CULTURAL FOUNDATIONS OF LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

CURRIC 317

Surveys critical literacy issues for elementary teachers. Provides understandings related to literacy and language learning, insights into cultural differences related to literacy and language, and knowledge of the social dimensions of literacy. Addresses various theories that inform literacy teaching including deficit versus strength models of literacy learning, meaning-based models, systematic instruction, and sociocultural approaches.

CURRIC 778

Examines issues related to identity through three interrelated concepts--teaching, literacies, and diversity--from a variety of perspectives, including psychology, sociology, narrative studies, and sociocultural perspectives. Explore what "identity" means and how each conceptualization is related to teaching and learning, especially for children from diverse communities and backgrounds.

CURRIC 844

Pedagogy that explores the relationships between culture and learning as well as teacher ideology and beliefs systems. Examines critical pedagogy and pedagogies of resistance.

EDPSYCH/HDFS 725

This course covers both classic and contemporary theories, providing students with a firm grounding in the theoretical perspectives that have shaped and are shaping understandings of human development across the life-span. The course explores the historical roots of contemporary perspectives and examines the development of theoretical conceptualizations both within and across theoretical perspectives.

CURRIC 702

Sociocultural theories posit that the fundamental mechanism for teaching and learning is social interaction. Examine the varying positions within this genraly body of theoretical liturature, compare and contrast how each position construes the fundamentally social nature of thinking and learning, and consider the methods entailed by each given theory.