Elementary, Early and Special Education

Early Childhood Education (Undergraduate)

Curriculum Sheet (MS word file)

110 Foundations of Early Childhood Education—3 hours. This course is designed to provide an understanding of the role of the early childhood educator, to develop skills in observing and working with young children, to develop an awareness of the various types of programs serving young children, and to aid the student in developing a professional commitment to the field of study. The goals will be achieved through both observation and seminar sessions. Prerequisites: admission to the early childhood education major and passing the PRAXIS test.

315 Integrated Curriculum in Early Childhood: Creative and AffectiveDomains—3 hours. This course focuses on fostering the development of creative abilities in children ages two to five with emphasis on creating teaching-learning experiences and planning curriculum content in art, play, music, and movement. The course integrates national and state standards into curriculum planning to teach diverse learners. Field experience is required and provides students an opportunity to demonstrate their pedagogical knowledge of teaching. Prerequisite: admission to Teacher Education Program I.

320 Integrated Curriculum in Early Childhood: Cognitive Domain—3 hours. This course provides students with the theoretical and practical aspects of cognitive development for children age three to eight with emphasis on creating teaching-learning experiences and planning curriculum content in the cognitive domain that includes mathematics, science, social studies, health, and nutrition. The course integrates national and state standards into curriculum planning to teach diverse learners.

335 Early Childhood: Teaching and Learning in the Kindergarten—3 hours. This course focuses on the pedagogical knowledge and skills taught in kindergarten classrooms. The course integrates national and state developmental and content standards into curriculum planning to work with diverse learners. Field experience is required in a kindergarten classroom. Prerequisite: admission to the Teacher Education Program.

*426 Early Childhood: Educating Infants and Toddlers in an Inclusive Environment—3 hours. This course focuses on fostering caregivers’ skills in promoting infants and toddlers’ physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development with emphasis on their daily routines, environmental safety, health and nutritional needs, and their psychological needs. The course content integrates national standards and addresses child rearing practices in different cultures. Field experience is required in an infant and toddler setting. Prerequisite: admission to Teacher Education Program I.

*432 Early Childhood: Teaching Within a Diverse Society—3 hours. This course focuses on developing and enhancing the knowledge and skills to work with children and families from diverse cultural, racial, and socieconomic backgrounds. This course introduces the conceptual frameworks of multicultural teaching and reviews the current research and practices relevant to teaching-learning solutions. Prerequisite: admission to Teacher Education Program I.

*437 Early Childhood: Theories and Practices in Working with Exceptional Children—3 hours. This course focuses on providing early childhood students with knowledge and skills to work with children with special needs in an inclusive classroom setting. The course provides students with learning opportunities to observe children’s behavior, identify each child’s special needs, and implement appropriate learning and assessment strategies. Field experience is required and involves interactions with atypical young children. Prerequisite: admission to Teacher Education Program I.

*441 Early Childhood: Program Administration and Leadership—3 hours. This course focuses on developing administrative and leadership strategies in opening, managing, evaluating, and advocating an early childhood program in a variety of settings. Prerequisite: complete Cluster III courses or chairperson’s permission.

*443 Practicum in Early Childhood Programs—3-5 hours. This course provides students an opportunity to demonstrate their pedagogical knowledge and teaching skills in an early childhood program. Course outcome focuses on the ability to provide developmentally and culturally appropriate curriculum to young children.

449 Early Childhood: Family, School, and Community Relationships— 3 hours. This course focuses on building family, school, and community partnerships. Teacher education students learn techniques such as organizing parent conferences, home visits, parent meetings, and the process of implementing a parent involvement program. The course also addresses the cross-cultural issues in families and school and community linkage. Prerequisites: complete Cluster III courses with chairperson’s permission.

450 Early Childhood Capstone Course—3 hours. Teacher candidates will participate in a series of seminars that will synthesize the common goals of liberal studies and their professional goals. Seminars will focus on teacher candidate’s abilities to effect growth within learners and call upon their reasoning and judgment to link the success of the learner to their instructional practice by drawing from their content knowledge. Prerequisites: concurrent enrollment with 451 and 453 and admission to TEP II; at least 78 credit hours and seven of nine required Liberal Studies courses. See General Education section of the Catalog for a complete description of the capstone requirement. General Education Credits [GE2000: Capstone Course]

454 Supervised Teaching in Early Childhood Education—3-6 hours. This course provides early childhood students an orientation, supervised teaching, and analysis of teaching effectiveness in a pre-kindergarten classroom/ setting. Prerequisite: admission to Teacher Education Program I

*Open to graduate students. Graduate students are required to do additional work of a research nature.

Early Childhood Education Faculty:

Gail Gottschling
Karen Liu