Foundations of Early Childhood Education
Education 300
Spring, 2007

Required Text:
Morrison, George S. (2007). Early Childhood Education Today (10th Edition) Prentice Hall.

Educational Philosophy:
I cannot simply teach you what you need to know about the foundations of early childhood education. In order for you to effectively learn this material you must be willing to be an active participant in the learning process; constructing an understanding of this material that is personally relevant and meaningful. Therefore I see my role more as that of a facilitator than as a lecturer. What I will do is provide you with a variety of resources that can assist you in learning. Your job will be to utilize these resources, ask questions, and help me to know what you do and do not understand. I have set aside time for office hours so that I can help. You may also drop in unannounced any time I am in the office. Furthermore, I have included my email address in order to encourage your questions and comments, and my home phone number in case you encounter pressing questions or problems. The bottom line is that the amount you learn in this course will be directly proportional to your level of involvement.

Course Description:
This course is an introduction to the field of early childhood education. It is designed to provide a historical, conceptual and philosophical foundation for individuals interested in the education of children from ages three through eight. Topics that will be addressed include the history of early educational efforts, an overview of children's development, a review of specific types of programs, developmentally appropriate practice, methods of observation, the role of play, ethics, multiculturalism, inclusive education, educational reform, and a systems approach to parent and community involvement. My goals for this course are to:

1) Help you gain a working knowledge of the historical and philosophical foundations of early childhood education programs.
2) Help you understand and discuss issues related to early childhood education.
3) Help you recognize the value of high quality early childhood education programs.
4) Increase your understanding of the features that characterize high quality early childhood education programs.
5) Familiarize you with the methods for observing children in the classroom and the ways in which those observations can be analyzed.
6) Increase your ability to critically analyze and evaluate current issues, existent programs and educational philosophies.
7) Help you develop and/or refine your own philosophy of early education.

Course Requirements
This course will utilize six different types of assignments: class attendance and contribution to class discussions, reading assignments, written assignments including a short thought paper and a reflective journal, a mid semester examination, a midsemester project and a final project, and service learning participation in an early childhood educational environment.

1. Attendance. You are expected to attend each class. Because some of the materials presented in class are not contained in the text, it is important that you attend every class..

2. Reading Assignments. This is a student-centered course, which means that each class will revolve around the interests and ideas that you bring to the class. Therefore it is important that you come prepared to contribute to discussions. You are expected to read the assigned chapter in the textbook and any other designated readings BEFORE each class period. This will give you time to think about the readings, formulate questions and ideas that you may have and allow you to more fully participate during that class period. Each of you will be responsible for leading the discussion of one specific reading about every other week. Your attendance and participation in class discussions will be factored into final grade decisions.

3. Reflective Journal - You will be expected to keep a journal in which you will record ideas, feelings and observations throughout the semester. It is suggested that you keep the journal with you when you come to class, when you are reading course materials as well as when you are observing in your classrooms. Journal writing can serve the dual purposes of helping you record your thoughts as well as foster the development of new ideas. I suggest that you use it as a forum for actively engaging the material of the course and wrestling with the issues. This is an appropriate place for notes, thoughts, feelings, diagrams, questions and insights. Journals will be submitted and reviewed at midsemester and at the end of the semester.

4. Service Learning. Each member of the class is required to spend two hours a week participating in an early childhood classroom (ages 3-8) or an environment that supports the learning of young children such as the public library. You may select whatever classroom you would like for these observations as long as I approve your selection. If you cannot find a suitable environment, I will help you locate one that will fit your needs. Much of your time in these environments should be spent as an assistant. You will also be asked to spend some of your time in the classrooms making specific types of observations, but there will also be time for your own observational interests. Observations and reflections should be recorded in your journal, and some observations may be submitted as written assignments.

5. Writing Assignments. Any writing assignments will be assessed on three criteria:
1. Clarity of expression. It is expected that papers and projects will be well written following the guidelines for appropriate grammar and style. Papers should be double spaced and printed using a #12 font.
2. Level of critical analysis and depth of thought. It is expected that your papers, projects and presentations will go beyond simply describing and applying information, and will include analytical thinking and the synthesis of ideas.
3. Specific assignment criteria. Each assignment has specific criteria and papers will be evaluated on how well those criteria are met.
All writing should be considered a work in progress. After I have assessed and returned any of your work, you have the option of making whatever changes that you would like and resubmitting your paper for a new assessment. When you resubmit a paper please be sure to submit your original version along with the new version.

A. Thought Paper - Early in the semester you will write a short (about 3-4 page) thought paper that should be entitled “My Philosophy of Education”. This paper should be conceived of as a draft of a document that you will be working on throughout your career. More information will be distributed in class, it will be due Feb 27th. After I have graded and returned your paper, you have the option of making whatever changes you would like and resubmitting your paper for a new grade. When you resubmit your paper you must be sure to submit your original version along with the new version.

B. Observations - Throughout the semester you will be asked to make specific observations in your classrooms as mentioned above. These observations will be discussed during class, but I may also ask you to hand some of them in. The length of the submissions will vary depending on the nature of the observations, but will generally be quite short.
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C. Final Project. The object of this project is to allow you to select some aspect of early childhood education that interests you, and investigate it more fully. You are free to select any individual or idea from the course and develop any means of presentation that would be appropriate. Projects will be evaluated basedon the following RUBRIC. Example projects include:
i. Writing a paper analyzing the research on a specific topic such as: the role of television and action figures on the violence of children's play.
ii. Researching one of the educators discussed in class. Write a paper examining the influence that this individual had on the field of early childhood education. What effect does this individual's ideas have on you?
iii. Writing a thought paper. One example might be an examination of who's responsibility early education and care should be; the government's, the family's? Should public education offer schooling beginning with preschool instead of Kindergarten? What will be the longterm effects of NCLB on America’s educational system?
iv. Designing a workshop on multicultural education for early childhood educators. Your plan should include objectives, activities, learning materials and materials for evaluation.
iv. Developing a web site that presents your ideas on a specific ECE curriculum model.

6. Mid Semester Examination. There will be a midsemester examination on March 13th. This will be an essay exam and the questions for it will be distributed prior to the exam. You will be allowed to bring one 4x6 card with notes on it to the exam.

7. Final Exam – You are expected to design an activity for young children that you will implement at the children's fair on Saturday May 12th. This activity should be planned and conducted cooperatively with other peers in the class. There is a wide range of activities that you could plan including art, movement, literacy, or science explorations. Consider this a final performance assessment

Special Needs.
I wish to fully include persons with special needs in this course. Please let me know if you need any special accommodations in the curriculum, instruction, or assessments of this course to enable you to participate fully. I will try to maintain confidentiality of any information you share with me.


Grades:
Throughout the course, when each assignment is given a rubric specific to its evaluation will be distributed. All evaluations will be based on a scale of 1-5. A basic guideline for evaluation is as follows.

A score of 5 will be given when the work is thorough, insightful, and demonstrates a comprehensive understanding.
A score of 3 will be given when the work is adequate, accurate, and demonstrates a basic understanding.
A score of 1 will be given when the work is inadequate, demonstrates misunderstanding, and is lacking in effort.

Final grades for this course will be based on 5 components. Your class attendance and contribution to class discussions, evaluations of written assignments including the journal and classroom observations, your score on the mid semester exam, the quality of your final project, and extra credit for participating in the children's fair. The mid semester exam and final project will be weighted heavier than the other assignments. Final letter grades will be assigned based on the following rubric..

Students who have received 4's and 5's on almost all assignments will receive an A
Students who have received 3's and 4's on most assignments will receive a B
Students who have received 3's on most assignments will receive a C
Students who have received scores lower than 3's on most assignments will not receive a passing grade

Course Topics. Topics are linked to the relevant section of the course resources page.

Date	Topic	Suggested Resources
Jan. 30	Introduction - Who are we? Ethics & ECE	Morrison ch. 1, & Appendix A
Feb. 6	Who are Children? Observing Children	Morrison ch. 3 *Feeney et al. p. 141-158 http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v7n2/forman.html
13	Historical and Philosophical Foundations.	Morrison ch. 4 *Krough p. 3-36
20	Theoretical and Developmental Foundations.	*Krough p. 39-46 *Feeney et al. p 83-113 Morrison Ch. 5
27	Practical program applications Short Paper - Philosophy of Education	*Billman & Sherm ch. 9 *Brewer p. 36-63 Morrison ch. 6 *Finser p. 219-233
March 6	Developmentally Appropriate Practice	Bredekamp 1-52, skim 97-181
13	Mid Semester Exam	No Readings
20	The Government, NCLB & Current Issues.	Morrison ch. 2 & 8 NCLB Guide Web Materials
27	Spring Break	No Class
3	Rethinking ECE	TBD
10	Play and Guidance	Morrison ch. 14 Feeney p. 115-137 Gathercoal***
17	Technology and ECE	Morrison ch. 13 *Haugland & Wright 1-16 *”Fools Gold”
. 24	Special Needs Children	Morrison ch. 16
May 1	Parent, Family and Community Involvement Final Project Due, Last day for paper revisions Present Fair Activity	Morrison ch. 17
8	Student Presentations, Reflecting and integrating.	No Readings
Saturday 12	Children’s Fair Final Exam– Saturday (set up Friday)

Special Needs.
I wish to fully include persons with special needs in this course. Please let me know if you need any special accommodations in the curriculum, instruction, or assessments of this course to enable you to participate fully. I will try to maintain confidentiality of the information you share with me.