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Education & Children Programs ►Child Day Care Specialist Certificate Program

This training program combines atwo course training track:

  • Child Care Worker
  • Early Childhood Development

Love working with children and want to learn techniques for supporting their development? This Child Development Associate program provides practical advice to prepare you for your role as an educator of children ages 0-5. Learn the principles of providing ultimate learning environments, developing engaging curricula for various developmental stages, meeting children’s social -emotional needs and interests, and communicating and interacting with parents and staff professionally. This course covers the basics of early education and positive guidance strategies to enhance physical, cognitive, language, social-emotional, and creativity development.


The Job Outlook

Employment of childcare workers is expected to grow by 20 percent from 2010 to 2020, faster than the average for all occupations. Parents will continue to need assistance during working hours to care for their children. Because the number of children requiring childcare is expected to grow, demand for childcare workers is expected to grow as well.

Child Care Worker

Love working with children and want to learn techniques for supporting their development? Our Child Care Worker course provides practical advice to prepare you for your role as an educator of young children. Learn the principles of providing ultimate learning environments, developing engaging curricula for various developmental stages, meeting children’s social-emotional needs and interests, and communicating and interacting with parents and staff professionally . This course covers the historical influences on early childhood education as well as quality standards for programs and types of curriculum methods. It also includes learning strategies and guidance to enhance physical, cognitive, language, social-emotional, and creativity development.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  • Recognize the historical influences on early childhood education, as well as assessment methods and evaluations for quality standards
  • Identify the basics of the early education domains, how to support learning and play and the concepts of different types of curriculum
  • List the basics of learning theories and teaching strategies
  • Recall how to provide effective learning environments for children while connecting with families and communities
  • Recognize issues in early childhood education and how to advocate for young children, as well as discovering various career options in the field

Early Childhood Development

Early Childhood Development introduces the unique qualities of the young child as distinguished from older children and demonstrates how to work with young children in ways that correspond with their individual developmental level and social and cultural environment. In each modules text, you will find “in the classroom” inserts that illustrate how current findings and theories translate into real applications in daycare centers, preschools, kindergartens, and primary schools. This course clearly portrays the importance of the contexts within which each child develops. Our Early Childhood Development program displays theoretical views of learning, as well as information about the importance of play and technology in a young child's learning process.

After completing this course, you should be able to:

  • Gain an understanding of the historical and current theories of early childhood
  • Study how genetics and prenatal practices influence development
  • Consider how learning takes place in infants, toddlers, and young children
  • Analyze the elements and theories of physical and cognitive development
  • Explore the social and affective development of the young child


Child Care Worker

Child Care Worker Module 1

Historical Influence on Early Care and Education

  • Learning from the Past
  • Public Schooling in America
  • The Kindergarten Movement
  • Nursery School Movements
  • Early Twentieth Century Schooling
  • Brown vs. Board of Education
  • Mid-Twentieth Century Schooling
  • Establishment of Head Start
  • Universal Pre-K

Child Care Worker Module 2

Quality Standards for Early Childhood Programs

  • Dual Approach to Setting Standards
  • National and State Standards
  • Standards and Accountability
  • Developmentally Appropriate Practice
  • Early Learning Standards
  • State Funded Programs
  • Methods of Assessment
  • Evaluation for Educators
  • Measure Outcomes with Observation

Child Care Worker Module 3

Understanding the Development of Young Children

  • The Study of Child Development
  • Developmental Domains
  • The Physical Domain
  • Gross Motor Development
  • The Cognitive Domain
  • Three Types of Knowledge
  • The Affective Domain
  • Emotional Development
  • Social Development
  • Moral Development

Child Care Worker Module 4

Contemporary Curriculum Approaches

  • Curriculum Development
  • Curriculum Models for Developmentally Appropriate Practices
  • Learning Environments and Pedagogy
  • Montessori Method
  • Reggio Emilia Approach
  • Direct Instruction
  • High/Scope Approach
  • Creative Curriculum
  • Project Approach

Child Care Worker Module 5

Supporting Play and Learning during Early Childhood

  • The Importance of Play
  • Characteristics of Play
  • Classical Theories of Play
  • Contemporary Theories of Play
  • Symbolic Play
  • Constructive Play
  • Games with Rules
  • Teacher's Role in Supporting Play

Child Care Worker Module 6

Exploring Learning Theories and Teaching Strategies

  • Intentional Teaching
  • Constructivist Theory
  • Socio-Cultural Theory
  • Behaviorist Theory
  • Multiple Intelligences Theory
  • Learning Styles Theory
  • Information Processing Theory
  • Teacher Centered Teaching Strategies
  • Learner Centered Teaching Strategie

Child Care Worker Module 7

Effective Learning Environments for Young Children

  • Thinking Expansively About Environments
  • Quality Learning Environments
  • Physical Learning Environment
  • Temporal Learning Environment
  • Interpersonal Learning Environment
  • National and State Regulations and Standards
  • State Quality Rating
  • Accreditation Standards
  • Environmental Rating Scales

Child Care Worker Module 8

Connecting with Families and Communities

  • The Adults in Children’s Lives
  • Bioecological Theory of Human Development
  • Parents as Partners
  • Home-School Partnerships
  • Tips, Strategies and Plans for Caregivers and Teachers
  • Teachers, Caregivers and the Community
  • Community Within School or Center
  • Collaboration and Communication

Child Care Worker Module 9

Issues and Advocacy in Early Childhood Education

  • Social Issues in the ECE Realm
  • Advocating for Young Children
  • Technology and Young Children
  • Pros and Cons of Technology Use in Classroom
  • The Obesity Epidemic
  • Nutrition and Exercise
  • Poverty and Young Children
  • Cultural Diversity

Child Care Worker Module 10

Discovering Careers in Early Childhood Education

  • Why Teach Young Children?
  • Early Care and Education as a Profession
  • Professionalism
  • Career Options
  • Unusual Career Choices
  • Dispositions and Their Importance
  • Men as Teachers of Young Children
  • Why Men Are Needed in the Classroom

Early Childhood Development

Early Childhood Development Module 1

Studying the Child: Maps and Guides

  • Exploring Early Childhood
  • Historical and Current Views of Childhood
  • Children’s Rights
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Recurring Issues and Beliefs
  • Methods of Studying Children
  • Correlational Studies
  • Sources of Developmental Variation: Age and Cohort Influences
  • Evaluating Developmental Research
  • What Intergroup and Cultural Differences Really Mean

Early Childhood Development Module 2

Theories of Development: Map Makers

  • Theories in Psychology
  • Models of Underlying Theories of Child Development
  • Psychoanalytic and Psychosocial Approaches
  • Behavioristic Approaches
  • Classical and Operant Conditioning
  • Cognitive Approaches
  • Biological and Ecological Approaches
  • Dynamic Systems Theory
  • A Humanistic Approach
  • Peak Experiences

Early Childhood Development Module 3

Conception, Heredity, and Environment: Many Paths

  • The Mechanics of Heredity
  • The Genetic Code
  • Canalization and Reaction Range
  • Studying Gene-Environment Interaction
  • Human Plasticity: The Rubber Band
  • Inherited Abnormalities
  • Sex-Linked Defects
  • Physical and Personality Characteristics
  • Genetic Counseling and Engineering
  • Treating Genetic Disorders

Early Childhood Development Module 4

Prenatal Development and Birth: On the Road

  • Conception and Pregnancy
  • Assisted Reproduction Technologies
  • Stages of Prenatal Development
  • Drugs, Other Chemicals, and the Fetus
  • Prescription Drugs
  • Importance of Timing and Other Factors
  • Caffeine, Alcohol, and Nicotine
  • Maternal Characteristics and the Fetus
  • Maternal Emotions and Stress
  • Childbirth

Early Childhood Development Module 5

Physical and Cognitive Development in Infancy: First Excursions

  • Nutrition, Growth, and Survival in Infancy
  • Brain Growth and Motor Development
  • Sensation and Perception in Infancy
  • Smell, Taste, and Touch
  • Memory in Infants
  • Infant Cognitive Development
  • Intention, Imitation, and Morality in Young Infants
  • Sensorimotor Development
  • Early Language Development
  • From Sensation to Representation

Early Childhood Development Module 6

Social and Emotional Development in Infancy: First Excursions

  • The Family Context
  • Gender Roles
  • Infant Temperature
  • Cultural Context and Goodness-of-Fit
  • Infant Emotions
  • Regulating and Expressing Emotions in Infancy
  • Parent-Infant Attachments
  • Dimensions of Good Parenting in Infancy
  • Exceptionality in Infants
  • The Whole Infant

Early Childhood Development Module 7

Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: Side Expeditions

  • Physical Development
  • Motor Development
  • Cognitive Development: Information Processing
  • Cognitive Development: Piaget’s View
  • Cognitive Achievements of Preschoolers
  • Preschool Education
  • Challenges in Early Childhood
  • Communication Disorders
  • Conduct and Impulse Control Disorders
  • Intellectual Giftedness

Early Childhood Development Module 8

Social and Emotional Development in Early Childhood: Happy Jaunts

  • Emotional Development
  • Controlling the Emotions: The Marshmallow Test
  • Categories of Play
  • Social Play
  • Television and the Media
  • Positive Effects of Electronic Media
  • The Changing Family

Certification

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be prepared to sit for the NCCB's Certified Child Care Worker (CCCW) exam


N/A

An advisor will be in touch with you within 24-48 hours to assist or respond to your MyCAA queries