Education Studies Minor

Are you considering a graduate degree in teacher education?  Do you have an interest in understanding the broader issues of education as they relate to other fields?  Are you passionate about the potential of education to change lives and contribute to a more socially just and equitable society?

The Education Studies Minor may be a good fit for you!

The Education Studies Minor is flexible and allows you to tailor the required 18- to 20-credits to your unique interests. Students enrolled in the minor have a variety of interests, which may include P-12 schooling, higher education, education policy or law, community-based learning initiatives, and more. In keeping with the mission and vision of the Education Department of Ithaca College, a focus on education as a vehicle for social justice is emphasized across the program.

As an Education Studies minor, by the end of your program you will:

• be able to describe developmental and sociocultural contexts that impact education, including how history, institutional practices, and circumstances impact educational equity.
• demonstrate understandings of the historical and present structures of education and the significance of schools as a cultural institution within a larger system of power.
• demonstrate understandings of the developmental stages of children and adolescents, of a variety of models of cognition, and of how each of these can be connected to effective teaching and learning.
• demonstrate an understanding of the ways learners’ personal, family, and community assets and cultural norms can be accessed and should be used to foster educational equity.
• know how to share something you have accomplished with others and to think of service as related to the active promotion of social justice.

The minor provides academic and practical experience as preparation for employment, for graduate study, or for active participation in civic life.

You will be required to take the following three core courses:

• EDUC 21010: Educational Psychology
• EDUC 34000: Social and Cultural Foundations of Education, and
• EDUC 49600: Capstone in Education Studies

In addition, working closely with an advisor from the Education Department, you will select at least 11 credits of additional courses from approved options to fulfill the minor. 

You can choose from coursework that addresses a wide range of educational issues from within the Education Department and across the college. Students in our minor often take courses in:

• Anthropology
• The Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity
• Communication Studies
• Education
• English
• Health
• Mathematics
• Philosophy
• Politics
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Women's and Gender Studies

A sample list of these courses can be found here.   

The courses offered for Spring 2023 can be found below.

You will complete foundational coursework as a first and second year student. In your junior or senior year, you will complete the Capstone in Education Studies (EDUC 49600), a seminar in which you synthesize key understandings from across your programmatic curriculum.

If you are interested in preparing for graduate study leading to teacher certification, please meet with the Chair of Graduate Programs in Education, Dr. Peter Martin. You can remain at Ithaca College for a fifth year, to complete a graduate program in teacher education. We offer:

• Master of Science (MS) in Childhood Education that leads to elementary teacher certification (grades 1-6)
• Master of Arts in Teaching in Adolescence Education that leads to secondary teacher certification (grades 7-12).
• Master of Arts in Teaching in Agriculture Education that leads to teacher certification (grades P-12)
• Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) in Art Education that leads to teacher certification (grades K-12)

You will determine, in consultation with your advisor, which courses best help prepare you for you next-step goals.

Please note: Minoring in Education Studies does not automatically fulfill prerequisites for admission to Ithaca College graduate programs in education. Meeting with the Chair of Graduate Programs in Education is essential to plan an undergraduate pathway leading towards successful admission into graduate school.