COE's School of Teaching & Learning - Open & Free Materials: Early Childhood Education

Written specifically for the emerging child psychology student or early childhood educator. Starts with a look at perspectives of early childhood, including how children have been viewed historically as well as cross-culturally. Provides a complete overview of the important theorists that have helped to deepen and bring clarity to how children develop. These theories include psychodynamic, behavioral, social cognitive theory, cognitive theory, humanistic, multiple intelligence, growth mindset, and Bloom’s taxonomy. Then addresses development from the prenatal period through about the age of eight.

• Open License: CC-BY-NC-SA

This text focuses on the appropriate use of a variety of assessment and observation strategies to document child development and behavior. Child observations will be conducted and analyzed.

• Open License: CC-BY

The arts find their way in to elementary, middle, and high school classrooms every day in a variety of ways, including Arts as Curriculum, Arts-Enhanced Curriculum, and Arts-Integrated Curriculum. This text explains these approaches and specifically addresses curricular integration of music, visual arts, literary arts, performing arts, and P.E./movement.

• Open License: CC-BY-NC-SA

This book explores a holistic, artistic, and integrated approach to understanding the developmental connections between music and children. This book guides professionals to work through music, harnessing the processes that underlie music learning, and outlining developmentally appropriate methods to understand the role of music in children’s lives through play, games, creativity, and movement. Additionally, the book explores ways of applying music-making to benefit the whole child, i.e., socially, emotionally, physically, cognitively, and linguistically.

• Open License: CC-BY-NC-SA

Guided by cultural beliefs and principles, families select experiences, convey attitudes, and impart knowledge to their children to prepare them for adulthood. Accordingly, it is important for program staff to learn to collaborate effectively with families. To develop a partnership and to tap into the family as a primary resource, early childhood educators must reach out to, learn about, and develop strong partnerships with families. This process requires openness to learning and an effort to understand the individuality of each family and the diversity of the families from which the children come.

• Open License: CC-BY

Key discoveries in how young children learn are reviewed in language accessible to parents as well as educators: findings about the interplay of biology and environment, variations in learning among individuals and children from different social and economic groups, and the importance of health, safety, nutrition and interpersonal warmth to early learning. Perhaps most significant, the book documents how very early in life learning really begins. Valuable conclusions and recommendations are presented in the areas of the teacher-child relationship, the organization and content of curriculum, meeting the needs of those children most at risk of school failure, teacher preparation, assessment of teaching and learning, and more.

• Copyright Applies
• PDF free to use; paper book available for a fee

Focuses on developmentally appropriate for preschool-aged children and includes a chapter on infant and toddler curriculum and a chapter on curriculum for school-aged children.

• Open License: CC-BY

Addresses growth and development from conception through adolescence.

• Open License: CC-BY