Education Studies offers a broad liberal arts background coupled with a focus on the study of human learning and development, the history of education, teaching, school reform, and education policy. Concentrators choose a focus in either History/Policy or Human Development. History/Policy provides the historical underpinnings and intellectual skills for students to think critically about education issues in a number of settings. Concentrators in Human Development learn about psychological, social, and cultural processes in a variety of contexts, including schools, families, peer groups, and neighborhoods, particularly in urban settings. Additionally, the department offers teacher certification programs in elementary and secondary education.
Education Studies concentrators design a program that includes ten courses, of which at least eight are taken in the Education Department at Brown University. Within Education Studies, concentrators choose one of the two tracks, each designed to enable students to develop critical and creative skills for addressing issues surrounding children, schools, and education.
Course Requirements:
| EDUC 1100 | Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods | 1 |
| or EDUC 1110 | Introductory Statistics for Education Research and Policy Analysis | |
| At least five Education courses in the chosen area of emphasis. | 5 | |
| At least two Education courses outside the chosen area of emphasis. | 2 | |
| Two additional, related courses. | 2 | |
| Total Credits | 10 | |
Honors
Concentrators seeking to graduate with honors must meet all requirements for the concentration, including a grade-point average established by the Department, and state their plans in writing by the end of their sixth semester. Finally, they must successfully complete EDUC 1990 -EDUC 1991 (Research and Writing in Education) in which they write a 60–70 page thesis under the guidance of a thesis advisor.
Undergraduate Teacher Education Program
Note: The Undergraduate Teacher Education Program is not a concentration. It consists of a series of courses which will prepare students for secondary teacher certification.
The Department of Education, in cooperation with other departments, offers a program of study in teacher education leading to certification in secondary school teaching: the Undergraduate Teacher Education Program (UTEP). This program is offered in English, History/Social Studies, Science (Biology, Chemistry, or Engineering/Physics), and leads to state certification for public school teaching in these fields.
The Undergraduate Teacher Education Program consists of three components: courses in educational theory, courses in the teaching field, and student teaching. These are designed to complement and enhance the liberal education derived from concentration courses and electives.
Students who are interested in completing the Undergraduate Teacher Education Program must confer with the Education Department as early as possible in order to plan a coherent program. The program includes a methods course, offered during the summer in conjunction with teaching at Brown Summer High School, between Semesters VI and VII.
Courses in the teaching field
Because the program emphasizes the importance of knowledge in the teaching field, students are required to complete an academic concentration in the subject which they are preparing to teach or a closely related field. This does not mean that a student must elect a standard concentration in the field. However, such a student must, as part of or in addition to his/her chosen concentration, elect a substantive number of courses in his/her teaching field. Students considering the program should consult with advisors both in the academic department and in the Education Department to design an appropriate program of study that meets Rhode Island state certification requirements and those of many other states.
All of the required courses in education must be taken at Brown. None can be transferred for credit from other institutions. Requirements of the program include:
| Fieldwork and Seminar in Secondary Education | ||
| The Psychology of Teaching and Learning | ||
| Student Teaching: English | ||
or EDUC 1070B | Student Teaching: History and Social Studies | |
or EDUC 1070C | Student Teaching: Science | |
| Analysis of Teaching: English | ||
or EDUC 1080B | Analysis of Teaching: History and Social Studies | |
or EDUC 1080C | Analysis of Teaching: Science | |
| Methods of Teaching: English | ||
or EDUC 2060B | Methods of Teaching: History and Social Studies | |
or EDUC 2060C | Methods of Teaching: Science | |
| Literacy Across the Curriculum | ||
An Education elective. | ||