ECED 3300 - Instructional Foundations

(4) Credit Hours
Prerequisite: Admission to Educator Preparation
Co-requisite: ECED 3100
This course is designed to build a comprehensive understanding of the interaction among the school, the curriculum and the student. Candidates will learn about current educational trends, issues, policies and practices and their relationships to program planning, curriculum, instruction and assessment of students. Candidates will examine national, state and local content standards for P-5 students to gain an overview of learning expectations for these students and will trace the expectations for development of concepts across grade levels in language arts, reading, mathematics, science and social studies. Candidates will study existing federal laws impacting these core academic curricula for early childhood students, including the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act for students with disabilities. The concept of interdisciplinary units will be introduced and candidates will develop an interdisciplinary unit for a particular grade level that addresses content standards for that grade level in the five core academic areas and incorporates appropriate instructional technology. In the field, candidates will observe the process of curriculum and unit development and the use of educational frameworks, such as the Universal Design for Learning (UDL), that promote multiple approaches to meeting the needs of diverse students. Candidates will interview and shadow teachers and students to gain insight into their respective roles in the context of the school environment. Candidates will develop an ecological study of a school highlighting the connected relationships that build safe and healthy school communities.