Ella Williams’s Profile

This course ex­am­ines the psy­cho­log­i­cal and psy­choso­cial foun­da­tions of early child­hood and re­lates these foun­da­tions to ed­u­ca­tional prac­tice with young chil­dren, birth to eight years. It fo­cuses on his­tor­i­cal and con­tem­po­rary the­o­ries of child­hood de­vel­op­ment. Early learn­ing is con­sid­ered in re­la­tion to bi­o­log­i­cal fac­tors, child and fam­ily fac­tors, pro­gram fac­tors and so­cial fac­tors, par­tic­u­larly in di­verse urban set­tings. Young chil­dren’s phys­i­cal, cog­ni­tive, com­mu­nica­tive, so­cial and emo­tional de­vel­op­ment is ex­plored as con­trib­u­tors to and as con­se­quences of early learn­ing ex­pe­ri­ences. This course re­quires 15 hours of field­work.

This course examines the psychological and psychosocial foundations of early childhood and relates these foundations to educational practice with young children, birth to eight years. It focuses on historical and contemporary theories of childhood development. Early learning is considered in relation to biological factors, child and family factors, program factors and social factors, particularly in diverse urban settings. Young children’s physical, cognitive, communicative, social and emotional development is explored as contributors to and as consequences of early learning experiences. This course requires 15 hours of fieldwork.

This course fo­cuses on the the­o­ries, meth­ods and ma­te­ri­als of early child­hood ed­u­ca­tion for in­fants (birth to eigh­teen months), with an em­pha­sis on ad­dress­ing de­vel­op­men­tal needs and cul­tur­ally ap­pro­pri­ate prac­tices in their ed­u­ca­tion and care. The fol­low­ing top­ics are ex­plored in depth: so­cial, emo­tional, cog­ni­tive and phys­i­cal de­vel­op­ment of in­fants; basic prin­ci­ples of in­fant care giv­ing, in­clud­ing pro­vid­ing cul­tur­ally sen­si­tive and con­sis­tent care; arrange­ment of the en­vi­ron­ment and de­vel­op­men­tally ap­pro­pri­ate ex­pe­ri­ences to pro­mote in­fant growth and learn­ing; the role of par­ents and es­tab­lish­ing part­ner­ships with fam­i­lies.

This course focuses on the theories, methods and materials of early childhood education for infants (birth to eighteen months), with an emphasis on addressing developmental needs and culturally appropriate practices in their education and care. The following topics are explored in depth: social, emotional, cognitive and physical development of infants; basic principles of infant care giving, including providing culturally sensitive and consistent care; arrangement of the environment and developmentally appropriate experiences to promote infant growth and learning; the role of parents and establishing partnerships with families.