EDEC 670 Curriculum and Methods for Early Childhood Education

The course is designed to show current trends in curriculum organization, the effects of environment on learning and adapting curriculum content and methods to maturity level of the young child. Emphasis will be placed on designing individual educational programs for all children.

Prerequisites

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.

How a society cares for and educates its children clearly reflects the worldview and core beliefs of its people. Therefore, it is imperative to look at all programs and practices through the lens of a Judeo-Christian view that clearly sees children as individuals created in the image of God. A major responsibility of the preschool teacher and/or administrator is to develop a curriculum that simultaneously meets the mission and goals of an organization and the children’s physical, cognitive, emotional, developmental, and spiritual needs. The ability to evaluate and differentiate among various theories and practices is an essential component of experiencing success in early childhood education.

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After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the candidate is required to provide a thread in response to the provided topic for each Discussion. Each thread is to be 400 words and demonstrate course-related knowledge. In addition to the thread, the candidate is required to reply to two colleagues’ threads. Each reply must be 200–250 words. (MLO: B, C, F)

The candidate will practice aligning literacy and content standards and use these items to direct instructional planning. (MLO: D, E)

This assignment will allow the candidate to become acutely aware of his/her pedagogical stance. The paper must include at least 5 references in addition to the course textbook and the Bible. A title and reference page are required in addition to the 5 pages of content. (MLO: A, B, C, D)

The candidate will practice aligning open-ended studies of high-interest topics for young children, directing the instructional planning process of a project. Within this plan, the candidate will demonstrate an understanding of the children’s ideas to be valued, their creativity to be encouraged, their interests to be nurtured, and their learning needs based on content standards to be met. (MLO: B, D, E)

The candidate will design a PowerPoint presentation explaining how his/her pedagogical stance influences his/her classroom design. This presentation must be no more than 10–12 slides. There must be at least 5 references in addition to the course textbook and the Bible.  (MLO: A, B, C, D, F)

The candidate will write a reflective summary about the Classroom Design PowerPoint assignment. The first paragraph must delineate what he/she learned from reading colleagues’ comments/advice concerning his/her PowerPoint presentation, and the second paragraph must explain what the candidate learned about himself/herself through this assignment. Each paragraph must have at least 250 words.  (MLO:  A, B, C, D)

The candidate will create a handout and a five-minute video presentation designed to convince an administrator to “buy in” to an early childhood program. Three resources are required for this assignment. (CLO: C, D, E, F, G)   

This quiz will cover the Textbook material for the assigned modules. This quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 36 multiple-choice and short-answer questions, and have a 2-hour and 30-minute time limit. (MLO: E, F, G)

This quiz will cover the Textbook material for the assigned module. This quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 20 multiple-choice, true/false, and short-answer questions, and have a 45-minute time limit. (MLO: E, F, G)