EEC-Elem & Early Childhood Courses

EEC 300. Child Development/Family Relationships. 3-4 Hours.

Interrelationship of physical, emotional, intellectual, and social development, and influence of home, school, and social environments on human growth from conception through adolescent years. Extensive field experience required.
Prerequisites: EDU 200 [Min Grade: C]

EEC 301. Introduction to P-6 Education. 3 Hours.

Basic knowledge of early childhood and elementary school curricula in variety of settings from infancy programs through elementary school. Theories and practical approaches to teaching and to curriculum development; relationship between child growth and development and areas of curriculum. Observation in early childhood and elementary programs required. Extensive field experience required.
Prerequisites: EDU 200 [Min Grade: C]

EEC 302. Expressive Arts (P-6). 1 Hour.

Creativity through numerous experiences in music, theatre, dance, and visual arts. Experiences correlate with literacy skills, critical thinking skills, symbols, and images that can be directly applied to both teacher-centered and child-centered methods of teaching. Extensive field experience required.

EEC 402. Primary Math Methods. 3 Hours.

A math methods course focusing on emergent mathematical concepts for young children. Extensive field experience required.

EEC 405. Children's Literature in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. 3 Hours.

Materials and methods. Needs of children, selection of books, societal issues in children's literature, and role of media in children's literature. Extensive field experience required.

EEC 406. Language Arts in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. 3 Hours.

Materials and methods. Communication-based approach in developing effective language arts program. All aspects of language arts program addressed. Extensive field experience required.

EEC 412. Math in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. 3 Hours.

Materials and methods. Scope, sequence, and content of mathematics program. Computational skills and problem solving. Field experiences required.
Prerequisites: EEC 406 [Min Grade: C] and EDR 440 [Min Grade: C] and EEC 402 [Min Grade: C]

EEC 413. Science in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. 3 Hours.

Materials and methods. Scope, sequence, and content of science program. Inquiry, science process skills, and concept development. Extensive field experience required.
Prerequisites: EEC 406 [Min Grade: C] and EDR 440 [Min Grade: C] and EEC 402 [Min Grade: C]

EEC 414. Social Studies in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. 3 Hours.

Materials and methods. Scope, sequence, and content of social studies curriculum. Teaching strategies, program articulation, and instructional planning. Extensive field experience required.
Prerequisites: EEC 406 [Min Grade: C] and EDR 440 [Min Grade: C] and EEC 402 [Min Grade: C]

EEC 415. Learning Environments through Positive Behavior Support. 1-3 Hour.

Theoretical approaches that focus on child centered curriculum, classroom management, discipline strategies and cultural, linguistic, and developmentally appropriate instruction. Extensive field experience required.

EEC 421. Methods of Teaching Foundations of Reading Development. 3 Hours.

This 3-hour foundations of reading methods course will prepare educators with content knowledge of scientific and evidence-based foundations of the cognitive, linguistic, socio-cultural, and motivational influences for early language and literacy development. The course presents scientifically proven instructional methods, strategies, techniques, and materials, with focused considerations for brain processes of reading, that are needed to successfully teach reading to P-6 students. Specific topics will include the teaching oral language development (expressive and receptive), concepts about print, early orthography, and beginning reading skills (phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge, high frequency words, phonics, decoding, and encoding/spelling). Extensive field experience required.

EEC 422. Methods of Teaching the Development of Reading Comprehension. 3 Hours.

This three-hour course will prepare educators to teach foundations of reading development using evidence-based instructional practices. Specific topics include promoting academic language development, including vocabulary development; promoting comprehension and analysis of literacy and informational texts; and developing the reading-writing connection.

EEC 423. Methods of Reading Assessment, Instruction, & Intervention. 3 Hours.

This course will address the use of formal and informal assessment procedures used to design and evaluate robust reading instruction and intervention for children in preschool through high school. The focus of the course includes the knowledge and skills needed to choose and administer appropriate reading assessments for a variety of purposes, data-based decision making to guide instructional planning and intervention design, and understanding struggling readers, including those with reading disabilities. Instruction will be delivered within a context of an ecological, collaborative, problem solving model. Students will be guided to apply both formal and informal assessment in a problem-solving model aimed at the design of robust reading instruction. An emphasis will be placed on creating multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) for increasing reading achievement among all students. Admission to TEP required.

EEC 440. Advanced Workshop in Education: Methods to Support English Learners. 1-6 Hour.

Strengthen proficiency in teaching English learners in the mainstream classroom. Develop understanding of second language acquisition, culturally responsive teaching, accommodations for varying language levels, and appropriate assessments for English learners. Practice family planning, implementing, and managing sheltered instructions.

EEC 490. Internship in P-3/3-6. 9 Hours.

Supervised capstone teaching experience in early childhood (P-3) and elementary (K-6) program. Gradual assumption of responsibility for planning and teaching for the entire class (minimum of 12 weeks). Supervision in working with resource professionals and parents.

EEC 491. Internship Seminar in Education. 1-3 Hour.

Supports and extends efforts of student teaching. Problem solving related to classroom situations such as classroom management, grading, professionalism and ethics, legal issues, teacher rights, and others that occur during internship.

EEC 494. Field Work Education. 1-2 Hour.

Observation and participation experiences with children.