ECE 313 - Child Development: Early Years
Hours: 3
(TECA 1354 non-advance credit) This course examines theoretical and empirical research along with practical experience relating to young children. Cognitive, physical, social and affective developmental domains are explored and implications for curriculum design and learning environments are drawn.

ECE 320 - Assessment in Early Childhood: Assessing the Whole Child
Hours: 3
This course focuses on early childhood assessment as a tool used to gather and provide educators, parents, and families with critical information about a child’s development and growth. This course explores developmentally appropriate assessments for prekinder through 3rd grade students.

ECE 321 - Play & Creativity in Early Childhood Education
Hours: 3
Because children are active learners, this course explores playful learning that helps children create meaning from relationships, the prepared environment, and their overall experiences. Students will gain understanding about the role of play and creativity in children’s academic, social, and emotional learning and development. Relationships are key to creating safe, caring, and equitable communities in which children play in order to create themselves. Prerequisites: ECE 366.

ECE 322 - Family and Community Partnerships in Early Childhood Education
Hours: 3
This course explores best practices in building successful early childhood education programs through partnerships with children’s families and communities. Students will learn about and understand the importance and complex characteristics of children’s families and communities. Students will examine the role of home environments in children’s development to support and engage families through respectful, reciprocal relationships that support and empower families. and that involves all families in their children’s development and learning. Students will examine community resources that support young children’s learning and development and to support children’s families, and learn how to build connections between early learning settings, schools, and community organizations and agencies.

ECE 358 - Language Acquisition & Development in Early Childhood Education
Hours: 3
This course explores the first and second language acquisition and development of children from birth to sixth grade. Students will examine the components of oral, written, and academic language that benefit from and promote early literacy development. Special emphasis is given to the teacher’s role in supporting language development, in planning developmentally and culturally appropriate learning experiences, and in partnering with parents to foster language and early literacy development. This course will address essential topics such as phonological awareness, authentic language assessment, data-driven instruction and intervention, concepts of print, emergent writing development, and the alphabetic principle.

ECE 364 - Theor Influencing Cld Dev
Hours: 3
This course provides an exploration of how experiences in early child development can impact a child’s success in learning. Particular focus will be placed on ways that learning theories relate to learners with exceptionalities and ways to build emotional resiliency skills in students with varying learning needs. Factors such as mental health and trauma, socio-economic factors, poverty, cultural and ethnic identities will be included. Emphasis will also be placed on methods for working collaboratively with families and service providers who are involved with the child’s overall development.

ECE 366 - Learning Environments
Hours: 3
This course will emphasize the developmentally appropriate design of an early learning environment for young learners that supports the learning process, family engagement, and the education of all learners. Strategies for differentiation of the learning environment for the diverse needs of learners will also be discussed through the use of project-based learning that integrates social studies content and the fine arts.

ECE 460 - Teaching STEAM in ECE
Hours: 3
This course emphasizes an integrated approach to early childhood curriculum development for young children. Relates early childhood pedagogy, research, and content areas of science, mathematics, engineering, technology and art to STEAM project-based, integrated and inquiry curriculum designs.

ECE 489 - Independent Study
Hours: 1-4

ECE 490 - H Thesis
Hours: 3
Individualized instruction/research at an advanced level in a specialized content area under the direction of a faculty member.

ECE 491 - Honors Reading
Hours: 3
As specified by Honors or department head.