to expose the ideological construction of race and education in the U.S. As such, we will also work through the oppressive nature of education and boldly confront notions of colorblindness. Throughout this course, we will grapple with the challenges surrounding the inclusion of multiple voices and perspectives in the complex intersections among race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. Other intersecting analytical frameworks discussed include TribalCrit Theory, LatCrit Theory, Critical White Studies, AsianCrit, and Critical Race Feminism.

Specifically, we will critique the strengths and limitations of CRT as theoretical framework for addressing educational inequalities. As to be expected there is a substantial amount of reading assigned in this course. To successfully accomplish and engage with the readings, you will need to manage your time wisely.

 

TE 982: Humanities-Oriented Research
Tuesdays, 4:10-7:00 p.m., Ernst Bessey Hall 316
Instructor: Dr. Lynn Fendler

With the publication of "Standards for Reporting on Humanities-Oriented Research in AERA Journals" in 2009, AERA formally legitimized the value of humanities approaches for research in education. In response to that call, this doctoral symposium introduces research approaches in historiography, rhetoric, philosophy, arts-based inquiry, narrative, educational theories, and conceptual analysis. The course is designed to include the voices of all participants and be tailored specifically to individual interests. Quantitative, qualitative, and conceptual researchers are all welcome because this course provides support for a wide array of writing projects including narrative-based research, theoretical-framework chapters, methodological justifications, essay reviews, arts-based perspectives, and critical theories. For questions about the course and previous syllabi, please contact Lynn Fendler, fendler@msu.edu.

 

TE 982: Democratic Education: Theory, Practice, and Promise
Wednesdays, 4:10-7:00 p.m., Wells Hall C107
Instructor: Dr. Matt Ferkany

This seminar aims to address a number of focal questions concerning democratic education: What exactly is involved in democratic education? How does it fit into the curriculum? What is democratic citizenship? How can schools and universities foster democratic citizenship and how much of a priority should they make of it? Going deeper, what is democracy anyway? What is its relationship to social and global justice and cosmopolitanism? What if any alternatives to democracy should educators consider?

Among progressive education scholars and philosophers, democratic education is also as popular as ever. In an era of increasing social inequality, ongoing culture war, global conflict, and declining civil discourse, this should not be surprising. On many conceptions of democratic citizenship, democratic citizens necessarily value equality and deliberative democrats seek to set social policy through civil, reasoned public discussion. Advocates of democratic education thus hope to usher in a more democratic future by fostering the growth of a more democratic citizenry. But what impact should educators realistically expect democratic education to have? Will religious conservatives be willing to play the deliberative democratic game, or will they reject this as a threatening form of secular religion? What is the role of democratic education in preparing future citizens to cooperate with citizens of other nations on problems of global sustainability, development, and climate change? Does the focus on democracy in any way distract us from problems, such as economic inequality or ongoing identity bigotry, that might require different approaches? To what extent does democratic education address or fail to address such issues?

Readings for the course will include the following:

  • Foundational works in political philosophy and educational theory, such as Dewey’s Democracy and Education, Iris Young’s Inclusion and Democracy, John Rawls’s Political Liberalism, Jürgen Habermas’s Between Facts and Norms, and Amy Gutmann’s Democratic Education.
  • Curricular and pedagogical social science research, such as Walter Parker’s Education for Democracy, Ann Colby’s Educating Citizens, and Diana Hess’s Controversy in the Classroom.
  • Various relevant articles and excerpts, such as Amartya Sen on global development and democracy.
  • Preparatory secondary source material on epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy.

The method of the course will be primarily philosophical—‘read and discuss’ style—though we will engage with work from multiple disciplines and students will be expected to periodically lead discussions, keep ‘big ideas minutes’, or contribute to a class blog. Students will also have to write one argumentative term paper or a few shorter papers.

 

TE 982: Race, Identity, and Academic Achievement in Education
Thursdays, 4:10pm-7:00pm
Instructor: Dr. Dorinda Carter Andrews

In this graduate seminar, students will examine the role of race in the identity formation of individuals of various racial and ethnic backgrounds and how race informs the teaching and learning process, primarily at the K-12 level. A specific emphasis is given to understanding how race shapes (a) the schooling experiences of students of color (Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino(a), Asian American, Asian Pacific Islanders, and Native American); and, (b) students’ adaptation patterns for navigating multiple worlds (home, school, peers, etc.) in pursuit of academic excellence. An additional focus of the course will be an exploration of the role of race in teacher education: how preservice and inservice teachers’ racial identity shapes their pedagogy and practices in schools and their relationships with culturally diverse students. We will discuss theories of racial, ethnic and adolescent identity development to inform our understanding of students’ achievement patterns. We will also explore developmental theories to better understand the relative salience of race in relationship to other social identity markers (e.g., social class, gender, sexuality, ability, and religion). We will also cover bi- and multiracial identity development and white racial consciousness. The course will provide students with psychological and sociological theoretical frameworks for understanding theories of adolescent development, challenges to traditional developmental theory, and practice in applying theory to real life student case studies. Students will be encouraged to bring personal experiences and perspectives to enrich class discussions and consider how their praxis (intersection of theory and practice) can be enhanced through this course.

This graduate seminar is intended for students interested in understanding how students of color (from adolescence through college) navigate their school context, how the interrelatedness of race and other social identity markers inform this process, and how institutional, environmental, communal, and individual factors inform the role of race in the schooling process. Students will leave the course with a better understanding of adolescent identities and how they are enacted in schools and ways to nurture healthy racial identity development in students of color while simultaneously promoting academic achievement. Also, students will be better equipped to serve students of color in varying school contexts.

 

TE 991: Teaching English Language Learners across the Curriculum
DATE, TIME, PLACE
Instructor: Dr. Higinio Dominguez

From urban to rural settings, most schools are responsible for educating English Language Learners (ELLs) and all teachers need to learn to understand and respond to the academic, emotional, and interpersonal challenges that ELL students experience. For mainstream content teachers without a background in English as a second language, determining appropriate teaching methods and goals for these students poses a significant and unique challenge. In this special topics course, we will review current approaches, constructs, and methodologies for working with English learners in various educational settings, grade levels, and subject areas. A focus on what English learners notice as they become participants in various educational settings will allow us to expand current approaches, scrutinize existing constructs, and assemble new methodologies that are sensitive to what English learners notice. Whether your work is in the area of teaching, research, or teacher education, mathematics, language arts, science, or social studies, this course will provide you with new ways of envisioning your work with English learners.

Readings might include:

  • Mathematics Teacher Noticing: Seeing Through Teachers' Eyes, Edited by M. G. Sherin, V. R. Jacobs, and R. A. Philipp.
  • Rogoff, B., et al. (2003). Firsthand learning through intent participation. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 175-203.
  • Heath, S. B. (1983?). Ways with words: Language, life and work in communities and classrooms.
  • Dominguez, H. (2012). Using what maters to students in bilingual mathematics problems.

There will also be opportunities for students to explore issues of working with ELL students in their specific context, as well as to interact with researchers across the country through Skype-enabled seminar meetings.

 

TE 991: Sexualities, Education, and Youth Culture
DATE, TIME, ROOM
Instructor: Dr. Avner Segall (supervisor)

Sexuality in pubic education has become an increasingly important and potentially divisive issue in communities. This is an experimental course that will be co-constructed with doctoral students and the supervising faculty member. The purpose of the course is to use an interdisciplinary framework to explore the role of sexuality in the classroom and school, and to examine its impact on all of those involved in the educational experience. A fully course description will be available once the students and Avner meet to design the course and its content. One feature of the seminar is that students will have an obligation to take responsibility for both the content and the pedagogy of the course, in collaboration with the course supervisor.