The Price of Knowledge: Economics of Education

This course is designed to provide an overview of the use of international law in solving transnational environmental problems and shaping international behavior. We examine, as background, the nature and limitations of international law as a force for change. The course will then explore customary law, the relationship between soft and hard law, enforcement of international law, implementation mechanisms, and the effectiveness of multilateral environmental agreements. Special attention is given to existing international environmental law frameworks addressing climate change, Arctic and Antarctic development, ozone depletion, biological diversity, forest loss, export of toxic chemicals, and the host of issues raised by the 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development and subsequent environmental fora. Students will also consider the interface between international environmental law and other important international forces such as the Bretton Woods institutions, human rights frameworks, and international development entities. Students will be evaluated on the quality of their classroom comments and several analytical problem sets given during the term. Students will also be asked to complete a major research project examining the effectiveness of a treaty or a proposed international environmental legal arrangement.

How have schools changed and how should schools change to ensure "the good life"? This interdisciplinary, team-taught course examines the potential and limits of a human ecological education as an instrument of enlightened progress and lasting positive social, cultural, and environmental change. It explores three essential questions about education and its relationship to human development and social progress. Looking at the role of formal educational institutions and their relationship to government and other social institutions: What is the role of schools in development and social change? Considering the role of teachers as agents of change: What is the role of the teacher in school/organizational change and community development? And finally, reflecting on our subjective motives for working in the field of education: Why do you want to become an educator? Through course activities such as service-learning in schools and group project work on a contemporary educational phenomenon (e.g., school choice, new technologies for learning, single-sex education), students will learn how educational policy at the federal, state, and local levels impacts teaching and learning, investigate the moral dimensions of the teacher-student relationship, and reflect on the construct of teacher-learners. Students will be introduced to a variety of educational research methods (i.e, ethnography, case study, quasi-experimental, correlational) that will allow for critical analysis of the knowledge base that strives to impact educational policy and practice. Evaluation will be based on participation, reflective writing, service learning, and group projects and presentations.

How does a child think? What causes them to learn? What teaching approaches work best with young children? These questions and more will be explored through readings, lectures, field observations, and planned class activities. This course will provide an introduction to early childhood education (preschool to eighth grade). Theorists such as Piaget, Vygotsky, Montessori, Gardner, Erikson, Maslow, Kohlberg, and Gilligan will be used to examine the physical, mental, emotional, moral, and social aspects of childhood growth and development. Students will explore a range of curriculum models, approaches, and strategies as they learn to apply developmental theory to best practices. These best practices will include the role of teachers in creating meaningful learning experiences and classroom environments (curriculum), documenting learning, assessment, inclusion, and family involvement. The primary modes of instruction for this class will be lectures, classroom discussions, field observations/reflections, and cooperative hands-on learning activities. Short reflective papers, an observational journal, and class projects will be used to assess learning.

This course is a broad overview of children's literature and its place in the elementary school classroom. It examines the range and trends in literature for children that includes all genres, prominent authors, illustrators, awards, critical evaluation, and integration into instruction across the curriculum. Students participate in and design lessons which incorporate or extend children's response to literature. They survey poetry and media appropriate for elementary students. Students read an extensive amount of children's literature, keep a response journal, develop an author study, and create a teaching unit using children's literature.

Climate change is one of the biggest and most difficult challenges faced by contemporary societies. The challenge has multiple facets: environmental, social, political, economic – each with its own complexities. This course focuses primarily on the social, political and economic components of the climate problem, framed by the concept of climate justice. In the course students are introduced to basic conceptions of justice, the latest findings of climate science and possible impacts on regional scales, and the global politics of climate change, principally in the context of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Climate justice and its operationalization is the principal organizing theme for work over the term, addressing questions such as: how the costs of climate change impacts and efforts to address climate change could or should be distributed between rich and poor, global north and global south; and what are the possible means whereby those costs might be addressed through collective action at various levels: local, national, and global. Students will be evaluated based on regular quizzes, several short papers, class participation, and a final synthetic paper or project.

The fear of the “hidden” enemy that lurks behind the curtain, controlling events from the shadows, is a narrative topos that continually seems to raise its conspiratorial head in all kinds of spaces and venues: from politics to pop culture, movies, novels, music, political speeches, etc. Yet, there is also evidence to suggest that widespread acceptance of these conspiracy “theories” has the potential to cultivate and propagate inherently antidemocratic, divisive, and dangerous beliefs. Those who posit the existence of conspiracies, or at least certain ones, are often dismissed outright as irrational, without any consideration made as to the substance of their claims. Belief in conspiracies, or at least certain ones, is taken as a sign of faulty logic or reason. Yet, despite this, conspiratorial explanations of various phenomenon actually have a long and vibrant history of popular acceptance in US political culture (as well as in other parts of the world). Some have gone so far as to suggest that narratives of conspiracy, as alternative or resistant explanatory frames, are actually a necessary component of democratic political life. After all we know that conspiracies, political and otherwise, have existed in the past, and may exist again in the future. How do we make sense of this tension? If conspiracy theory as a mode of explanation is inherently “irrational,” what does this mean for its enduring presence in our political discourse? Is the only difference between a “reasonable” claim rooted in fear and what we consider the paranoid ramblings of “kooks” and “nutjobs” simply a matter of which one is “correct?” Is there a silver bullet theory or magic wand that would allow us to differentiate the supposed good from the bad? Is the very act of labeling something a conspiracy theory itself a form of political hegemony? Even if conspiracies might exist, is it better to live in a world in which we assume they don’t? What do we actually mean by conspiracy theory in the first place? This seminar will explore a variety of topics related directly to how threats of conspiracy become manifest in public discourse. Readings will focus on secondary research that examines the role of conspiracy theories in political and social life, both in the United States and abroad. We will also supplement this with primary “artifacts” such as pamphlets, social media postings, videos, speeches, etc. Along the way we will also use this as an opportunity to reflect on what inter and trans disciplinary research actually looks like. The study of conspiracy narratives is an ideal example that helps us think about how different fields attempt to make sense of a phenomenon. We will survey, compare, and attempt to synthesize research from a wide range of fields, disciplines and methodologies including those from historians, anthropologists, political scientists, legal scholars, literary critics, psychologists, and others. This is an advanced seminar and students should expect to encounter readings that are rooted in disciplinary perspectives they are not familiar with. Students will need to adapt to shifting perspectives in order to both the various texts in conversation with each other. Evaluation will be based on in-class discussion as well as individual student writing assignments. Students will produce several short length essay assignments during the term as well as a longer research paper at the end of the term. Weekly lab sessions will be used for screenings of primary material and students may also be responsible for at least one primary source presentation during these sessions. This class is open to students of all interests regardless of their experience with politics, government, or social theory.