Community Engaged Courses

Community Engaged Courses connect classroom concepts to community needs in order to enhance learning, promote active citizenship, and foster mutually beneficial ties between the campus and community.

In partnership with local agencies, students in community engaged courses apply the knowledge and analytical skills gained in the classroom to address environmental, social, educational, and cultural issues within the actual lives of those most directly affected. Courses with a Community-Based Option provide just that—the option and support to include real community data in a final project.

Community Engaged Courses: Spring 2022

Contemporary American Education (A. Miller, Education)

What are the purposes of public education and what makes it public? Do schools serve an individual good or a collective good? Is Americas system of public education organized to serve these purposes? What is the public’s responsibility towards public education? How do current school reforms affect various stakeholders? The primary objective is to examine the cultural, social, economic, and institutional dilemmas confronting public schooling in the United States today. By approaching these dilemmas as unsolved puzzles instead of systematic failures, important insights are gained into the challenges confronting a democratic society historically committed to the public provision of education. Considers which theories and purposes of education motivate current reform efforts. Likewise, examines who shapes public discourse about public education and by what strategies. Employs a mixed approach of reading, discussion, and class-based activities to explore important educational issues including school reform and finance, charter schools, busing, vouchers, unequal educational opportunities and outcomes; and accountability, standardization, and testing.

Environmental Policy and Politics (E. Johnson, Environmental Studies)

Explores the political, economic, legal, ethical, and institutional dimensions of the environmental policy-making process. Examines the formation and implementation of regulatory institutions and policies across a range of issues in the U.S. and internationally--including terrestrial, coastal and marine natural resources management, biodiversity, water and air pollution, sustainable development, and environmental justice. Prepares students to analyze historical cases as well as contrive and evaluate competing policy alternatives to emerging problems.

Science Education: Purpose, Policy, and Potential (A. Miller, Education)

Why do all Americans need to learn science and what are we doing to improve science education in our schools? With the release of the Next Generation Science Standards and in response to America’s poor standing on international assessments of math and science, there has been a shift in public interest and dialogue around why and how we teach science that is reminiscent of the late 1950s after the Soviet launch of Sputnik. Considers the goals of science education in the United States and explores research and policy related to science curriculum, teaching practice, and student learning.

Student Teaching Practicum (D. Santoro, Education)

Required of all students who seek secondary public school certification, this final course in the student teaching sequence requires that students work full time in a local secondary school from early January to late April. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. Education 3304 must be taken concurrently. Students must complete an application and interview. Students with the following are eligible for this course: Education 2203, 3301 , and 3302; junior or senior standing; a cumulative 3.0 grade point average; a 3.0 grade point average in Education 3301 and 3302; and eight courses in a subject area that enables them to be certified by the State of Maine (English: eight courses in English; world language: eight courses in the language; life science: six courses in biology and two additional courses in biology, biochemistry, or neuroscience; mathematics: eight courses in mathematics; physical science: six courses in chemistry, earth and oceanographic science, or physics, and one course in each of the other departments listed; or social studies: six courses in history (at least two must be non-United States history) and one course each in two of the following departments: anthropology, economics, government, psychology, or sociology).

Teaching and Learning Languages and Cultures (M. Boyle, Interdisciplinary)

This course addresses the intersections between world language pedagogy, antibias education, and metalinguistic awareness. Through engagement with current research, students will explore theories of language acquisition and practices of intercultural communication from infancy through adulthood. The course will foster engagement in reflective practice concerning teaching and learning languages and cultures in the classroom, including designing and implementing short lesson plans tied to curricular goals. Students will develop oral and written proficiencies to engage with movements in language advocacy and representation. These experiences will be supported by a partnership with a team of Brunswick public school teachers and the Multilingual Mainers program. The course is open to all students with at least intermediate proficiency in a language other than English.

Citizenship and Religion in America (E. Pritchard, Religious Studies)

Designed as both a critical examination of the criteria, practices, and spaces that constitute citizenship in the United States and an exercise in citizenship, this course was held at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, Maine, and was composed equally of inmates and Bowdoin students. Readings were curated to provoke extended analysis of the entitlements and exclusions of citizenship, and the discussions between those inside and outside of the prison walls brought those readings to life. Final project complete by groups composed of boht "inside" and "outside" students include a musical and conversational composition, a public art project, and written and video presentations comparing perspectives of incarcerated persons and Bowdoin students.
Community Partner: Maine Correctional Center

States of Languages and Languages of States (E. Albaugh, Gov't and Legal Studies)

Alongside students' academic exploration of the role of language in policitcs - including how language standardization affects citizen participation and democracy and how minority language groups respond to such standardization - students attend a workshop about the path to citizenship and the citizenship classes that the English language learners at Portland Adult Education complete. Two students especially interested in this experiential learning also volunteered in these ESL classes, furthering their understanding of course themes.
Community Partner: Portland Adult Education

Building Resilient Communities (E. Johnson, Environmental Studies) 2015-16
Students examined efforts by communities and regions to build resilience in the face of changing environmental and social conditions and how local leaders can work in complex settings to set goals and mobilize federal, private, and non-profit resources to achieve specific, cross-cutting objectives that include strengthening local economies, safeguarding important environmental values, protecting public health, and addressing issues of economic and social justice.
Community partners: Merrymeeting Food Council, Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program

Translating Cultures (J. Jaffe, Latin American Studies) 2016-17
Students connected theory and practice in their exploration of cultural, political, ethical and aesthetic issues related to translation and interpreting through two projects. In preparation for attending a conference in Portland on interpreting in cases of domestic violence, students translated into Spanish a “Protection from Abuse” pamphlet created by the State of Maine Judicial Branch. They later collaborated with the Circling the Square Fine Art Press and the Fundación Estampería Quiteña of Quito, Ecuador by translating the artists’ aesthetic and biographical statements for the catalog of A Sense of Place/El sentido del lugar, a cross-cultural exhibition on sustainability.
Community partner: Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine

Infant and Child Development (S. Lovett and S. Putnam, Psychology) 2019-20
Students in this course had the option of choosing between different community projects to complement their in-class learning about psychological functioning from conception through childhood. 
Community partners: Bowdoin College Children’s Center, Family Focus

Looking Ahead with the World in Their Hands: The Postsecondary Aspirations of East Island Youth
A. Roy ’16 - Independent Study (I. Nelson, Sociology)
Many youth on East Island, particularly males, participate in the lobstering industry by owning their own boats as early as their pre-teen years. But, structures of the lobstering industry virtually prevent anyone without a hereditary connection to the industry from gaining access. An out-group forms, made up of individuals and families who are not connected to the lobstering industry, around those who lobster, the in-group. This research studied this process of social reproduction and how it influences the postsecondary aspirations of youth on East Island. Findings show that East Island High School facilitates social reproduction through its place-based education program.
Community partner: East Island High School

Assessing Community Needs and the Role of Free Clinics
S. Gregerson ’18 – Independent Study (C. McEwen, Sociology)
Free clinics exist throughout the nation as vital components of the health care network. These clinics provide a range of health services to people who cannot afford health insurance or whose insurance covers only health emergencies. How do these clinics respond to changing community health needs? How do clinics structure their delivery of care to better meet these needs? In this independent study, Scout helped Oasis Free Clinics to conduct a community needs assessment and interviewed other free clinics across the state to ask these questions.
Community partner: Oasis Free Clinics

Community Engaged Courses