EDEC - Early Childhood Education

This course focuses on "childhood" as it has been theorized, conceptualized, and experienced. Historical and social constructions will be explored with special focus on cultural differences in how children and their families experience childhood.

This course will focus on child study as a process of naturalistic observation, informal and formal assessment, and decision-making in early childhood classrooms. Assessments will include children from a variety of diverse cultural and language backgrounds, as well as children of different age and developmental levels, including children with disabilities, children with developmental delays, children who are at-risk for developmental delays, and children with special abilities.

Students will examine the history of curriculum designed for young children and will apply interdisciplinary knowledge from such fields as sociology, psychology, philosophy, and anthropology to practice in early childhood education.

This course will focus on the nature and the value of play as essential to children’s social, cognitive, physical, and emotional development. There will be a special focus on facilitating and assessing the processes of play as integral to developmentally appropriate practice in the early childhood classroom.

This course is designed to provide opportunities for classroom teachers to develop their knowledge, skills and dispositions as teacher researchers; analyze theories and practical applications of educational research; understand the components of a professional research study; reflect upon one's own practice; and examine the ethical, legal, and professional issues and responsibilities of conducting research.

Teacher as Researchers II builds on skills and knowledge from Teachers as Researchers I to help students further refine their research question as well as design and implement their study centered on improving their teaching practice.

This is the final course in the Master of Education in Early Childhood research sequence. This course will focus on the use of collected data to answer the initial research questions of the individual students. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis will be available to students. The emphasis in drawing conclusions will initially be placed on the questions and problems ouitlined in the research proposal, but attention will also be given to unexpected and/or unrelated findings that may have implications for future research.

This course is designed to provide opportunities for classroom teachers to explore leadership theory and research; partnerships and collaboration with co-workers and stakeholders; advocacy for students families, foster student learning and development.

This course will focus on the development of language and literacy within multiple contexts and settings.

This course is designed to critically examine trends, issues, research findings, and policies related to Early Childhood Education. This exploration is expected to inform students in the development of their on-going research within the M.Ed Program.

Curriculum designs for teaching the social studies in grades P-5 are explored. A primary focus is on the integration of basic literacy skills with conceptual teaching with developmental stages of the children.

Candidates should have complete EDFS 6224, EDFS 6225, EDFS 6226, and EDFS 6231. This course will be taken within the last 9 hours. The course will serve as a culmination of coursework in the candidate’s major field of study and the study of how educational research methodologies can be used to test assumptions related to collaborative school improvement. Candidates will present a portfolio of their work to provide evidence of their ability to meet NAEYC Advanced Standards and Georgia Systematic Teacher Education Program (GSTEP) Framework.

This course examines the interactive relationships among families, schools, and communities. Students will examine recent research in order to deepen their understanding of the ways that these relationships have an impact on student learning.

In-depth study of topic selected for supplementary background or enrichment.

This course focuses on the development of the thinking and reasoning of young children. Particular emphasis is placed on the processes of problem-solving.