Topics course: Students will be provided an introduction to educational research methods through two main activities in this weekly seminar: They will (1) discuss texts pertaining to analytical approaches and theoretical models in educational research inspired by constructivist and sociocultural theories, and (2) participate in research projects guided by Campus School teachers’ inquiries about learning. Students will be paired with teachers as research teams and regularly engage in providing and receiving feedback on their collaborative projects.

This course is an introduction to educational foundations. It is designed to introduce students to the basic structure, function and history of American education, and to give them perspective on important contemporary issues in the field. Includes directed observation in school settings. Not open to students who have had two or more courses in the department. Enrollment limited to 35.

Recognizing the centrality of aesthetic frameworks and concepts to black thought and cultural production, this course examines conceptual frames and artistic/literary strategies that shape the burgeoning field of Black Aesthetics. What role do evolving notions of aesthetics, politics, and blackness play in shifts that are occurring in the field? How do philosophical understandings of aliveness, play, satire, gender, race, queering, and the everyday take form in current practices and theories? What new questions arise? Artworks in multiple media and traditions will be considered.

This course will provide an intermediate exploration into the causes, consequences and responses to racial and ethnic health inequities around the world. This course asks, How does race and ethnicity, understood as a cultural, social and political concept, help us investigate the social production of health inequities? Through class discussions, written assignments, readings, and multimedia, this class will examine how racial and ethnic health inequities are shaped by racism, colonialism, new technology, and globalization.

Topics course: In this course we investigate and build a critical working vocabulary about 20th-century black migrant communities. Central to our work is exploring the tension between how these communities have been defined (via notions of pathology, disease and death) and how they have defined themselves through their spatial and environmental practices around belonging, collectivity and place. These are queer or non-normative modes of urbanism, and they challenge dominant idioms of territoriality.

Topics course.Instrument specific topics course designed for research students (special studies, honors, SURF, etc.) requiring access to microscope equipment in the Center for Microscopy and Imaging (CMI). Each semester, three six-week courses are offered. All students meet the first two weeks to discuss their projects and the last week to present their work. During the remaining three, students learn how to operate a microscope independently (see topics). Participants are expected to meet outside of class for weekly hands-on training sessions. Only one topic per semester can be selected.