Early Childhood Education AAS Degree Courses

Gives students a historical and philosophical foundation of the field of early childhood education. Includes an overview of assessment and trends that influence best practices. Explores careers in the field. Addresses influences of families and diversity.

Focuses on the development, implementation and assessment of appropriate environments and curricula for young children ages three through eight. Students prepare to utilize developmentally appropriate practices in a context of family and culturally sensitive care. Emphasis is on understanding children's development stages and developing appropriate learning opportunities, interactions and environments in the following areas: dramatic play, art, music, fine and gross motor play.

Reviews typical and atypical development of children from conception to adolescence in all developmental domains. Presents interactions between child, family and society within a variety of community and cultural contexts. Examines theories associated with our understanding of children.

Focuses on care, education, and assessment of children from birth to thirty-six months. Prepares students to utilize developmentally appropriate practices including responsive caregiving, routines as curriculum, importance of relationships with diverse families, and a focus on the whole child in inclusive settings.

Composition I emphasizes fluency, thesis-driven organization, the use of supporting details, and research techniques. Writing is approached as a recursive process that includes prewriting strategies, drafting, revising, and editing. The course helps students shape writing to serve readers' needs and define a sense of purpose in their writing. It also gives students strategies for reading college-level material.

Prerequisite(s): Appropriate placement score or equivalent.

This course focuses on applying the writing process to job application materials and workplace-related written communication.

Lecture Hours: 48

Focuses on current concepts in the fields of health, safety and nutrition and their relationship to the growth and development of the young child ages birth to eight. Blends current theory with practical applications and assessments. Includes the influences of families and diversity on health, safety, and nutrition in early childhood settings.

Focuses on the development, implementation and assessment of appropriate environments and curricula for young children ages three through eight. Students prepare to utilize developmentally appropriate practices in a context of family and culturally sensitive care. Emphasis is on understanding children's development stages and developing appropriate learning opportunities, interactions and environments in the following areas: emergent literacy, math, science, technology and social studies.

Focuses on effective approaches and positive guidance strategies for supporting the development of all children. Emphasizes supportive interactions and developmentally appropriate environments. Uses assessment to analyze and guide behaviors. Studies impact of families and diversity on child guidance.

Supervised experience in selected early childhood settings serving children ages birth through eight. Includes integration of theory, research, and reflective practice. Provides an understanding of developmentally appropriate practices and the developmental stages of diverse populations of young children and families. Emphasizes professional relationships and behavior, appropriate adult/child interactions, basic curriculum planning, and program routines.

Prerequisite(s): ECE-221

Co-requisite(s): ECE-994

Pre/Co-requisite(s): ECE-158, ECE-159, ECE-170, and ECE-243

Field Experience Seminar 1 provides support for the systemic refinement of skills necessary for a successful experience in the field. Professional relationships and behaviors, appropriate adult/child interactions, curriculum planning, and experiences in the field will be emphasized.

This course is designed to present basic facts of arithmetic including whole numbers, fractions, decimals, powers, roots, English and metric measurement, ratio-proportion, percents, introduction to algebra, introduction to geometry, and applied statistics. Instruction includes use of scientific hand-held calculators and emphasis placed on critical thinking, problem solving skills.

This course focuses on the unique care necessary for school-age children. Criteria for organizing a positive physical environment coupled with state licensing regulations, center policies, and interactions with families are examined. Students will look at the needs of school-age children and explore methods of addressing these needs in a group care setting.

National, state and local topics and issues impacting childcare are examined.

The field experience provides on-the-job training, practical application of knowledge gained in the classroom, documenting observations of children, and an opportunity to participate with a child care team involved with children ages 3 through 5.

Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade of D in ECE-274 and ECE-944.

Co-requisite(s): ECE-945

Career Strategies for Early Childhood prepares students for becoming an employee and employer in child care settings. It includes the strategies involved in seeking and securing a position in child care, along with recruiting and employing a child care worker. Included for the job seeker will be an introduction to the job search process, including resume writing, developing cover letters and the interview process. Included for the employer will be recruitment procedures, laws governing the hiring of child care employees, screening of applicants and conducting and evaluating interviews.

Develop professional portfolio for Early Childhood, including artifact collections, resume, and teaching philosophy.

Field Experience II Seminar provides support for the systematic refinement of the skills necessary for a successful Field Experience II experience through receiving feedback on assignments and engaging in discussions of relevant topics with instructors and peers.

Co-requisite(s): ECE-284.

Focuses on the importance of collaborative efforts of the school, home, and community to the promotion of the children's healthy development. Research relating to parental involvement, impact of inclusion, and factors which place families at risk are examined. Explores attitudes, philosophies, and practical techniques with emphasis on building respectful, culturally sensitive relationships with families, utilizing community resources and working with diverse families.

Human Relations is the study of self and social behavior. Emphasis is placed on the understanding and application of social science theories and research for the development of effective interpersonal and organizational relationships.

This course provides an introduction to the study of behavior and mental processes with emphasis in such areas as learning, cognition, motivation, personality, behavioral disorder, therapy, and social influence. An understanding of the impact of both theoretical perspectives and experimental evidence on the formulation of the science of human behavior is also stressed. Psychological theories and principles are utilized to explain and predict behavior.

Lecture Hours: 48

This course surveys the basic principles, concepts, and research findings of social life from small groups to societies. The course examines a range of sociological explanations for the various forms of social behaviors and establishes a basis for reflection and further study in the field.

Lecture Hours: 48

This course acquaints students with center environment planning and evaluation. It addresses the role of the teacher as well as program evaluation for early childhood centers. Students also look at community resources for expanding the center environment.

Prerequisite(s): EDE-158 and ECE-159

Skills in planning, implementing, and evaluating programming are introduced. Staff supervision and evaluation, in-service training and orientation, and harmonious working relationships, are other topics included in this course.

Prerequisite(s): ECE-158 and ECE-159

The course is designed to present the dynamics of children's literature. It promotes the selection and evaluation of literature for children as well as how to engage young readers in a variety of literary genres. The course will emphasize literature as a key element of the reading curriculum, grades Preschool-8 and beyond. The course will be relevant to those interested in education and literacy.

Students are introduced to the issues and practices regarding the inclusion of diverse student populations in general education settings. The needs of all students including general education, special education, and gifted will be emphasized. Strategies for adapting curriculum and the classroom will be examined. Support services that are available to teachers and students will be explored.

This course introduces students to the oral communication process and how it affects human interaction There will be an emphasis on developing interpersonal, small group, and public speaking skills. Students will be involved in activities that provide opportunity for the understanding and improvement of their oral communication skills.

This course studies the fundamentals of public speaking, emphasizing the process of speech preparation and delivery in various contexts.

Lecture Hours: 48

This is a one semester, liberal arts mathematics course that satisfies the minimum general education requirement for math. The course is designed to impart math skills which are helpful in everyday life as well as to expose students to areas of mathematics they may not have seen before. Topics include problem-solving skills, set theory, algebra, consumer mathematics, probability, and statistics. Other topics may be included.

Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade of D- in MAT-060 or MAT-063. Or equivalent placement score.

Math for Elementary Teachers I is the first of two mathematics courses for students who want to pursue a major in elementary education or early childhood teacher licensure. This course will use a variety of problem-solving skills while exploring many aspects of the real number system. Algebraic and concrete mathematical models will be incorporated in strategies used to solve problems.

Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade of C- in MAT-060 or MAT-063. Or equivalent placement score.

This course provides an intensified study of algebraic techniques and prepares students for future study in mathematics. The central theme is the concept of functions, their properties, graphs and applications. Functions studied include polynomial, rational, exponential, and logarithmic.

Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade of C- in MAT-102. Or equivalent placement score.

This one-semester pre-calculus course is intended for the student with a solid algebra background who intends to take calculus. It is also beneficial (but not required) for the student to have a background in trigonometry. The course will emphasize functions using an analytical, numerical, and graphical approach. The student will study linear, polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic and trigonometric functions along with their applications.

Prerequisite(s): Appropriate Placement Test Scores: ACT Math Score of 25 OR Compass Score of 51-100 in the College Algebra Domain or 31-50 in the Trigonometry Domain.

The second course of a two-semester pre-calculus sequence. Topics include trigonometry and applications, vectors, analytic geometry, and polar and parametric equations.

Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade of C- in MAT-121. Or equivalent placement score.

This course is a study of descriptive statistics including graphical representation, central tendency, correlation and regression, intuitive treatment of probability and inferential statistics including hypothesis testing.

Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade of C- in MAT-060 or MAT-063. Or equivalent placement score.

The first in a calculus sequence, this course covers topics including functions and their graphs, limits, derivatives, applications of the derivative, and integrals.

Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade of C- in MAT-128 or MAT-134. Or appropriate placement scores: ACT 27; COMPASS TRIGONOMETRY 51-100.