Bachelor of Arts in Education - Early Childhood Education
96
credits
For students entering the program at the Sophomore level
(holders of a recognized Baccalaureate or Freshman diploma - equivalent to 30 credits)
Courses
General Education
Common Core
PSY307Child Growth and Development
EDU204Home, School, and Community Relations
3 credits
The course is an exploration of home-school relations. It focuses on developing an understanding of traditional and non-traditional families, structural and life style variations and parenting in diverse cultures and at-risk families. Implications from this understanding will guide the development of a parent involvement plan which will include effective ways to communicate with parents, discussions with parents, and how to plan parent meetings and home visits. Special attention will be given to cultural and family situations, which affect young children, such as divorce, child abuse and neglect, illness or death of family members and life in a violent society.
EDU208Introduction to Teaching and Learning
3 credits
This course introduces students to theories and research concerning teaching and learning, and helps them apply theory in the school classroom. Students have the opportunity to view films and videos related to education, to explore children’s literature, and to participate in role-playing, simulations, and peer teaching. Discussion of the following are included: theories of learning; learning styles; motivation; research on effective teaching and effective schools; assessment and evaluation techniques; how to interpret test scores; and how to explain them to parents. Fifteen hours of field experience will be included.
PSY219Perceptual Motor Development
3 credits
This course is a study of the physical, motor growth and development of children. It emphasizes the selection of activities that influence the development of perceptual motor skills in young children, and describes perceptual motor theory and practical application in child care programs. Focus will be placed on motor development and movement performance, and how these relate to cognitive and affective development.
EDU309Technology in Early Childhood Education
3 credits
This course offers an overview of current technological trends that can be used to assist in classroom instruction. The course examines technology's relationship to educational theory and how technology is becoming a part of current reforms in educational practice, and how a foundation in technological skills is critical to becoming an effective teacher. Students will explore and apply a wide range of technology currently used in education. Emphasis will be given to the examination of the use of recent technologies, computers and the Internet, and their application in Kindergarten. Ways to incorporate multimedia production for educators in the classroom will be explored. Traditional audio-visual aides will be explored. Students are expected to plan lessons utilizing technologies.
EDU304Theories of Early Childhood Education
3 credits
This course offers a theoretical comparative study of the history, theory, goals, programs, approaches and related research underlying early childhood. Students will examine how theory influences practice in a variety of early childhood education models, including the Bank Street model, Headstart, open education, Montessori schools, behavioral analysis, Piagetian, Vygotskian, and Reggio Emilia approaches.
Specialization
EDU305Class Management
PSY425Creative and Cognitive Experiences for Young Children
3 credits
This course prepares individuals to work with young children in creative age-appropriate activities and investigates affective classroom experiences through open-ended activities. It emphasizes theoretical and practical aspects of cognitive development for children ages 3 through 6 with a focus on planning integrated experiences and content in science, mathematics, and social sciences. It develops students' understandings of young children's creative expression through art, music, movement, play and drama, and emphasizes how to plan, implement, and evaluate appropriate learning experiences as well as selection of appropriate instructional materials.
EDU316Early Childhood Curriculum: Mathematics
3 credits
The student will develop concept-oriented strategies in math with a primary emphasis is on thinking, reasoning and understanding and developing the ability to investigate how and why things happen in math in young children. The course focuses on developmentally appropriate learning activities using materials to cultivate logical thinking skills in children. The kinds of activities to be included in the preschool curriculum are also studied.
EDU315Early Childhood Curriculum: Science
3 credits
This course provides students with knowledge of introducing sequential science concepts for the appropriate stages of cognitive development of young children and offers experience in developing the content, methods, and materials for directing children in science activities. Emphasis will be placed on how science can be integrated throughout the day school curriculum and become a valued functional tool.
EDU323English Phonology
3 credits
This course is designed as an introduction to current phonological theory, with application to descriptions of the phonological systems of English and Arabic. Regular course work includes: phonetic and phonological systems; contrastive analysis; phonemes and allophones; types of transcription; vowel and consonant system: spelling and pronunciation, metrical and prosodic theories. Instruction will focus on problem sounds for Arab learners studying English so that they will be able to recognize and produce consonants, vowels, stress and intonation of the English language correctly. Students will have the opportunity to practice identifying and producing speech sounds.
EDU447Evaluation and Assessment in Early Education
3 credits
This course places an emphasis on the educator's role as observer and evaluator of status and change in school behavior and achievement. It acquaints the student with a variety of formal and informal techniques assessment used for observing, recording, and analyzing the development and the perceptual, motor, cognitive, and social-affective performance of children. Assessment of children will be analyzed by looking at a variety of assessment activities that can be done with children. A range of methods and techniques from direct observation to standardized testing will be surveyed.
EDU212Foundations of Education
3 credits
This course combines a broad survey of the social, historical, and philosophical foundations of education with in-depth study of selected areas pertinent to education; such as, structures and governance of schools, professionalism, teacher effectiveness, and curriculum models. An Issues Approach is emphasized to develop a more realistic view of the teaching profession and to foster a better understanding of the major debates in education.
EDU330General Didactics
EDU339Methods and Materials in Early Education
3 credits
This course is designed to acquaint students with principles of learning and classroom procedures for optimum experiences for young children. It focuses on developmentally appropriate methods and material for use in kindergarten educational settings. The emphasis is on kindergarten children aged three years and above. Topics include classroom arrangement, scheduling, selection of materials, curriculum planning using themes and integrated units.
EDU414Survey of Children's Literature
3 credits
This introductory course is designed to provide an overview of trade books appropriate for children from preschool through to age six. In this course students survey the broad range of literature written for children. Emphasis is placed on selecting genres (prose and poetry) appropriate to the developmental stage of children, gaining familiarity with multicultural literature, understanding the distinguishing the characteristics of different genres, developing visual literacy with respect to picture books, evaluating the quality of literature for children, and how child’s individual development affects interest and use of literature. Investigating internet and traditional library resources support student’ learning course content.
EDU336Teaching Language Art for Children
3 credits
This course presents techniques and methods for encouraging the development of language and perception skills in young children, and stresses improvement of vocabulary, speech, and methods of stimulating discussion. Surveying children's literature, examining elements of quality storytelling and story reading, and stressing the use of audio-visual materials are all important elements of this course. Through observations and reading students will focus on how humans acquire and develop language. Problems related to bilingualism, language development, and choice of appropriate program activities and materials for young children are emphasized.
EDU424Teaching Social Studies, Movement and Theatre
3 credits
This course emphasizes the richness of cultural and creative expression through social studies, creative art and theatre. Special attention will be given to culture and its impact on language development. Theory, curriculum, methods and materials for teaching social studies and theatre are studied in order to provide experiences in directing children in these areas. Students will develop a repertoire of activities and approaches, emphasizing the child's participation.
EDU427Theories of Education Play
3 credits
This course addresses creativity and play in kindergarten and studies the functions of play in the development and education of the young child (from birth through to age six). Included in the course are the following: research on the stages and the levels of play; methods for supporting and fostering play and creativity for parents, educators and caregivers; and strategies for assessing creativity and play. The developmental phases and ways of supporting and fostering play and using play for understanding children will be surveyed and discussed. Fifteen hours of classroom observation/participation will be required.
EDU435Workshop in Early Education
3 credits
Intensive practical study in a selected area of early education.
Capstone
Mission
The main mission of the Early Childhood Education undergraduate program is to train future teachers in ethical values and scientific reasoning skills suitable for an early Childhood level (from 0 - to - 8 years), and to develop their ability to manage classroom responsibility.
The program prepares the specialized teacher in all disciplines because he/she will be responsible of the class.
These skills empower future specialized teachers to integrate into the labor market access higher education and research.
Program Educational Objectives
1. Graduates will become qualified teachers, able to engage their skills for the promotion of education using contemporary technology and professional and ethical knowledge.
2. Graduates will forge careers in schools, especially in Early Childhood Education and will be education specialists adapted to training in the areas of early education (0-8).
3. Graduates will demonstrate all the skills necessary to pursue a graduate course and excellent research opportunities.
4. Graduates will become leader teachers in imparting knowledge and design, and the evaluation of teaching - teaching those who undergo the process of learning.
Program Outcomes
a. Students will compare the various fields of human sciences, focusing on the interaction between education and the aforementioned sciences.
b. Rigorously adopt methods and materials in early education.
c. Communicate orally through language exchanges and encouraging classroom communication by capturing their students’ attention.
d. Identify the different learning theories of Early Years Education and know how to apply them in educational practice.
e. Check and analyze the levels of English language and distinguish the linguistic specificities of the target language taught and used as a language of teaching and communication.
f. Ethically and humanely manage a classroom group (or small group classes).
g. Develop an artistic flair that gives teaching practices soft and flexible behavioral skills.
h. Consider the educational objectives, and formulate and integrate them into different didactic situations.
i. Deal with theoretical issues of specialized English language teaching.
j. Achieve practical activities that support theoretical approaches in teaching.
k. Examine the particularities of different types and kinds of texts and conduct an educational analysis based on a study of the context in which the products are set.
l. Integrate technological tools in early education.
m. Ensure the transfer of mathematical knowledge in the early years education context, using logical reasoning from various approaches.
n. Ensure the transfer of science language in the early years education context and the effectiveness of science education and the steps in it.
o. Evaluate student performances and learning outcomes objectively and scientifically.
p. Validate the quality of education, and organize, plan and construct a course, in the form of teaching sessions.