Research

Ursinus students are encouraged to work with faculty members on original research. Students interested in doing original research in education may do so as an independent study during a semester. Also, because the study of education cuts across many disciplines, students who complete Summer Fellows or an honors thesis as part of their major often do so with an educational focus and the mentorship of Education faculty as part of their project. (Majors from other departments may also complete an honors thesis with a faculty advisor in the Education department). Examples of such projects include:

 

HONORS THESES

• Tools for Change: Theatre for Social Justice in Communities of Marginalized Youth, Myla Haan
• Cultural Empowerment in the Classroom: What Role Does Private Culture Have in Public Education?, Autumn Murphy
• The Curriculum of Change: Aims and Methods of a Social Justice Education, Thea Pastras
• Intellectual Access and Spirituality: The Twin Urgencies of Responsible American Education, Matthew Schmitz
• The Meritocratic Fallacy of Higher Education in America, Amanda Galczyk
• The Montessori Method: Redefining the Child, Indira Joell
• Better Aims for English: An Inquiry Into What it Means to Teach English in a Democratic Society, Kara E. Travis
• Creating The Capable Public: A Call for Liberal Arts Education in Public Schools, Olivia R. Keithley

SUMMER FELLOWS

• Ethical Formation and Identity Development in Education: Expanding our “Horizons of Meaning” via the Hermeneutic Circle, Emily Benning
• Rancière’s Equality and James’s Pragmatism: Renewing Our Democratic Republic Through a Revised View of Intelligence, Matthew Schmitz
• The Montessori Method: Redefining the Child, Indira Joell
• Civic Educational Reform: Reaffirming Our Rights, Duties and Love of Country Through Understanding History Differently in the Classroom, Samuel V. Pope
• World Class: A Case for Teaching the Strangeness of Language Through Metalingualism in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), Kara E. Travis
• Literacy and Citizenship: Helping Students Learn the Importance of Being an Informed and Educated Citizen, Luke H. Schlegel
• Applying the Concepts Understanding by Design to a World War I History Course, Edward Malandro

Internships

Education-related internships may be completed during either semester or over the summer. Internships can be helpful in developing individual interests within the Educational Studies Minor.

Student Teaching

Completion of student teaching as part of the teaching certification program satisfies the Ursinus College requirement for an Experiential Learning Project (XLP). Student teachers spend a semester teaching full-time in a local public school, under the supervision of an Ursinus faculty supervisor and a cooperating teacher at the school site.