This is an archived copy of the 2015-2016 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit http://coursecatalog.bucknell.edu.

Children’s Studies Minor

The interdepartmental Children’s Studies minor offers a multidisciplinary perspective on children and childhood to help students achieve a deeper and broader understanding of children and childhood. Children are examined in contexts of culture, historical era, educational systems, socioeconomic class, geographic setting, religious ideology, political and economic systems, and so on. In addition, Children’s Studies is concerned with children’s “lived” experience. Thus, some courses may examine exigencies that affect hundreds of millions of children globally (e.g., poverty, hunger, war, disease, labor, etc.). Children’s Studies also emphasizes advocacy and service for children. Thus, many courses in the minor involve a service-learning or fieldwork component in which students work with children directly (e.g., in a hospital, community center, counseling clinic, school). These opportunities not only enrich students’ understanding of children but enhance students’ growth as involved citizens and also benefit children and organizations in the community.

The Children’s Studies minor could benefit students from many departments. Many education and psychology students could be interested but there are other audiences and specialized interests: pre-med students interested in pediatrics, English majors interested in children’s literature, pre-law students interested in family law or child advocacy, computer science or engineering students interested in educational or recreational software, and so on. Collectively, the courses in the minor will expose students to new undergraduate opportunities as well as varied educational and career options.

The minor consists of five courses from the list below, with the following stipulations. At least four courses must be at the 200-level or above, and no more than two courses taken in any one department can count toward the minor. Per University policy, students cannot double count courses for a major and a minor. (Thus, for example, an education major could not count EDUC 201 Educational Psychology for this minor because it is required for the education major, but the student could use PSYC 307 Culture and Child Development to count for the minor.)

EDUC 201Educational Psychology1
EDUC 230Foundations of Classroom Assessment1
EDUC 235Integrated Arts in Learning1
EDUC 316Teaching in Diverse Environments1
EDUC 318Multiculturalism and Education1
EDUC 323Education of Young Children1
EDUC 334Later Childhood and Adolescence1
EDUC 335Child & Adolescent Development1
EDUC 347Family, School, and Community Partnerships1
ENGL 218Studies in Children's Literature1
ENGL 220Young Adult Fiction1
ENGL 290Special Topics1
MATH 117Introduction to Mathematical Thought1
MATH 118Elementary Geometry and Statistics1
PSYC 207Developmental Psychology1
PSYC 307Culture and Child Development1
PSYC 320Children's Studies1
PSYC 337Child Development in Denmark1
SPAN 323Latin American Short Story1

Faculty

Co-coordinators: Chris J. Boyatzis, Lori A. Smolleck