Courses

Inquiry Project Seminar

This course provides students enrolled in the course-only Masters of Education with the opportunity to focus on individual, inquiry-based projects. Students have completed a minimum of 4 full course equivalents (8 half courses) before enrolling in the Inquiry Project Seminar.

Research and Issues in Language, Culture and Teaching

Core course requirement for all doctoral students. Epistemologies, underlying theories, and research approaches to language, culture and teaching are examined. The seminar considers questions of knowledge, social/nature relations, and educational praxis in relation to dynamics of language, culture and teaching.

Theory and Research in Language, Culture and Teaching

This course uses presentations, readings, and discussion to examine some of the conceptual and theoretical issues of interest to educators in the areas of language, culture and teaching and the interrelationship among these areas.

Theory, Method and Issues in Comparative Education.

This course introduces students to the theory and methodology of Comparative Education. It focuses on such fundamental questions as the purpose of Comparative Education, the changing approaches to Comparative Education and what "scientific" methodology entails Comparative Education research.

Research Proposal Seminar

Non-credit, required of all masters students.

The purpose of the seminar is threefold: to a) support student development in the conceptualization of the research proposal for the Major Research Project (MRP) and thesis, b) create a community of graduate students around research activities including writing research proposals, conducting field work, writing research report, disseminating research findings at conferences and in academic journals, and c) provide an opportunity for students to present and critique each other's research proposals. Proposal presentations will be scheduled for every session; seminars/workshops on the essentials of proposal preparation will be offered at most sessions. Those enrolled are required to participate in at least three scheduled sessions.

N.B. Seminar sessions are not to replace collaboration with thesis/MRP supervisors

Qualitative Research Methods in Education

This course introduces the concepts, history and methodologies of qualitative research and their significance for the study of education. The major emphasis is on strategies for data gathering and data reduction (including naturalistic observation, participant observation, open ended interviewing, and category generation).

Quantitative Research Methods in Education

This course discusses theoretical, practical and ethical considerations, decisions and processes involved in conducting quantitative research in education. It explores the research process from formulating research questions, study design, sampling, data collection, analysis and interpretation, to communicating research processes and findings. (Same as MATHS 5910.03)

Research in Mathematics Education

This course will involve participants in analysing a diverse range of theoretical and methodological approaches to mathematics education research. Through an evaluation of the literature participants will develop an understanding of contemporary issues and debates within the mathematics education community. (same as MATHS 5920.03)

Mixed-Research Methods in Education.

Mixed-methods research is an approach for blending quantitative and qualitative data in a single case study or series of studies. This course considers the conceptual issues surrounding this approach as well as the practical aspects of study design, sampling, data collection, analysis, integration, and presentation in mixed-methods research.

Narrative Inquiry

This course examines narrative as both epistemology and research method. It combines an exploration of narrative methods in the study of educational experience with an analysis of narrative as a fundamental form of meaning making.

Life History Research Methods and Applications

This course examines both the methods and uses of life history research within the field of education. Various forms of life history research are explored through a variety of theoretical and thematic lenses. Contested terrain is also examined.

Seminar in In-depth Interviewing

This seminar studies theories, philosophies, and practices of in-dept interviewing in qualitative research, explores a few orientations to the in-depth interview process, and considers problems of conceptualization and interpretation. A series of orientations are discussed, for example: phenomenological in-depth interview; the ethnographic interview; and topical, or issue-focused interviews. Topics may include: theories of representation, conceptualizing research problems and interview protocols, analyzing interviews, research relations, poetics and politics of listening; roles and qualities of interpretation.

Survey Research Methods.

A complete introduction to the theory and practice of survey research, covering its historical development, research design, questionnaire and sample design and data collection.  No prerequisite. Same as Sociology 6120 Cr=3.00.

Survey Design Practicum.

This course provides a complete, hands-on-experience in designing a survey, gathering data and analyzing it.  Students will design a web-based survey and then collect data using facilities at the Institute for Social Research.  No prerequisite.  Same as Sociology  6121 Cr=3.0.

(de)Colonizing Research Methodologies.

This course examines the colonizing roots, contemporary problems, and possibilities of field-based research methodologies with relevance to education.  From issues in science and positivism to anthropological questions of representation and ethics, the course asks what it means to decolonize methodology. (Same as Women’s Studies 6111 Cr=3.0)

Action Learning (x with ENVS 6144)

Examination of an "action learning" approach to research (Participatroy Action Research), planning, management, and social change. Included are examination of theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical aspects of action learning, and evaluation of its ptential impact on change processes. (Same as Environmental Studies 6144).

Textual Analysis in Education

This course is a methodological exploration of education texts as they mediate communication between educators, and connect schools to other social institutions, such as social welfare, public health, the media, and families.

Learning Through Archival Encounters

This course addresses the archive — institutional and informal — as a source of historical authority, and as a site of resistance. Students engage in various archival encounters to develop an understanding of archives in relation to research, learning and teaching.

Research and Artistic Creation

This interdisciplinary graduate seminar is an advanced research methods course. The course is designed to support Social Science, Humanities and Fine Arts scholars to develop excellence in research, education, and professional practice in artistic disciplines.

Advanced Methods in Research and Artistic Creation

This seminar enables participants to develop and refine major research projects that integrate artistic practices, education, and scholarly work. Participants will develop a program of research/creation which fosters the creation of literary or artistic works.

Prerequisite EDUC 5240.

Drama and Arts Education

This course identifies major trends in research, including classroom-based inquiry, action research, process drama and reflective practice design in drama and arts education. The course also examines applications of drama and arts education research and practice as tools for teaching a range of subject areas. (same as THST 5245.03)

Aesthetics, Music, Education

The course considers the intrinsic nature of music in the human experience, the expressivity of music, and the meaningful quality of music in our societies. The main aim of the course is to examine the means and principles by which we might approach the question of musical universals and negotiate differing aesthetic positions in our world.

Practitioner Research

This course offers an overview of definitions and perspectives on the relationship of scholarship to the work of practitioners (e.g., artists, teachers, social workers, adult educators, health care practitioners). It offers theoretical and practical support for students interested in research oriented to activism and social change.

Research Practicum on Focus Groups and Surveys for Higher Education

This course examines focus group and survey methodology in higher education. Students learn how to conduct their own focus groups and analyze survey data on the student experience using SPSS. No prior methods or statistics courses assumed.

Oral Language Learning in the Classroom

This course provides a critical examination of the theoretical positions and research findings on oral language learning. Discourse analysis of classroom transcripts allows for close examination of the impact of oral language patterns, and their implications for assessment and pedagogy.

Literacy and Social Practice

The theorization of literacy as a social practice is considered in terms of contexts such as family, school, new media, workplace, and cultural communities. Through contrastive analyses of exemplars of such contexts, principles are developed about what literacy is as it is occurs in everyday contexts.

Language in the Cosmopolis: Theory and Method

The course provides training in the conceptualization and conduct of language-related research in urban contexts characterized by transnational migration, transience, and flux. Intended for advanced Masters- and doctoral- level students, the course addresses problems in and approaches to both discourse-based and empirical inquiry.

Reading, Writing and Critical Literacy

This course consists of a critical examination of both the theoretical positions and research findings concerning reading and writing. This examination functions as a basis for evaluating current assessment and instructional practices used with children who do and don't learn well in schools. The course elaborates on theory and research findings that are conducive to making the classroom more facilitative of literacy acquisition for all learners. The course facilitates student inquiry into practice by exploring literacy issues from theoretical, personal, political and professional perspectives.

Reading Theories — A Critical Analysis

Several major theoretical perspectives on learning to read are used to critically consider how they deal with the following questions: What counts as text? Who is the reader? What is context? What is (a) reading?

Adolescent and Children's Literature

This course explores child/adolescent literature from theoretical, artistic, cultural, historical, pedagogical and political perspectives, examining literary examples as contextually constructed. Attention to race, class and gender and aesthetic and moral questions promotes critical readings of texts old and new.

Children's Literature: Approaches and Issues

An exploration of approaches taken in the creation, interpretation and application of children's literature in the modern western world, this course focuses on the recent emergence of critical approaches to the literature, emphasizing the growth and significance of multicultural theory. Same as English 6081 6.0

African-American Literature

A study of African American writers, their literary and extra-literary influences and their historical and cultural contexts. Same as English 6630 6.0

Indigeneity and Territory in Cultural Traditions

This course examines theories of traditional territory in narrative primacy and methodology in oral and literate cultures; the primacy of voice and story in First Nations nature traditions; the relationship of 'place' and story in the heritage of North American nature/environmental education. Same as Environmental Studies 6154 Cr=3.0 .

Second Language Instruction

This course critically analyzes issues prominent in the research, theoretical and pedagogical literature on second language learning and teaching. Selected readings emphasize linguistic, social, psycholinguistic and educational perspectives on second language instruction. Emphasis is placed on English and French as Second/Foreign languages. (Same as Linguistics 5670 3.0)

Reading and Writing in a Second Language: Theory to Practice

This course examines theoretical constructs relevant to reading and writing in a second language and reviews existing empirical research in order to draw implications and applications for second language pedagogy (i.e. curriculum and materials development, effective classroom practice and assessment). (Same as Linguistics 6230 3.0)

Listening and Speaking in a Second Language: Theory to Practice

This course examines theoretical constructs relevant to listening and speaking (including pronunciation) in a second language and reviews empirical research in order to draw implications and applications for second language pedagogy: curriculum, materials development, effective classroom practice and assessment. (Same as Linguistics 6240 3.0)

Multilingual Education

This course considers multilingual education within the competing forces of multiculturalism and globalization, exploring language policy and human rights, the teaching of community and international languages locally, nationally and overseas, evolving multiliteracies, language use in virtual space, and the internationalization of education. (Same as Linguistics 6290 3.0)

Education and Childhood in Canadian History

This course explores themes in the history of education and childhood from New France to the present. It covers all regions of Canada and focuses on elementary and secondary schooling. (Same as History 5125 3.0)

Education and Childhood in Canadian History

This course surveys major themes in the history of education and childhood in Canada from New France to the present. It explores the relationship between education and social change and critically assesses the historical literature in the field. (Same as History 5125 6.0)

Gender, Race and Class Relations in the History of Canadian Schooling

This course examines the multiple and complex ways in which the social relations of gender, race and class, involving students, teachers, administrators and community leaders, have permeated, and to a large extent determined, the historical (and present-day) activities and outcomes of schooling in Canada.

Policy Issues in Postsecondary Education

This course reviews Canadian postsecondary education policy issues with a focus on Ontario. The course tracks major policy developments that have shaped postsecondary education in Canada and Ontario and identifies contemporary policy priorities in PSE. We will also consider the nature of policy–making in postsecondary education, and the roles and responsibilities of the federal and provincial governments, identifying the unique structural and environmental factors that influence Canadian policy-making.

History of Higher Education in Canada

This course examines selected themes in the social and intellectual history of Canadian higher education from the mid nineteenth to the late twentieth century. Topics include secularization, professionalization, student life, the experience of women, adult education, and community colleges. (Same as History 5126 3.0)

Changing Currents in Post-Secondary Education

This course examines key themes in the world of post-secondary education. It explores the development of colleges, universities and adult education, and includes the study of post-secondary education in Canada, the United States and other international venues.

Higher Education and Economic Life.

This course examines the key social and political issues involved in the relationship between post-secondary education and the modern economy. The course combines theoretical understandings of contemporary higher education with specific debates about academic and economic policy.

Globalization and Comparative Higher Education

This course introduces the field of Comparative Higher Education, and explores issues relating to global roles and responsibilities of universities and colleges. It provides an overview of major concepts and research methods in the field, and the trends of development since the 19th century.

Faculty Unions and their Associations in Canada

This course looks at the variety of ways university faculty members organize themselves to negotiate the terms and conditions of their work and to define the relationship between their scholarship and community life. It also examines the roles of provincial and national organizations of faculty associations (OCUFA, CAUT, etc.) in overall processes of governance in higher education. Same as Sociology 6852.

Race, Culture and Schooling

This course examines the prevailing attitudes and beliefs about race, ethnicity and culture in Canadian society and their effects on the schooling of minority group students. Policy, provision and pedagogy for integrating multicultural and anti-racist education into the mainstream curriculum are explored. (Same as Social Anthropology 5170 3.0 and Linguistics 6270 3.0)

Discourses of Race and Racist Discourse

This seminar works with an understanding of race as a complex set of social meanings, that are being constantly transformed. It explores the relationships between discourses of race and discourses of identity and culture. It examines how race converges with discourses of nation, class, gender, colonialism and the postcolonial.(Same as Anthropology 5200E.)

Sexualities and Education

This course considers contemporary debates in the study of sexualities. Drawing upon research and literature in the humanities, social sciences and arts, theories of sexuality are placed in conversation with issues in education. Topics to be covered may include: childhood and adolescent sexualities, teacher's sexualities, controversies in sex education, representations of AIDS, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered issues and identities in education, and representations of sexuality across the curriculum. (Same as Women' Studies 6119)

Studies of Adolescents and Cultural Experience

This seminar considers how adolescents are conceptualized in research, education, and the arts. Topics may include: methods for the study of adolescents; adolescent sexualities; studies in prejudice; adolescence in history; the politics of adolescent cultures; and commitment and disaffection in youth.

Transitions, Access, and the Education of New Canadians

This course examines the construct of "new" Canadians and issues of transition and access at the secondary and post-secondary levels in the Canadian educational system and considers the salience of ethnicity, gender, race and social class in the education and employment of immigrants.

Urban Education

This seminar explores the social and cultural issues often associated with today's urban schools. With reference to social class, ethnicity, race and immigration, we examine how school curricula and programs relate to the educational, social and cultural demands and needs of students. Topic areas include: conceptions of urban community; urban communities, schools and the heterogeneous student population; multicultural and anti-racism education as responses to the needs of today's students; youth culture in conflict with the school's culture; inclusive schools. (Same as Linguistics 6284 3.0)

Global Education in the Classroom: Research and Practice

The course examines research and practice of global education and global learning in the classroom, placing particular emphasis on how perspectives and knowledge of global interconnectedness and interdependence are infused into classroom instruction across the curriculum from primary to secondary grades.

Education for Sustainability

This course provides an introduction to education for sustainability through an interdisciplinary approach involving social, economic and environmental concerns. It will build on each student's knowledge about his/her discipline (e.g., science, history, geography) or issue (social justice, gender equity, ecological stability) and explore how that knowledge can add to the overall picture of education for sustainability. (Cross listed with ENVS 6142 Cr=3.00)

Education, Sustainability and the Ecological Crisis.

This course examines the deep cultural dimensions of the ecological crisis and considers the implications for public education.  Discussing pre-contact indigenous models of education the course examines education’s role in developing mind and landscape.  At Black Creek Pioneer Village historic sustainability and contemporary environmental, social and educational malaise are studied.  The course concludes by envisioning education to create sustainable culture.  No pre-/co-requisites. Same as ENVS 6141 Cr=3.0.

Ecology, Ethics and Education

This course examines the nested relationship between culture, education and the larger ecological system, with specific attention to developing eco-ethical consciousness as a means toward attending to the patterns of belief and behaviour leading to ecological degradation.

Adult and Community Education

This course provides an introduction to the discourses and practices of adult and community education. The readings focus on historical, methodological and philosophical approaches, and debates within the field. Inquiry into a specific site of adult education is a course requirement.

Women in Higher Education

This course examines a range of contemporary feminist scholarship on women faculty, students and administrators in higher education. Topics include the historical, social and institutional context of women in higher education; women as academic leaders, faculty and students; feminist theoretical and research perspectives, pedagogy and curricular transformation; and comparative and international perspectives.

Student Experiences and Educational Outcomes in Colleges and Universitites

This course provides a critical review of the research literature on the student experience in post secondary education. Issues of access, retention, learning and assessment will be considered along with the application of theory to the policy and practice of student services in post secondary institutions.

Sociology of Education

This course analyses the institutional and organisational dynamics of education. The relation of education to other sub systems are considered such as the family, work, politics, beliefs and the law. Same as Sociology 6850 Cr=3.0 or 6.0.

Sociology of Professional Education

This course reviews theoretical debates regarding the nature of professions and professional education. The course critically examines the relationship between professional knowledge, responsibility, autonomy, and power. Issues surrounding diversity and equity in professional education and alternative models of professional education will be explored. Specific reference to the teaching profession in Ontario is made.

Current Policy Issues in Ontario Schooling

This course examines state-mandated policies in Ontario schooling from a critical perspective, and analyses their potential impact on established philosophy, content and practise of schooling. Alternative visions of educational reform will be explored.

Comparative Perspectives on Global Migration and Education

This course employs comparative and international perspectives to examine global migration and education. The course examines comparative education theory, causes of global migration, and pertinent issue areas including social inclusion and exclusion, gender, language, religion, international organizations, and globalization.

Issues in Globalization and Education

This course inquires broadly into notions of globalization from the perspective of education. It examines the antecedents of globalization, the emerging processes of globalization and conceptual resources for understanding the impact of globalization on educational policy and practice.

Cultural Studies in Education and Society

This course explores research and practice at the intersection of education and cultural studies. Dynamics of production and signification, creativity and resistance are examined as contested grounds for learning within schools and informal cultural institutions.

Representation and Visual Culture

This course critically analyzes issues in the history and theory of representation and visual culture. The emphasis is on aspects of visual culture in 18th-20th Century Europe and North America and its role in the (re)production, mediation, and contestation of contemporary knowledge. Topics include: educating the public through institutions of cultural display; constructing local knowledge through ritual and spectacle; writing history and monuments and public memory. (Same as Art History 5180 3.0)

Families and Schools

This course inquires into the historically organized relationship between families and schools. Drawing from and contrasting the research literature, policy and curriculum documents, and auto-ethnographic narratives, this course will explore the interdependence and opposition between families and schools.

Narratives of Teaching

The seminar analyzes representations of teaching and teachers in literature, research, and popular culture. It analyzes "types" of teachers in films and popular representations of teaching dilemmas. It explores problems of becoming a teacher, debates in representing the teacher's emotional, cultural, and intellectual world, and inquires into theoretical dilemmas made from thinking about teaching.

Research into Teaching and Learning in Jewish Schools

This course examines some of the central questions within current academic discourse about teaching and learning in Jewish schools and moves towards an exploration of the ways in which different disciplines might inform research into Jewish schooling.

Curriculum Study

This course utilizes the concept of curriculum as a frame to examine issues of gender, race, class, power, politics, language, literacy, learning, and issues pertaining to intersections between autobiography and curriculum. Many facets of curriculum theory are also explored.

Teaching Writing

This course develops understanding of writing and writing instruction through involvement in the writing process, observation and discussion of classroom writing and instructional practices and through critical examination of writing research and theory. Instructors present and examine key aspects of writing process, pupils' development as writers, curriculum and research. Candidates are expected to engage in personal writing regularly, in, and out of class. Candidates are also expected to present to the class an examination of a particular aspect of the development of writing in the classroom through a critical application of current research and theory.

Research on Writing.

This course examines theoretical and methodological perspectives on researching the learning, teaching and assessment of writing in academic and non-academic settings.  It considers learning to write, writing to learn, and the relationships between reading and writing in L1 and L2.  Same as LING 6285 Cr=3.0.

The Act of Writing

This workshop course generates writing and explores the art and craft of fiction, creative nonfiction (memoir, essay) and/or poetry.  Students consider authorial stance and technical features in range of literary works.  Genre focus will depend on the expertise of instructor(s) and student interest.

Creative Writing Pedagogy

This course investigates creative writing pedagogy through both theory and practice. As creative writing is a process-based discipline, students will first develop a deep engagement with their own creative writing practice within a learning community. Theoretical readings will then inform reflections upon this experience as well as critical inquiry into the creative process, the workshop model, instructional guides and strategies, and institutional contexts to construct a polytheistic understanding of the learning and teaching of creative writing.

By permission of the instructor(s). While there are no specific prerequisites, this course presumes very high levels of fluency and literacy in English. It is not a course in basic academic writing.

Emergent Literacy

This course analyzes how children become literate. It focuses particularly on the literacy knowledge children have prior to and during the first years of schooling. A range of theoretical positions is explored and critiqued.

Family Literacy

Family literacy practices are explored in this course in terms of their relationship to school practices and children's literacy development. The types of programs schools offer to families to promote school-like literacy practices as well as community-based programs are examined.

Educating Young Children

North American society is deeply conflicted about how young children should be educated. This course examines conflicting views— education as production or education as meaningful growth— and considers theoretical underpinnings for democratic and ecological values. Powerful examples of developmentally appropriate practice are considered in relation to school settings, as well as critiques of those examples. For those concerned with education of children ages three to eight.

The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education

This course explores the inspiration and challenge to North American practice of the Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education. This city of 133,000 in Italy is world renowned for its communal, municipal early childhood programme of 32 schools for very young children. Their holistic, postmodern philosophy and practice challenge mainstream western practice with young children, suggesting children are much more intellectually and socially capable than we think.

Pedagogical Documentation in Early Childhood Education

Pedagogical documentation is a qualitative research methodology. Developed by educators of the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education, such documentation combines images and text to follow lines of inquiry that make young children's learning visible.

Pre-requisite: EDUC 5545 The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education or permission of the instructor.

Play, Language and Learning

Classic and contemporary theoretical perspectives on the role of play in language and learning are explored. Examples of contemporary research on the intersections of play, language and learning in school and non-school contexts are also considered.

Assessment in Education

This course examines the conceptual, ethical and social dimensions of assessment in education; the processes of designing, using and evaluating assessment procedures for various educational contexts and purposes; and the roles and consequences of assessment in education.

Second Language Assessment

This course examines the historical, theoretical, ethical, social, political and practical dimensions of second-language (L2) assessment; theoretical models of L2 ability and use; and the processes of designing, evaluating and using L2 assessments for various contexts and purposes. Same as Linguistics 6200 Cr=3.00.

Paradigms: Ways of Knowing

This course provides an introduction to major paradigms and world views and an examination of their influences on the social sciences, in particular on theories and practices in education.

'Indigenous' Ways of Knowing

This course examines “indigenous” scholarship among First Nations in what is now known as Canada and the United States. The ways of knowing which give expression to indigenous conceptualizations and their intersections with western European languages and scholarly paradigms is the point of departure for this exploration.

Education and Social Justice in Postmodernity

What can social justice mean in light of attempts to reconceptualize justice as an ethical and political relation to difference? This question is explored through diverse philosophical and educational writing across such themes as hospitality, promising, forgiveness, and the political uses and depiction of foreignness.

Democracy and Education: Pedagogical Considerations of Deliberation and the Politics of Interruption

This course engages the varied ways of linking democracy and education from the perspective of contemporary political-philosophy. Particular focus will be on the critical divergence between thinkers who emphasize a deliberative educational-model and those who forefront a politics/pedagogy of interruption.

Ethical Possibilities in Education

This seminar draws on a history of ethical philosophy to examine ethics in the relation between students and teachers. We will critically explore notions like happiness, empathy, duty, guilt and hope, theorizing how these inform and disrupt educational relationships.

Full Inclusion of All Students: Theory and Practice

This course treats the theory, purposes, and practices of the inclusion of all students, regular and exceptional, in the regular classroom on a full-time basis. Major areas of consideration are the rationale for full inclusion, parent and educator objectives in full inclusion, service delivery models, role of resource personnel, role of the regular classroom teacher, the social curriculum, the academic curriculum, design of individual education programmes, monitoring of student progress, and teaching preparation for full inclusion.

Critical Perspectives on Special Education

There are many ways to meet the needs of students with exceptionalities. Our province continues to provide two separate streams of education: general and special. This course will examine critical issues around equity, access, teacher preparation and inclusive education.

Pedagogy and Empowerment

This course studies discourses and practices related to exclusion and inclusion and their effects on education for students with disabilities from a critical perspective. The course considers inclusive pedagogies as ways of empowering the full circle of people involved in, and affected by, the education of these individuals. (Same as CDIS 5030).

Students with Disabilities in Post-Secondary Education

This course examines historical, contemporary, legal and pedagogical perspectives on the education of students with disabilities in post-secondary settings in Canada.

Disability in Society

Historical and mythological roots of attitudes toward disability lay the foundation for examining the treatment of disability in the arts, media and literature. Research, education, philosophical and legislative issues are raised, as well as the concerns of individuals with disabilities.

Critical Perspectives on the Theory and Research on the Behaviour of Young Children

This course challenges students to reflect on why children are excluded from classes and programs because of their behaviour and to explore behaviour from a variety of theoretical perspectives. This course is of interest to those who work with young children, ages 4 to 8, in community schools and programmes.

Issues in Language and Literacy Education for Special Populations

This course examines some of the key questions, debates and controversies surrounding language and literacy education, with a special focus on analyzing theories, policies and practices in language and literacy education for students who have disabilities which affect communication and language learning.

Critical Pedagogy

This course explores the role of schooling in the reproduction of social inequality and the possibility of developing teaching materials and strategies which support the project of social transformation. Topics include: critical theory and educational practice; hegemony and the hidden curriculum; teacher/student resistance and accommodation.

Pedagogy and Social Difference

This course examines what discourses of social difference and theories of representation offer to the rethinking of pedagogy. Topics include: psychoanalysis and pedagogy; theories of representing sex, race, and gender; AIDS and education; textuality and social difference; imagined communities; reading practices and the production of difference. (Same as Social & Political Thought 6015 3.0 and Women's Studies 6506 3.0)

Seminar in Psychoanalytic Theory and Pedagogy

This seminar engages some key concepts in psychoanalysis to investigate learning and contemporary psychoanalytic debates in education. Concepts such as resistance, trauma, transference, identification and projection, and theories of aggression, hatred, and love will be considered, along with the reading of contemporary novels, memories, and research in education. Theses analytic concepts question the time of learning, its fault lines, and the relations individuals make with the self through the other. The seminar considers foundational methodological writings in the interdisciplinary field of education and psychoanalysis and some contemporary debates posed by more recent pedagogies on education as symptomatic of crisis. (Same as Social & Political Thought 6628 3.0 and Women's Studies 6509 3.0)

Feminist Pedagogy

The course explores feminist theories and philosophical concerns emerging from and related to experiences and objects of pedagogy. It considers ongoing critique and revision of feminist discourse, and challenges socio-cultural and ideological assumptions underscoring theories of learning, teaching, and curriculum. Same as Women’s Studies 6507 Cr=3.00.

Fundamentals of Mathematics for Teachers

Number theory and combinatorics are branches of mathematics in which theorems and problems are usually easy to state but often difficult to prove or resolve. This course deals with topics in these two fundamental mathematical fields, including modular arithmetic, linear and quadratic Diophantine equations, continued fractions, permutations and combinations, distributions and partitions, recurrence relations, generating functions, formal power series. Stress is placed on solving challenging problems. (Same as Mathematics & Statistics 5020.)

Pre-requisite: Permission of the instructor is required for students who are not in the Graduate Program in Mathematics and Statistics.

Mathematical Literature Seminar for Teachers

This course deals with a variety of mathematical issues, and is intended to convince the students that mathematics is meaningful, that some of its problems are profound, and that the evolution of some of its ideas is an exciting chapter of intellectual history. Students are encouraged to present material in class, and one of the key objectives of the course is to develop in students the ability to read independently and critically in the relevant mathematical literature. (Same are Mathematics & Statistics 5100.)

Pre-requisite: Permission of the instructor is required for students who are not in the Graduate Program in Mathematics and Statistics.

Topics in Mathematics for Teachers

Topics are chosen according to the interests of students. Typical subject material includes mathematical modelling, applications of mathematics in the physical and social sciences, and recent developments in mathematics. (Same as Mathematics & Statistics 5500.)

Pre-requisite: Permission of the instructor is required for students who are not in the Graduate Program in Mathematics and Statistics.

History of Mathematics

The course deals with the historical development of the main currents of mathematical thought from ancient to modern times, with emphasis on ideas of particular relevance to high school teachers. It is intended that this course give students an overview of mathematics and its relation to other disciplines. Presentation of various topics by students with ensuing discussions is an integral part of the course. (Same as Mathematics & Statistics 5400.)

Pre-requisite: Permission of the instructor is required for students who are not in the Graduate Program in Mathematics and Statistics.

Analysis for Teachers

Some of the basic concepts and methods of analysis are discussed. Among these are: axiomatic development of the real and complex number systems, classical inequalities, sequences, series, power series, uniform convergence. Taylor's theorem, elementary functions of a real and of a complex variable, entire functions, transcendental numbers and functions, fundamental theorem of algebra and Picard's theorem, transcendentality of e a pi, elementary differential equations, applications. (Same as Mathematics & Statistics 5410)

Pre-requisite: Permission of the instructor is required for students who are not in the Graduate Program in Mathematics and Statistics.

Problem Solving I

This course aims to develop the student's problem solving ability by examining a variety of challenging problems from famous collections. Emphasis will be placed on problem- solving techniques of wide applicability, such as recursion and iteration methods, generating functions and power series, transformation methods, vector methods (both geometric and algebraic), and congruences.  (Same as Mathematics & Statistics 5210).

Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor is required for students who are not in the Graduate Programme in Mathematics and Statistics. 

Problem Solving II

This course aims to develop the student's problem solving ability by examining a variety of challenging problems from famous collections. Emphasis will be placed on problem- solving techniques of wide applicability, such as recursion and iteration methods, generating functions and power series, transformation methods, vector methods (both geometric and algebraic), and congruences.  (Same as Mathematics & Statistics 5220).

Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor is required for students who are not in the Graduate Programme in Mathematics and Statistics. 

Algebra for Teachers

The intent of this course is to give the student an appreciation of mathematical structure through the study of fields, rings and groups, with examples from, and applications to, number theory and geometry. Emphasis is placed on how modern algebra unifies diverse results, and how it sheds light on classical algebraic problems. For example, field extensions will be applied to problems of construction with ruler and compass; factorization theory in integral domains will be applied to solutions of Diophantine equations. (Same as Mathematics & Statistics 5420.)

Pre-requisite: Permission of the instructor is required for students who are not in the Graduate Program in Mathematics and Statistics.

Geometry for Teachers

This course exposes students to the richness and variety of geometrical methods. Various geometries, including Euclidean, affine, projective, inversive, non-Euclidean, and finite geometries, and the transformations associated with these geometries, are studied from the unifying point of view of affine and metric affine geometry. Many applications to Euclidean geometry are given. Same as Mathematics & Statistics 5450 Cr=6.0.

Statistics for Teachers

Review of the concepts underlying the Ontario high school course: MDM4U: Mathematics of Data Management.  Use of public data to address social issues. Data analysis and visualization using the Fathom statistical package. Fundamental issues, controversies and paradoxes in probability and in statistical inference. Association and causation, Simpson’s Paradox, ecological correlation, conditional association and stratification.  (Same as Mathematics & Statistics 5430).

Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor is required for students who are not in the Graduate Programme in Mathematics and Statistics.

Probability for Teachers

Review of the concepts underlying the Ontario high school course: MDM4U: Mathematics of Data Management.  Use of public data to address social issues. Data analysis and visualization using the Fathom statistical package. Fundamental issues, controversies and paradoxes in probability and in statistical inference. Association and causation, Simpson’s Paradox, ecological correlation, conditional association and stratification.  (Same as Mathematics & Statistics 5440).

Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor is required for students who are not in the Graduate Programme in Mathematics and Statistics.

Computation in Mathematics for Teachers

This course will concentrate on the role of computation in mathematics relying on popular software designed for this purpose. The examples to be discussed will be chosen from applied mathematics using high school calculus, elementary number theory, probability, numerical approximation of familiar constants and discrete mathematics. The intention will be that any one of the topics could serve as the basis for supplementary material or a project for highly motivated students in the final years of high school. Students taking this course will be evaluated on the basis of reports written on each of the topics discussed. (Same as Mathematics & Statistics 5300).

Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor is required for students who are not in the Graduate Programme in Mathematics and Statistics.

Mathematics Learning Environments

This course explores issues in mathematics education in light of new developments in learning theory. It seeks to characterize mathematics learning environments as rich contexts for active engagement with mathematical ideas. These environments reflect the complex nature of mathematical learning as being socio-cultural, emergent, distributed, and negotiated in nature. A specialised mathematics background is not a prerequisite for the course. Same as MATH 5840 Cr=3.00

Thinking about Teaching Mathematics

This course invites participants to reflect on the practice of teaching mathematics in light of research, theory, and their own experiences. It examines how teachers draw on mathematical and pedagogical knowledge in their work. (Same as Mathematics & Statistics 5900).

A specialised mathematics background is not a prerequisite.

Mathematics and Science Understanding in Early Childhood

This course examines the development of mathematics and science understanding in early childhood (birth to age 8). Young children are motivated to try to understand their world and develop their own theories and hypotheses about how their world operates. This course investigates texts exploring what they think, how their thinking changes during early childhood, and the intersections of the developmental with the cultural and social.

Technology and Mathematics Education

This course will involve participants in critically examining the role of technology in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Readings and experiences with technological applications will provide the basis for analysis of central themes and issues.(Same as Mathematics and Statistics 5848).

A specialised mathematics background is not a prerequisite.

Science, Technology and Society

Science and Technology assert a profound influence on what we do and how we do it. This course takes up the question of science and technology education. What is it? What might it be? And how might it respond to contemporary social and ecological realities?

Cultural Studies in Science Education

This course examines issues of inclusion with respect to science education. Notions of identity with respect to gender, race, social class, etc. are analyzed in relation to the values and culture of science education.

Cultural Studies of Technology for Education

This course examines the educative possibilities of digital media, asking whether and how we know is reshaped, re-mediated and invariably altered by technological affordances. The course focuses primarily on the design, development and practical implementation of technologies in education.

Technological Mediations in Visual Culture.

This course examines the interconnectedness of representation and visual culture in contemporary wired society. Students will critically explore and assess the influence and shaping of technological mediations in visual culture investigating theory, culture, globalization, and education. Same as ARTH 5185 and CMCT 6539.

Issues in Digital Technology in Education

This course critically examines social and pedagogical issues arising from the use of digital technology in K-12 schools, higher education, and professional learning. It is conducted through a combination of face-to-face meetings and online computer conferencing.

Education and the World Wide Web: Critical Vantage Points

This seminar examines the World Wide Web, its history, philosophies, and ethical issues. Different theoretical viewpoints are used to critically examine Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.00 in relation to education; media, participatory culture, and cybercolonial theories.

Gender, Equity, New Technologies and Education

This interdisciplinary course examines contemporary cultural conceptions and practices of gender identities in relation to patterns of competency and uses of new technologies, both inside and outside of schools. The course explores contemporary research, theory and online environments in relation to questions about identities, equity and digital media. (Same as WMST 6122.03)

Digital Games and Learning

This course examines play as it is currently developed and popularly imagined in digital games in order to more closely examine what is "learned" in those immersive environments and ask how they might more productively be harnessed for educative ends. Same as CMCT 6537 Cr=3.00

Independent Reading Course

Directed Reading courses normally relate to the candidate's area of specialization within the programme and are considered only if the proposed topic cannot be addressed through course work. Directed reading course proposals must be approved by the Graduate Executive Committee.

Student Initiated Collaborative Inquiry (SICI)

SICIs are course offerings designed to enable two or more students to pursue a research interest which is not covered by available courses. Content areas are proposed by two or more students and will be offered subject to the availability of a faculty member with expertise in the area of interest and the approval of the Graduate Executive Committee.

Practicum Seminar

The Practicum Seminar uses the university teaching experiences of graduate students to develop focused offerings on topics which link that teaching to issues in Language, Culture and Teaching within higher education settings. These Practicum Seminars are subject to the availability of faculty members and the approval of the Graduate Executive Committee.

Special Topics Seminar

Where there are a sufficient number of candidates with an interest in an area of study appropriate to the Language, Culture and Teaching programme, a Special Topics course may be offered to meet this need.

The Creative Process in Theory and Practice

The intelligence of the imagination — brought forth through a range of expressive media — activates the deep structure of the creative process and results in strongly motivated production of images with high levels of integrity and authenticity. The course includes conceptual and experiential study of the creative process; the role of psychological type in indicating individual creative styles; phases of the creative process; understanding symbols (personal and cultural); and examining self-created rituals and communal ceremonies. A series of exercises activate the imagination: the images evoked are expressed in various art forms but no prior knowledge of art is necessary.

Ethnography of Education

This course addresses ethnographic investigation of educational settings and institutions — neighbourhoods, families, peer groups, schools — focusing on unique insights that ethnography offers into key educational problems. It explores issues of authority, audience, and epistemology involved in ethnographic work.