Social Science & Policy Studies Courses

Energy and Environmental Dynamics helps students develop understanding and proficiency in system dynamics simulation of energy and environmental problems. The majority of this course is devoted to case studies that focus on energy, water and environmental problems in the western USA. Major business applications deal with boom and bust in power plant construction and a similar pattern of boom and bust in real-estate construction.

This course examines current issues in mathematics education and introduces students to the analysis of nested data structures (e.g. students within classrooms). Readings will be drawn from book chapters on multilevel modeling and journal articles that utilize a national longitudinal data set (ECLS-K) to answer questions about student learning in mathematics education. The lab portion of this course will provide students with opportunities to learn and apply hierarchical linear modeling to longitudinal data using two computer programs (HLM and SPSS).

Assessment that supports teaching and learning is the focus of this course. Participants are introduced to the five keys of quality classroom assessment (Chappuis et al.) and examine each individual key through introductory readings, classroom case studies, discussions with colleagues, activities, and personal reflections.

Participants will go through the process of standard-based planning to define learning targets, identify misconceptions, and develop assessment plan. A variety of quantitative and qualitative assessment methods will be introduced and practiced during the course. In addition, participants will review some key documents related to assessment of student learning. The final course assignment is a performance assessment, in which participants are asked to design a quality assessment, employ it in their classroom (if possible), analyze results and reflect on the experience. Participants will be able to develop and receive feedback on the final project’s components during the course.

This course will provide the foundation to enable graduate students to find appropriate funding sources and write a competitive grant proposal in learning sciences and educational psychology research. Students will learn about the entire grant submission process, including proposal development and the peer review evaluation process. The end goal of the course is to create a high quality grant or dissertation fellowship proposal for agencies such as NSF, IES, AERA, and the Spencer Foundation.