This course focuses on issues of diversity, oppression and social justice. It is designed to prepare pre-service teachers to be knowledgeable of biases based on race, ethnicity, culture, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, social and economic status, political ideology, disability and how these contribute to discrimination and oppression. Students will learn about diverse cultures, family structures, roles, immigration and assimilation experiences of marginalized groups. Students will also learn about the influence of dominant culture on these diverse and marginalized groups. Additionally, this course will examine the adaptive capabilities and strengths of these marginalized groups and how such capabilities and strengths can be used in effective educational settings. The course will assist pre-service teachers in understanding the complex nature and dynamics of social oppression, diversity and social functioning. Students will explore their own personal beliefs, and behaviors that may limit their ability to effectively interact in educational settings with people of diverse backgrounds, in particular, disadvantaged and oppressed persons. Themes included justice, suffering, the role of the government, poverty, and society’s response to them. Initiatives and response of both secular and faith-based groups to injustices in the past (e.g. Civil Rights, abolitionism), will be examined.

A study of the process of human development from conception through adolescence with particular emphasis on development during the elementary school, middle school and high school age periods of growth and development. The course will emphasize the contemporary research, theory and findings in the areas of cognitive, emotional and physical development with a focus on psychological processes and structures and their implications for the education process.

This course will explore the many types of neurodiversity and how each is a natural form of cognitive functioning. Included will be many examples of types of diversity and ways to incorporate all differences in a successful life.

Prerequisite: EDUC 205. This course surveys all areas of exceptionality. It is designed to help the prospective teacher identify and understand the problems of students with atypical learning patterns.