Education Studies Major
Goals for the Education Studies Major
- Students will engage in and understand the interdisciplinary study of education.
- Students will develop their skills as critical thinkers, analytic writers and skilled researchers through active experiences in course work, independent study, and supervised experiences in the field.
- Students will explore the variety of educational settings where teaching and learning occurs, such as schools, out-of-school settings, families, and communities.
- Through an analysis of past and present school reform efforts, students will examine the various purposes and goals of schooling as well as the role and function of curriculum, teaching, and pedagogy to serve those purposes, including democracy, freedom, and justice.
- Students will examine and understand how contextual factors such as social class, race, immigration, demographic shifts and rural/suburban/urban contexts have influenced educational policies and practices.
- Students will make connections between educational theory and practice while also acknowledging tensions that may occur between educational theory and practice.
- Students will apply their learning in communities of practice such as school classrooms and community agencies, where present educational problems and change efforts can be observed in their full contexts.
Requirements for the Education Studies Major
Students are expected to complete nine units of coursework, six of which must be completed at Wellesley College. The major consists of three primary requirements: education core coursework, a capstone experience, and an additional suite of courses taken within the education department. Supplemental documents to assist students in planning a course of study can be found on the education department website.
Students must complete:
An education core course
Students majoring in education studies must take at least one of the following three core courses. Students can also choose to take more than one core course as part of their fulfillment of the Education Research and Theory course requirement. Students taking multiple core courses may take them in any sequence as none of the core courses have prerequisites. Each course can be a good starting point for a student interested in studying education. One way of illustrating the distinctions between the three core courses is that:
- EDUC 212 (or taken as EDUC 120 before 2026) provides a foundational understanding of the themes and major issues in education
- EDUC 214 explores the education of the child through the dimensions of school, family, and community
- EDUC 215/PEAC 215 explores schools as sites for understanding and transforming social inequalities
*Prior to the 2024-25 academic year, EDUC 216 was included in the core course grouping. Students who completed EDUC 216 may use the course as a core course.
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EEDUC 212 (or EDUC 120 before 2026) |
Foundations of Education: An Introduction to Major Themes, Controversies, and Theories in the Field |
1.0 |
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Ecologies of Education: Youth, Family, Community, and Power |
1.0 |
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Educational Inequality and Social Transformation in Schools |
1.0 |
An education studies capstone experience
All education studies majors will be required to take a capstone experience, with guidance on the selection from their major advisor. Education capstone courses have a course number designation in the 330s. Students may choose from the following two options and must declare their intentions by the end of their junior year:
- Option 1: One course in the EDUC 330’s sequence: These capstone courses include critical inquiry into educational theory and practice, often include an experiential component, and require the student to develop skills in research and inquiry. Capstone courses are offered each year and vary depending on availability. Some examples of capstone courses include: EDUC 334: Seminar. Ethnography in Education: Race, Migration, and Borders; EDUC 335: Seminar: Urban Education and Emancipatory Research; EDUC 336 Seminar: Theorizing Race in Education through Counternarrative Inquiry; EDUC 339 Seminar: Critical Perspectives, Practice, and Reflection in Teaching and Curriculum (restricted to students in the teacher certification program).
- Option 2: EDUC 360 & EDUC 370 (Senior Thesis)
At least four and up to seven additional courses from the list of Education Research and Theory courses.
Students are required to take at least four additional Education Research and Theory courses to complete their major. These courses allow students to establish a foundation in the interdisciplinary study of education and develop an integrated understanding of educational policy, research, and practice.
Students may also select up to three Curriculum and Teaching courses (which focus on teaching methods and offer field-based experiences in classrooms) and/or three Education Electives courses.
Education Research and Theory Courses
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Museum Anthropology: Curating Equity and Representation |
1.0 |
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Black Pedagogies in the Americas |
1.0 |
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Introduction to Black Psychology |
1.0 |
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AMST 102Y / EDUC 102Y |
First-Year Seminar: Lessons of Childhood: Representations of Difference in Children's Media |
1.0 |
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Abolitionist Study: Knowledge Production in U.S. Prisons |
1.0 |
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The Politics of Multilingualism in Schools |
1.0 |
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Economics of Education Policy |
1.0 |
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FYS: From Abbott Elementary to Waiting for Superman: Representing School and Society on the Big Screen |
1.0 |
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Foundations of Education: An Introduction to Major Themes, Controversies, and Theories in the Field |
1.0 |
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Theory and Practice in Early Childhood Care and Education |
1.0 |
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Educating Young Children with Special Needs |
1.0 |
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From Abbott Elementary to Waiting for Superman: Representing School and Society on the Screen |
1.0 |
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Schools and Society |
1.0 |
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Foundations of Education: An Introduction to Major Themes, Controversies, and Theories in the Field |
1.0 |
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Social and Emotional Learning and Development: Theoretically informed Practice for K-12 education |
1.0 |
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Ecologies of Education: Youth, Family, Community, and Power |
1.0 |
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Educational Inequality and Social Transformation in Schools |
1.0 |
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Race, Class, and Ethnicity in Education Policy |
1.0 |
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Educational Philosophy from Diverse Perspectives |
1.0 |
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Children’s Literature: Fostering Agency, Equity, and Academic Success |
1.0 |
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Race, Class, and Ethnicity in Education Policy |
1.0 |
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Education in Uncertainty |
1.0 |
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Physics Pedagogy in Practice |
1.0 |
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Ivory Towers and Public Good? The Role of Higher Education in Society |
0.5 |
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The Modern Black Freedom Struggle |
1.0 |
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Practicum in Child Development |
0.5 |
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Race, Class, & Ethnicity in Education Policy |
1.0 |
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Children in Society |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Grassroots Organizing |
1.0 |
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Social Emotional Learning and Development: Theoretically informed Practice for K-12 education SEM |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Communicating and Teaching Chemistry |
1.0 |
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Seminar: De-centering and Re-centering: Social Theory Across the Globe |
1.0 |
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Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Adolescent Sexual Health Communication in the Real World |
1.0 |
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Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Social Technologies & Adolescent Development |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Ethnography in Education: Race, Migration, and Borders |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Urban Education and Emancipatory Research |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Theorizing Race in Education through Counternarrative Inquiry |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design in Education |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Critical Perspectives, Practice, and Reflection in Teaching and Curriculum |
1.0 |
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Practicum: Advanced Methods in Curriculum, Planning, and Assessment |
1.0 |
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Inquiry-Based Fieldwork and Evidence-Based Practice in Culturally Linguistically Sustaining Teaching |
1.0 |
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Community Engagement with Digital Wellbeing and Media Literacy |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Advanced Research Methods in Education |
1.0 |
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Peacekeeping, Peacebuilding, and International Intervention |
1.0 |
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Pre-Practicum Field Experience |
0.5 |
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Teacher Education Practicum |
0.5 |
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When Am I Going to Make a Living? The Political Economy of Career Selection |
1.0 |
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EDUC 102 Education in Philosophical Perspective |
1.0 |
Curriculum and Teaching Courses
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Teaching and Curriculum in Middle School and High School |
1.0 |
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Practicum: Curriculum and Supervised Teaching |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Educating English Learners |
1.0 |
Education Electives
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Course Number |
Course Title |
1.0 |
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Introduction to the Black Experience |
1.0 |
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African American History 1500-Present |
1.0 |
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Black Studies at Wellesley and Beyond |
1.0 |
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From Mumbet to Michelle Obama: Black Women's History |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Black Politics and the Anxieties of Incorporation |
1.0 |
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Ethnic Studies: Key Concepts, Theories, and Methods |
1.0 |
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The Asian American Experience |
1.0 |
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Introduction to Latina/o Studies |
1.0 |
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Asian American Psychology |
1.0 |
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Life in the Big City: Urban Studies and Policy |
1.0 |
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Salsa, Sriracha, and Ketchup: Comparative Perspectives on US and Global Migration |
1.0 |
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Racial Regimes in the United States and Beyond |
1.0 |
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Histories of Asian American Labor and Immigration |
1.0 |
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Rainbow Republic: American Queer Culture from Walt Whitman to Lady Gaga |
1.0 |
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Afro-Latinas/os in the U.S. |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Crossing the Border(s): Narratives of Transgression |
1.0 |
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Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Critiquing American Popular Culture |
1.0 |
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Political Anthropology |
1.0 |
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Anthropology In and Of the City |
1.0 |
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Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Museums Speak: Communication and Controversy |
1.0 |
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Psychology of Language |
1.0 |
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Intro to Game Design |
1.0 |
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Artificial Intelligence |
1.0 |
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Designing for Accessibility |
1.0 |
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Poverty and Inequality in Latin America |
1.0 |
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Advanced Economics of Education |
1.0 |
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The Economics of Law, Policy and Inequality |
1.0 |
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Intersections of Technology, Social Justice, and Conflict |
1.0 |
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Out of Many: American History to 1877 |
1.0 |
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The United States History since 1865 |
1.0 |
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Native America |
1.0 |
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Introduction to Linguistics |
1.0 |
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Sociolinguistics |
1.0 |
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Language: Form and Meaning |
1.0 |
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Introduction to Historical Linguistics |
1.0 |
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Bilingualism: An Exploration of Language, Mind, and Culture |
1.0 |
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Seminar: African American English |
1.0 |
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Introduction to the Study of Conflict, Justice, and Peace |
1.0 |
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Qualitative Methods in the Social Sciences |
1.0 |
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Gender, Race, and the Carceral State |
1.0 |
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Introduction to Social Philosophy |
1.0 |
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Epistemic Harms |
1.0 |
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American Political Economy |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Immigration Politics and Policy |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Race and American Politics |
1.0 |
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A Seat at the Table? Race and Representation in American Institutional Life |
1.0 |
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Neoliberalism and its Critics |
1.0 |
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Beyond Prisons: Resistance, Reform, Abolition |
1.0 |
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Introduction to Psychology |
1.0 |
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Developmental Psychology |
1.0 |
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Social Psychology |
1.0 |
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Cognition |
1.0 |
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Cultural Psychology |
1.0 |
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Research Methods in Developmental Psychology |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Language Acquisition |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Adolescent Psychology: Bridging Research and Practice |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Child and Adolescent Psychopathology |
1.0 |
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Clinical and Educational Assessments |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Prejudice and Discrimination |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Social Imagination |
1.0 |
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Seminar: Development of a Theory of Mind |
1.0 |
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South Asian Diasporas |
1.0 |
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Social Exclusion |
1.0 |
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Modern Families and Social Inequalities |
1.0 |
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Social Inequality: Race, Class and Gender |
1.0 |
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Population and Society |
1.0 |
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Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Crime and Justice in America |
1.0 |
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Feminist Methods |
1.0 |
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MIT EC. 717 |
D-Lab: Education and Learning |
0.75 |
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MIT 11.124 |
Introduction to Education: Looking Forward and Looking Back on Education |
0.75 |
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MIT 11.125 |
Introduction to Education: Understanding and Evaluating Education |
0.75 |
Additional Considerations to the Education Studies Major:
Beyond the requirements described above:
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Advising is a central element of the education studies major. In consultation with an advisor, students will develop a well-structured and coherent course plan. Students may choose, but are not required, to outline an area of concentration, with an advisor’s support, within the major such as education policy, urban education, or bilingual/bicultural education. Given the wide variety in student interest and the diversity in education coursework, there are many possibilities.
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Students must complete a minimum of two 300-level courses taught within the education department. Courses satisfying the 300-level requirement include those on the Education Research and Theory list. These courses may include the capstone seminars, other 300-level education courses, and 360/370 (counting as one course for this purpose).
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Students may take EDUC 250 or 350 (Research or Individual Study), but only one unit of independent study may be counted towards the major. EDUC 350 courses may not be used to fulfill the minimum requirement that two education courses be at the 300-level.
Honors in Education Studies
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral defense of the thesis. To be admitted to the thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100 level; the department may petition on the student’s behalf if the student’s GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5. See Academic Distinctions.
Advanced Placement Policy in Education Studies
Students may not count AP credits toward the fulfillment of the education studies major, education studies minor, or teaching and learning studies minor.