Students will learn educational measurement and assessment and apply this knowledge to a research project analyzing educational data. Discussions will cover sensitivity and specificity, reliability, validity, item response theory, logistic regression and the Rasch model. Students will use this knowledge to evaluate the effectiveness of a new curriculum on the performance of at-risk low-income students. Research will also be conducted on an additional dataset to analyze the relationship between student/family characteristics and educational outcomes. Enrollment limited to 12.

Why are so many people--even those whose basic physical needs are met--still challenged to eat adequately, exercise and sleep enough? We consider how human willpower tendencies interact with social, cultural and physical contexts to support (or thwart) health promoting activities. Based on a close reading of current psychological science and related areas of inquiry, students will study interventions to improve individual-level health, and in groups, design and implement a project focused on campus-level health promotion.

Introduces students to a variety of methods used in psychological research. All sections of this course cover the basic methodological techniques of contemporary psychology such as observational, experimental and survey methods. Sections differ in the particular content theme used to illustrate these methods. Prerequisite: PSY 100. PSY 201 recommended (may be concurrent.) Priority is given to Smith College psychology majors and minors. Enrollment limited to 18.

This course explores how women’s social movements emerge and sustain themselves in the Middle East and North Africa. The class will cover issues ranging from women agitating for citizenship rights and the vote to questions of personhood, family code, and women's labor rights. Throughout the class, students consider how mobilized women negotiate a world of both contemporary and traditional religious and secular values to pursue their agendas in the public arena.

Introduction to the basic tap dance steps with general concepts of dance technique. Performance of traditional tap step patterns and short combinations. Enrollment limited to 15.

Experiments in this course explore the morphology, physiology, biochemistry and genetics of bacteria using a variety of bacterial genera. Methods of aseptic technique; isolation, identification and growth of bacteria are learned. An individual project is completed at the end of the term. Corequisite: BIO 204. Enrollment limited to 16.

This course examines bacterial morphology, growth, biochemistry, genetics and methods of controlling bacterial activities. Emphasis is on bacterial physiology and the role of the prokaryotes in their natural habitats. The course also covers viral life cycles and diseases caused by viruses. Prerequisites: BIO 132 and CHM 111 or equivalent advanced placement courses. Corequisite: BIO 205.

This course explores (1) how and why humans across the globe began to domesticate plant and animal resources approximately 10,000 years ago, and (2) new directions in the archaeology of food across time and space. The first part of the semester focuses on the types of archaeological data and analytical methods used to understand the agricultural revolution. Case studies from both centers and noncenters of domestication are used to investigate the biological, economic and social implications of changing foodways.

Since its founding, the US has closely regulated the bodies of Others and punished those that rebel against these socially-constructed designations. Utilizing an interdisciplinary amalgam of Critical Race Theory, Sexuality Studies, Queer Theory, Media Studies, Sociology, American Studies, Performance Studies, and Feminist Theory, this course will explore how the state, the media, and civilian institutions police the boundaries of race, gender, and sexuality by pathologizing, criminalizing, and stigmatizing difference.