Course Description
This course will focus on an examination of development from prenatal through the early childhood years (to age eight). The course will explore current theory and research of early childhood development and how to translate this into practice in the lives of young children today. The developmental domains of cognitive, physical, and social/emotional are studied from an ecological perspective. Students will consider developmentally appropriate practices for children's diverse and individual differences, including special needs, gender, age, and multicultural dimensions. 20 hours of field experience (observations) required for completion of this course. (3 credits)
Prerequisite
- None
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:
- Examine and discuss various early childhood theories of development and learning, including current research on brain development. [Standard 1a, 1b, 1c]
- Understand the importance of optimal prenatal development and how children grow and develop from birth to age 8, including those with developmental delays, disabilities, language, and/or cultural differences. [Standard 1a]
- Connect developmental domains to various age groups (Birth to Age 8) and identify the influences of heredity and environment on a child's development. [Standard 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 5b]
- Demonstrate understanding and application of observation and assessment tools to gather information about a child's growth and development. [Standard 3a, 3b, 3c]
- Compare and contrast how children differ in their development and approaches to learning, and discuss how partnerships with parents support all children's development, including those with developmental delays, disabilities, language, and/or cultural differences. [Standard 1b, 1c, 1d, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3d]
- Discuss the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct and its implications for early childhood professionals. [Standard 6b]
Course Activities and Grading
Assignments | Weight |
---|---|
Discussions (Weeks 1-8) | 25% |
Blog/Vlog Assignments (Weeks 1-8) | 25% |
Assignments (Weeks 1-8) | 25% |
Key Assessment (Week 8) | 25% |
Total | 100% |
Required Textbooks
- This course uses Open Educational Resources (OER). OER are openly licensed, educational resources that can be used for teaching, learning and research. OER may consist of a variety of resources such as textbooks, videos and software that are at little or no cost for students.
- The OER textbook used for this course is:
- Buckley, D., and Budzyna, D. (2023). The Whole Child: Development in the Early Years. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
- The OER textbook used for this course is:
Course Schedule
Week | SLOs | Readings and Exercises | Assignments |
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1 | 1 | Topic: Introduction to Child Development & Theoretical Perspectives
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2 | 2 | Topics: Developmental Domains and Brain Development
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3 | 3 | Topics: Prenatal Development and Birth
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4 | 4 | Topic: Infancy (0-12 months)
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5 | 4 | Topics: Toddlerhood (1-3 years)
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6 | 5 | Topics: Preschool Development (3-5 years)
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7 | 6 | Topics: School-Age Development (5-8 years)
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8 | 1 | Topics: Professionalism, Ethics, and Family Partnerships
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COSC Accessibility Statement
Charter Oak State College encourages students with disabilities, including non-visible disabilities such as chronic diseases, learning disabilities, head injury, attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, or psychiatric disabilities, to discuss appropriate accommodations with the Office of Accessibility Services at OAS@charteroak.edu.
COSC Policies, Course Policies, Academic Support Services and Resources
Students are responsible for knowing all Charter Oak State College (COSC) institutional policies, course-specific policies, procedures, and available academic support services and resources. Please see COSC Policies for COSC institutional policies, and see also specific policies related to this course. See COSC Resources for information regarding available academic support services and resources.