Education is a broadly interdisciplinary field of study, drawing on a wide variety of knowledge and experience. It occurs through interactions across actors, such as those between students and teachers and in the interconnected settings of schools, families, and communities. Students examine how features of these settings shape teaching and learning. They will analyze and reflect on fundamental topics and problems in education, integrate theoretical frameworks, and examine purposes and values intrinsic to education in society, while emphasizing connections between research and action, theory and practice. Students are encouraged to blend on-campus learning with experiences in schools and communities.

Students will gain tools and perspectives that will be useful in education during an era of rapidly increasing racial, ethnic, social and linguistic diversity and technological change. Courses in education engage with past and present efforts to adapt and respond to this increasing diversity, centering the role of social, cultural, historical and political context and the lived experiences of educators, youth and communities.