Course Number and Title: EA 3201: Early Childhood Development and Education
Course Contents
Unit-1: Meaning and Scope of Early Childhood Education
• Meaning and characteristics of newborn, infancy, toddlerhood, early childhood. later
childhood, pre-adolescence and adolescence.
• Themes in ECCE
• Need for early childhood education: Childhood is the foundation age of life.
• Aims and objectives of early childhood education.
• Philosophy and values in ECCE
• Principles of early learning development
Unit-2: Physical Growth, Health and Safety Development During Early Childhood
• Principles of growth and development.
• Pattern of growth in height and weight; Factors responsible for differences in growth:
heredity, poor nutrition, emotional stress, sex, body build, intelligence, health, teething;
Body proportions; Illness of early childhood; physical defects.
• Motor development and guiding child's motor development.
• Essentials for learning skills; important skills in early childhood: Self-help skills i.e. self-
bathing, self-dressing, self-feeding, self-grooming, stair climbing, Toileting: Social-help
skills, play-skills, work skills.
Unit-3: Emotional and Social Development of the Child/Holistic development through
ECCE
• Importance of emotion; how emotions develop; Role of learning in children's emotions:
learning by Trial and Error, learning by imitation, conditioning, Training.
• Children’s emotions differ from adult’s emotions, cause and effect of heightened
emotionality.
• Common emotions of childhood; Affection, anger, curiosity, envy, tear, grief, jealousy,
joy etc.
• Teaching the child emotional control, emotional tolerance.
• Sequence of social development; peer group, factors that influence socialization,
guidance in social development.
• The importance of companionship, common forms of unsocial behavior in childhood.
Foundation for leadership & follower.
• Erikson’s theory of social emotional development.
• Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory views child development.
Unit-4: Intellectual Development of the Child
• Intellectual abilities: Memory & imagination; Aids to better memory in early childhood,
common forms of imaginary experience in early childhood.
• Sequence of mental development; Piaget’s and Bruner's stages of mental development.
• Creativity and conditions affecting the development of creativity. I Guiding children’s
intellectual development.
• Language development: Nature and characteristics, stages in learning language, guiding
children’s language development.
• Basic Mathematical concept.
• Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences.
• Personality development: Meaning of personality and personality pattern, how
personality pattern develops some positive personality traits. Environmental effects on
the personality pattern and attractive personality.
Unit-5: Play and Playthings in Childhood
• Need and values of play; Essential features of Learning and play materials/ play; variety
and balance in play activities; common causes of imbalance in play in early childhood.
• Types of play: Active play exploratory play, construction, Dramatic play Family games,
Neighborhood games; Amusements- Watching others, looking at pictures. Listening to
stories, looking at comics, listening to music, Watching television.
• Play equipment for children, playthings with appeal, playthings that stimulate
development, equipment that is right for young children.
Unit-6: Teaching-learning Strategies in Childhood Education
• The impact of learning theories (Thorndike, Pavlov, Skinner. Piaget, Ausubel Bruner b
• Etc.) In early childhood education.
• Different teaching methods for children proposed by Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel,
• Montessori & Dewy.
• Some innovative teaching methods; Role playing, MWTL. CLE. Participatory teaching-
learning, learning by playing etc.
• When are children ready to learn? Methods of learning: Self-initiated learning, Trial and
Error learning, learning by imitation, learning by identification; Outer-directed learning:
Authoritarian, democratic, permissive.
• Assessment Children’s development & Learning.
• Assessment tools and strategies.
• Discipline: Importance of education, reward and punishment as basic elements of
discipline.
Unit-7: Behavior Problems in Early Childhood
• Some common problems: Fears, Bed Wetting, Eating problems, Sleep problems,
Accidents, Awkwardness, Dawdling, Unsocial behavior, Temper tantrums, etc.
• Prevention or correction of childhood problems.
Unit-8: Development and Organization of Preschools
• Features of good early learning environment.
• Role and functions of Day-care centre, nursery and kindergartens in helping the young
child’s development.
• Planning, management and organization of a preschool: Construction. Equipment and
furniture, classroom organization; design of an ideal preschool.
• Development of an ideal curriculum and time-table for preschools- Nursery and
Kindergarten.
• Qualities of teachers for preschools. Role of caregiver/ Role of ECCE teacher and
Parents.
• Lesson plan for pre-schools.
• Teachers’ training programs for preschools.
• A critical analysis of preschools (Nursery and Kindergarten) in Bangladesh to improve
the situation.
