Tara Davidson was among the first to earn an Interdisciplinary Concentration

Cody Ruxton was also among the first

Occasionally it will snow in Davidson!

"Preparing Facilitators of Learning"

Interdisciplinary Concentration
(Non-student-teaching track)

PLEASE NOTE: This is an older version of the interdisciplinary concentration and is only open for students in the Classes of 2007, 2008, and 2009.

Overview & Requirements

To earn an Interdisciplinary Concentration in Education, students must submit a written application to the Teacher Education Committee. The proposal must specify the courses to be used to satisfy the concentration requirements. Approval of the application is made by the Registrar upon the recommendation of the Teacher Education Committee.

Download an Application (ms word)

Students are required to apply a minimum of six courses toward the concentration: Education 121; three supporting courses (as specified in the clusters below), an Independent Field Placement (Education 302) in the final semester, and a 300- or 400-level course (other than an independent study) in their major.

The Field Placement, normally completed in the final semester, will include approximately eight hours per week in a public or private school and the production of a portfolio which will serve to synthesize the courses completed for the concentration.

For the course in their major, students will choose a 300- or 400-level course (other than an independent study) that would be particularly valuable to them as a teacher. In order to count this course toward the concentration, students must submit an essay to the Chair of the Department of Education, demonstrating an intellectual link between this course and education.

No more than two courses which constitute a student’s major may be applied toward the Interdisciplinary Concentration in Education. A grade of “C” or higher is required in all courses applied toward the concentration.

Required Courses
(The Practice of Education)

Education 121: History of Educational Theory and Practice
Education 302: Field Placement in Education (Sample Syllabus)

Cluster 1
(Learning, Cognition, and Development)
Choose 1

Education 242: Educational Psychology
Education/Psychology 241: Child Development
Education/Psychology 243: Adolescent Development
Psychology 276: Cognitive Psychology

Cluster 2
(School and Society)
Choose 2 from one of the following thematic sub-clusters, or choose another from Cluster 1 and one of the following courses (2 different departments must be represented)

a) African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic, and Native-American Cultures

English 282: African-American Literature
English 384: Native American Literature
History 302: African-American History to 1877
History 303: African-American History since 1877
History 350: African-American Intellectual History
Music 142: African-American Music
Psychology 250: African-American Psychology
Sociology 210: Being Asian in America
Spanish 244: U.S. Latino Literature in English
Spanish 245: U.S. Latino Culture in English

b) Communication and Language

English 310: The English Language
English 343: Chaucer
Philosophy 216 or 316: Philosophy of Language
Speech 101: Principles of Oral Communication

c) Criticism and Fine Arts

Art 124: American Art
Art 310: Art Criticism
English 231: Young Adult Literature
English 391: Literary Criticism
Music 122: American Music
Theatre 375: American Theatre Studies

d) Diversity

Anthropology 205: Ethnic Relations
Education 250: Multicultural Education
English 284: Ethnic American Literatures
Political Science 215: The Politics of Feminism
Political Science 216: The Politics of Diversity
Psychology 352: Gender Identity
Sociology 205: Ethnic Relations
Sociology 217: Gender and Society
Sociology 221: Urban Sociology

e) Social Studies

Anthropology 371: Ethnographic Writing & Research
Economics 101: Introductory Economics
Education 221: Contemporary Educational Theory & Practice
History 317: The European Renaissance
Psychology 352: Children and Television
Religion 260: Religion in American
Sociology 202: Social Problems
Sociology 260: Social Analysis
Sociology 371: Methods in Social Research

"Consequently, the most perfect education, in my opinion, is such an exercise of the understanding as is best calculated to strengthen the body and form the heart. Or, in other words, to enable the individual to attain such habits of virtue as will render it independent. In fact, it is a farce to call any being virtuous whose virtues do not result from the exercise of its own reason."

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1979),
A Vindication of the Rights of Women

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