New discoveries about crucial brain development in early years and fundamental changes in the economy, family life and public awareness have given a lot of spotlights to the field of early childhood development and education. Qualified early childhood professionals are high in demand for a variety of early childhood programs designed to meet the needs of young children and their families.
The Child Development Associate Degree / Pre-Kindergarten Associate Teacher Certification Program at Ohio University-Lancaster is designed to train early childhood professionals to work with preschool children and their families in various capacities. Graduates of this program will be qualified for teaching and administrative positions in public and private childcare, preschools, and Head Start programs, as well as qualified to be licensed home child care providers and associate pre-kindergarten teachers in public school programs.
Teaching young children is fun and rewarding as well as a challenging career that requires a wealth of knowledge and skills. This program provides opportunities for students to take courses in Child Development, Introduction to Early Childhood Education, Principles of Preschool Guidance and Classroom Management, Children's Literature, Music, Creative Experiences, Premath and Science, Infant Education, Nutrition, First Aid, Exceptional Children, Communication Disorders, Technological Applications in Education, Family Living and Development, Human Relations and Student Teaching. Students will also take courses in a variety of other areas to broaden their knowledge base.
Throughout the two-year (or self-paced) program of study, students will be required to take curriculum courses along with field experiences supervised by qualified early childhood professionals. The culmination of the study is student teaching‹an entire quarter of half-day teaching in an approved preschool program‹integrating and practicing the acquired knowledge and skills in the real world of young children.
Upon completion of the associate degree, students may continue to pursue a bachelor of early childhood education degree with additional courses right here at Ohio University-Lancaster. For more information about the program, contact Dr. Qiuping Cao at cao@ohiou.edu or call (740) 654-6711 ext. 246.
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