| This course introduces the basic principles of early childhood studies to ensure that all students understand the importance of the development of integrity, responsibility, and ethical practices that demonstrate multicultural respect for all members served. |
| In this course, students will study child development from a comparative perspective, considering race, gender, and disabling conditions as dimensions of diversity. Students will examine cross-cultural research and challenge the contemporary theories of child development and the implications for educational theory and practice. Students will examine cultural and family factors that shape and influence the contexts in which children develop. They will also participate in the development of multicultural curriculum activities, materials, and environments for children with a special emphasis on applying multicultural education principles to curriculum planning. |
| This course is an introduction to the concept of exceptionality dealing with the educational implications of atypical child growth and development. Focus is given to the psychology, teaching, and effective intervention strategies for working with children with exceptionalities and learning disorders from culturally diverse backgrounds. |
| The current trend for education is collaboration among interdisciplinary teams, which includes a variety of members such as parents, teachers, administration, and other professionals, to produce the optimal outcome for students throughout their academic careers and development. The purpose of this course is to examine the dynamics of interdisciplinary teams, the purpose for collaboration, and the factors that must be present to make collaboration successful. |
| This course is a foundation for understanding the variation of strategies commonly used in early intervention. The alignment of intervention and program planning in relation to communication/language development, social/emotional development, and behavioral support will be explored. The strategies introduced will be applicable to a variety of settings (hospital, home, private or public centers and schools). |
| Infant Toddler Programming is the study of the physical, social, emotional, cognition, and language development of young children ages six weeks up to 36 months and their application to the design and implementation of developmentally appropriate promising practices in the care, guidance, and development of the child from birth to age three. |
| This course is designed to introduce students to procedures and issues relevant in the field of education. Students will explore the origins and foundations of the field, understand the importance of individually and culturally appropriate curriculum, and develop an awareness of ethics, trends, professionalism, professional standards, and training required in education. |
| This course explores the importance of theory and understanding and practical implementation of promising practices to promote communication and early literacy skill acquisition in early childhood education, birth through the early primary years. It provides knowledge and understanding of how young children develop emergent literacy skills and language through the integration of print into the environment, use of children’s literature, and writing across the early childhood curriculum. Its focus includes strategies for the plan and implementation of developmentally appropriate literacy activities, materials, and experiences into the early childhood classroom to promote children’s expressive and receptive language skills. It stresses the importance of family involvement in the young child’s cognitive development in language arts. |
| The course is designed to assist ECE professionals with development of skills and knowledge that will enable them to work effectively across multiple systems. Group process, effective strategies for staffing committees, communication styles and nuances, methods for organizational assessment and planning, systems theory, and mechanisms for creating family -centered early childhood care and education environments and community partnerships will be discussed. |
| This course presents an exploration of developmentally appropriate curriculum for young children including socio-dramatic play, sensory experiences, blocks, math, science, music, language arts and literacy, manipulatives, gross motor activities, outdoor play, cooking, field trips, and technology. Students will use their knowledge of child development to plan and present developmentally appropriate curriculum while utilizing classroom management strategies. |
| This course provides an introduction to developmentally appropriate methods of guiding young children’s behavior including communication skills for use with young children, staff, and parents. Students will gain an understanding of appropriate and safe early care and education environments and how their design may assist in the promotion of young children’s development for successful play, positive social interactions, self-regulation, and behavior management. |
| This course will focus on the growth and development (physical, socio-cultural, emotional, cognitive, language and aesthetic) of young children. It will combine observation of children and required readings to develop a better understanding of the uniqueness of individuals and how they respond in relationships with others and develop through exploration and activities across the curriculum. The early care and education profession requires an ongoing understanding of child development at different stages in order to objectively conduct planned observations and use documentation and data for evidence based assessment for quality and accountability and in planning for the individual child, groups of children, and programmatically. |
| The course will assist students in understanding administrative practice within an environmental context of expansive diversity. Students will review the barriers and opportunities associated with multiculturalism as it relates to staffing, organizational leadership, stakeholders communication and development, garnering of funds, and the client population in receipt of services. |
| The course provides a macro-level perspective for Early Childhood Educators interested in the development and/or the administration of the day-to-day operations of a child care program. Specific emphasis will be directed toward Human Resource Development, Board Development, Fiscal Accountability, Program Development, Licensure, Advocacy via Policy Development and Monitoring, and Community Involvement. |
| This course explores early childhood cognition and development. This course takes a multicultural approach to both learning and development in the early years. Designed for future teachers, this text explores birth to age eight child development with cognitive development embedded in the context of development. Specific topics include cognitive development from infancy through school age literacy, language, and schooling. Challenges of special education and atypical development are included. |
| Independent Study. |
| Special Topics. |
Additional elective learning may be accepted when appropriate to the major. Acceptable elective learning may include: prior learning that meets program criteria for acceptance; general education courses (beyond those required by the program) and courses offered through other majors, following published syllabi; and/or individually designed courses developed by the student in consultation with a faculty advisor and submitted using the learning agreement form. All additional electives must be endorsed by the faculty advisor and the dean and documented in the approved degree plan prior to registration.
As part of course work in the major, every student will complete a culminating graduation requirement (CGR). The CGR requirement may be met by satisfactory completion of one of the following:
