Theories of creativity will be explored, and emphasis will be on how to nurture and promote creative expression in young students. Students examine research and developmental theories, with emphasis on the implications in the curriculum for caregiving, play and learning, attachment, partnership with parents, health, safety, and nutrition. This course examines both normal infants and toddlers, as well as those with special needs. This course focuses on the central role of documentation in the social constructivist approach to early learning that has emanated from the infant-toddler and preschool programs of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Students will explore multiple ways to observe and document the learning experiences of young children and then study that documentation to determine how to support children's thinking and negotiate learning.
Documentation is used to improve discourse by serving as a database for reflective teaching.
Documentation and discourse enable teachers to generate designs for future learning experiences that have continuity with children's thinking and prior experience. Together, these three components of documentation, discourse and design define a negotiated learning process that involves continuous action research of teaching and learning. This course focuses on programs developed for the early childhood and special education population. Students examine philosophy, theoretical framework, curriculum, methodology, role of the teacher, role of the child, service delivery systems, and parent involvement. Students replicate portions of specific models as well as develop teaching strategies that would be characteristic of particular models.