Ph.D. Course Descriptions
EDCI 640 Language/Literacy for Bilingual/Multicultural Young Learners
Critical multicultural perspectives on the acquisition and development of communication skills by young children who represent bilingual and multicultural backgrounds; critique of language development practices as applied in education settings with young children.
EDCI 650 The Bilingual/Multicultural Young Child in Family and Culture
Several theories of child development are examined and critiqued by exploring cross-cultural comparisons of western concepts of child, parenting, and what constitutes learning. Bilingual children’s language development is discussed, as are the implications of the evidence from different cultures for policy and practice in educating young children of diverse cultures.
EDCI 651 Bilingual/Multicultural Early Childhood Education.
Historical/current models of early childhood curriculum/methodology as a foundation for the more critical analysis of curriculum as social construction, grounded within values of a particular society or culture; bilingual/multicultural views of early childhood education, curriculum and teaching strategies requiring constant examination.
EDCI 689 Cognitive Development in Young Children
Addresses major approaches to the study of cognitive development in the young child, including constructivism, socioculturalism, informational processing, modularity, and dynamic development. Specific domains such as language development, object perception, conceptual development, and numeracy development in the young child (ages 0 – 10) will be examined from different approaches. The role of culture in mediating current understandings of young children’s cognitive development will also be addressed as well as the application of theory to research and practice in early childhood education.EDCI 689 Language Acquisition: Birth to Age 5
This course discusses both the theories of language acquisition and the empirical evidence for developmental sequence that children (both monolingual and bilingual) follow in learning to talk. This course will also introduce the most widely used methods in child language research, in particular computerized methods for transcript production and analysis. The major questions and issues that have stimulated research into language development will also be considered. Although language development continues through school age and adolescence, this course focuses on children’s language acquisition from birth to age 5. (Language acquisition of school-aged children is included in EDCI 640.)
EDCI 689 Education Policy for Language-Minority Children
Language planning, educational policies and instructional models in the US and internationally for the education of young language-minority students, that is, students who do not speak the majority language of the country at home, are analyzed using evidence from psycholinguistic research on factors that influence successful second language acquisition.
EDCI 689 Development and Learning: Psychosocial Perspectives
This course focuses on constructivist-interactionist views of child development, spanning the preschool through the early adolescent years. Topics include early development, play, cognitive development and learning, family systems and social learning,evaluation and assessment, gender difference, developmental diversity among individuals and across cultures, including race, ethnicity, linguistic background, and economic conditions. We will look at these topics in general and in their relation to classroom instruction and organization, communication, curriculum and cognition. The term ‘psychosocial’ refers to the psychological and social factors that influence mentalhealth and development. Social influences such as peer pressure, parental support, cultural and religious background, socioeconomic status, and interpersonal relationships all help to shape personality and influence psychological makeup.
EDCI 689 What’s Happening with the Family?
This course’s aim is for participants to become informed and familiar with major debates, methods of assessment and findings that exist within the field of contemporary family studies. The work of the course will provide opportunities to consider: How do we understand the changes that characterize American family experience over the last 3-4 decades?How do we assess the impact of different family characteristics on child and adolescent development? How do social and economic forces influence family functioning?
EDCI 689 Policy Issues of Early Childhood Education
This course, focused on federal and state policy in early childhood education, is designed to introduce students to early childhood education policy and some of the major issues and challenges confronting U.S. policymakers. A range of public policies will be examined, including some or all of the following: childcare, early-childhood education, parental employment, poverty reduction, immigration, and health. Information on U.S. policies as well as policies of other countries will be discussed. We will address questions by reviewing recent research from the United States and other industrialized countries on non-parental childcare and it’s effects on children and their families. Studies will be drawn from a variety of disciplines, including developmental psychology, public-policy analysis, education, economics, sociology, and anthropology. Students will also explore how research and evaluation methods of developmental science and public policy analysis can be integrated into the study of public policy and child development.
