Requirements for the Major
In addition to developing skills and habits of inquiry, critical thinking and analysis associated with a strong liberal arts education, as an education studies major you'll acquire a historical and comparative understanding of schooling, a deeper understanding of teaching and learning, educational research skills, and how well (or poorly) schools are educating all students.
Education studies majors must pass nine courses with a grade of C or better. Pass/Fail courses will not earn credit for the major. Education studies majors may elect to complete an honors thesis.
A. Since January 2020, ED 150b Purpose and Politics of Education has been one of the two required core courses. This course will be offered every year.
B. ED 165a Reading (and Talking Back to) Research on Education is the second required core course. All education studies majors are expected to enroll in this course in fall semester of their sophomore or junior year.
The seven elective requirements for the major are to be distributed as follows:
C. Three elective courses in one of the four clusters (your ED Studies focus cluster):
1. Education, Equity and Social Change
2. Teaching and Learning In and Outside of Schools
3. Human Creativity and Development
4. Jewish Formal and Informal Education
D. The remaining four electives must come from at least three of the four clusters (See Course Clusters below).
E. Students may substitute successful completion of an essay or internship, as described below, for one of the seven elective courses.
- Essay: An approved research honors essay, usually taken in the senior year. Student would receive credit for this essay, or ED 98a (Individual Readings and Research in Education), or an independent study or research course approved by the director of the education program.
- Internship: An internship (ED 192) approved by the director of the Education Program. Students who are student teaching as part of a minor in preschool, elementary, or secondary education will also be eligible to receive internship credit if they are concurrently pursuing an education studies major. Students who choose this option will keep a journal about their experiences and produce a final paper.
F. Honors: Students who wish to be considered for honors in education studies will be required to complete a senior thesis. Students must discuss their potential thesis topic with a faculty adviser in education studies during their junior year. These students will have an opportunity to begin their research in ED 99a (fall of senior year) and will then enroll in ED 99b (spring) to complete their thesis.
Majors who intend to do an honors thesis involving empirical research are required to have completed a research course before their senior year.
To Declare the Major:
A. review the requirements carefully
B. complete the declaration worksheet
C. fill in the ED Studies courses you have taken or plan to take in the appropriate semesters on the worksheet
D. download and email the completed form to education@brandeis.edu
- please use the subject line: ED Studies major declaration
- we will also schedule a meeting for you with Prof. Leah Gordon, UAH, to select an advisor
Course Clusters
Courses with an * cannot be double counted to fulfill the three-course requirement in a cluster and the requirement to take a course in each of three clusters. Not all Program Elective courses are offered in any one year. Please consult the Schedule of Classes on Workday and your program advisor each semester.
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AAAS 156a #BlackLivesMatter: The Struggle for Civil Rights from Reconstruction to the Present
AAAS 170a Black Childhoods
AMST 150a The History of Childhood and Youth in America
AMST 180b Topics in the History of American Education
AMST/ED 120a History of Higher Education the US
AMST/ED 121a Education & Equity in Modern American History
AMST/LGLS 141b Juvenile Justice: From Cradle to Custody
EBIO 33b* Citizen Science: Bridging Science, Education and Advocacy
ECON 59b The Economics of Education
ED 10a* Introduction to Teaching and Learning (replaces ED 100a and 100b as of fall 2023)
ED 75b* Waltham Speaks: Multilingualism, Advocacy & Community (replaces ED 175a as of 2021)
ED 155b Education and Social Policy
ED 159b Philosophy of Education
ED 161b* Religious Education in America
ED 170a* Race, Power and Urban Education
ED 175a* Teaching English Language Learners: Pre-K to 12 (replaced by ED 75b as of 2021)
ED 203a* Teaching Multilingual Learners I (not offered after 2022-23)
ENG 131b* Decolonial Pedagogy
HSSP 192b* Sociology of Disability
NEJS 171b* Tikkun Olam/Repairing the World: Service and Social Justice in Theory and Practice
SOC 104a Sociology of Education
SOC 113b Sociology of Race and Racism
SOC 138a Sociology of Race, Gender, and Class
SOC 154a Community Structure and Youth Subcultures
WGS 151a Social Politics of Sexual Education
ANTH 61b Language in American Life
EBIO 33b* Citizen Science: Bridging Science, Education and Advocacy
ED 10a* Introduction to Teaching and Learning (replaces ED 100a and 100b as of fall 2023)
ED 75b* Waltham Speaks: Multilingualism, Advocacy & Community
ED 100a Exploring Teaching (Elementary and Preschool) (replaced by ED 10a as of fall 2023)
ED 100b Exploring Teaching (Secondary) (replaced by ED 10a as of fall 2023)
ED 101a Literacy, Literature, and Social Justice (K-6)
ED 101b Teaching Science and History for Social Change (PK-6)
ED 104a Pedagogy in the Disciplines (rotating subject area specialties)
ED 105a Structure, Concepts, and Best Practices in Mathematics (PK-6)
ED 107a Teaching & Learning Reading in Elementary and Preschools (not offered after 2020)
ED 144a Look Who’s Talking: Student Voice and Classroom Discourse
ED 145a Making the Grade: Equity and Assessment
ED 158b* Looking with the Learner: Practice and Inquiry
ED 163b* Creativity and Caring
ED 170a* Race, Power and Urban Education
ED 173b* Psychology of Love: Education for Close Relationships
ED 175a* Teaching English Language Learners: Pre-K to 12 (replaced by ED 75b as of 2021)
ED 203a* Teaching Multilingual Learners I (not offered after 2022-23)
ENG 131b* Decolonial Pedagogy
LING 110a Phonology I
LING 197a* Language Acquisition and Development
MATH 3a Explorations in Math: A Course of Educators
NEJS 271c* Teaching and Learning Modern Jewish History, the Holocaust and Israel
PSYC 33a* Developmental Psychology
PSYC 36b* Adolescence and the Transition to Maturity
PSYC 169b* Disorders of Childhood
ANTH 109a Children, Parenting, and Education in Cross-Cultural Perspective
ANTH 180b Playing Human: Persons, Objects, Imagination
COML/ENG 140b Children’s Literature and Constructions of Childhood
ED 158b* Looking with the Learner: Practice and Inquiry
ED 163b* Creativity and Caring
ED 173b* Psychology of Love: Education for Close Relationships
HSSP 192b* Sociology of Disability
LING 197a* Language Acquisition and Development
PSYC 33a* Developmental Psychology
PSYC 36b* Adolescence and the Transition to Maturity
PSYC 169b* Disorders of Childhood
THA 138b Creative Pedagogy
ED 161b* Religious Education in America
ED/HRNS 168a Summer Camp: The American Jewish Experience
ED/NEJS 170b Inside Jewish Educaiton: Language, Literacy and Reading
HRNS 202b Jewish Passages: Developing through the Cycles of Jewish Life
HRNS 206f Informal Education in Jewish Settings
NEJS 169a Inside the Religious School Classroom
NEJS 169b From Sunday Schools to Birthright: History of American Jewish Education
NEJS 170a Studying Sacred Texts
NEJS 171b* Tikkun Olam/Repairing the World: Service and Social Justice in Theory and Practice
NEJS 235c Topics in Jewish Education
NEJS 271c* Teaching and Learning Modern Jewish History, the Holocaust and Israel