BORICUA COLLEGE | BACHELOR OF SCIENCE DEGREE

Childhood Education Program*

(HEGIS: 0802)
Minimum Required Credits: 132

The College trains its childhood education students as “Facilitators of Learning” to approach children as total human beings, at the center of the educational agenda. It prepares students to teach to the N.Y. State Learning Common Core Standards, and for graduate training in the field of education.

Goal: Graduates can demonstrate self-awareness and mastery of the skills, values and knowledge of childhood education (1-6).

Objectives:

  1. Demonstrate self-awareness and competency in the integrated use of generic intellectual skills to master basic principles and methods of childhood education.

  2. Demonstrate self-awareness and competency in the integrated use of affective skills and humanistic values in childhood education.

  3. Demonstrate self-awareness and competency in the practice of pedagogical skills, knowledge and values in childhood education.

  4. Demonstrate self-awareness and competency in the application of integrated intellectual, affective and psychomotor skills to master the facts theories and methods of the social sciences related to childhood education.

  5. Demonstrate self-awareness and competency in the application of integrated intellectual, affective and psychomotor skills to master selected principles of the cultural humanities related to childhood education.

NOTE: The Childhood Education Program (B.S.) requires completion of a minimum of 132 credits of course work with a minimum 2.0 GPA, based on completion of the Generic Studies-Liberal Arts and Sciences Core Curriculum. 

[Early Childhood (K-1) Certificate Program is available for students who complete Childhood Education]

  • Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the personal affective values they possess and which are in contradiction with the values of the education profession. The course requires self-awareness, differentiation and identification of cultural, philosophical religious or political values that guide behavior; followed by their expression and discussion in a group context, and a critical analysis of points of conflict with the goals and values of childhood education.

  • Students will demonstrate understanding of core principles and concepts about individualization of instruction of the exceptionally gifted and/or handicapped child.

  • Students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of conditions that affect learning. Topics covered include: drugs, alcohol and tobacco abuse; health and nutrition; detecting child abuse and actions for teachers to take; safe living conditions and healthy environments that promote learning.

  • Students will demonstrate an organized, logical set of values that indicate a synthesis of personal and professional values. Students will demonstrate in a small group setting the characteristics of that synthesis of values through their attitudes, a capacity for receiving and responding with clarity and a commitment and consistency in disciplined appropriate professional behaviors towards their professional peers and the children and parents assigned to them.

  • At the conclusion of this course students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the humanistic, philosophical principles, theoretical constructs, and intervention techniques of Educational Facilitation as a method of individualized and small group instruction. Of special focus are the seminal works of Carl R. Rodgers’, principles of facilitation, William Schwartz’, focus on small group theory: “purpose, contracting and work (i.e. energy directed to a purpose)” and others. Finally, a major emphasis will be placed on the development of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills (i.e. Bloom Taxonomy) in students and children and their use in the acquisition of knowledge.

Colloquium

Small group colloquia are designed to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their self-awareness and Mastery of the Affective Skills of receiving (listening and reading), responding (speaking and writing) and expressing their values, feelings and emotions in understanding the generic principles of the liberal arts and sciences.

Experiential Studies

These courses concentrate on the “psychomotor” dimension of learning and  compliments the cognitive and affective skills developed in individualized instruction and colloquium.  These sequences of courses evolve from perceptual enrichment through sensory awareness and physical development to instrumental and complex skills where the cognitive and affective dimensions integrate with the psychomotor.

  • Students will able to demonstrate understanding of how to create a supportive learning environment; plan curricula lessons; and develop assessment techniques for children’s learning.

  • Students select sites (an elementary school or program) consistent with their particular career goals and learning needs; six workshops on using technology to teach children.

  • Through the use of workshops concentrating; the assessment of teaching skills; the child as the learner; classroom management; lesson plans; assessment; and developing professional relationships in the school.

  • Students receive intensive practice in teaching grades 1-3 under the supervision of an on-site classroom teacher. 112.5 hours of faculty supervised student teaching is required.

  • Students receive intensive practice in teaching grades 4-6 under the supervision of an on-site classroom teacher. 112.5 hours of faculty supervised student teaching is required.

Theoretical Studies (Electives)

  • Introduction to the principles of general psychology: the nature of psychology and its historical principles philosophical and neurobiological basis of psychology; sensory processes, perception, cognition and consciousness; learning, conditioning, memory; basic motives, emotions and affect; personality, social psychology, abnormal psychology and methods of therapy

  • Principles of development of the individual differences and their measurement; personality and social determinants of behavior; biological and psychological basis of learning and memory.

  • Introduces the concepts and methods used to study the nature and organization of human society: socialization, culture and social interaction.

  • Examines the basic institutions of society: the family, religion, education, the state and political order; social classes, stratification, bureaucracy, population and social change.

  • An introduction to the study of humankind through the perspective of general anthropology. Topics include: evolution; Homo Sapiens and their culture; language and culture; social stratification; sex, marriage and family; social organizations.

Cultural Studies (Electives)

The College believes that affirmation of students’ culture is essential to their learning process; Cultural Studies courses supplement as context for the learning processes of the previous four types of courses.

  • At the end of this course students will be able to demonstrate comprehension and knowledge of the economic, political, social, and cultural developments that created early civilizations. The course presents world history through an analysis of five (5) topics, including: 1) Human Origins and Human Cultures; 2) Settling Down: Rise of the Village Community and the City-State; 3) Empire and Imperialism; 4) Rise of World Religions; 5) Movement of Goods (Trade) and People (Migration).

  • At the end of this course students will be able to demonstrate comprehension and knowledge of the economic, political, social, and cultural developments that created contemporary civilizations. The course presents world history through an analysis of the following seven topics: 1) Nature of the Global Economy and Geopolitics in the 16th Century; 2) Economic Growth, Religion and Migration; 3) Industrial, Social and Political Revolutions in Europe and throughout the Americas; 4) Technological Innovations: Mass Production and Destruction; 5) the World at War (WWI and WWII) and the Rise of New Nations; 6) The Cold War and the Emergence of New Nations and the Third World; 7) Political, Religious, Economic and Cultural issues in the 21st Century.

    NOTE: Although World History I is not a prerequisite to taking World History II, it is advisable that students take World History I prior to taking World History II.

  • This is a survey course on the social, cultural, and political development of Western Civilization. Topics include: the ancient Near East; the civilization of the Greeks and Romans; European Civilization in the middle ages; the Age of Renaissance; the Age of Reformation; concept of the Nation-State and the search for order in the seventeenth century; the scientific revolution and the emergence of modern science.

  • An exploration of the history of art, beginning with prehistoric art and covering major periods and styles.

  • This course is a survey of English and American literature featuring both the classics and contemporary American writings in English, including by African American and Latino writers. The course will deal with English and American literary traditions such as the “gilded age”, African-American Renaissance, the American novel, Immigrant novel, magic reality, cultural identifications, celebrations and rituals, the role of the oral traditions and their transmission and transformation in written works, stylistic innovations in the use of language of Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Maya Angelou and Julia de Burgos, writers as individuals and as a members of a cultural community.

Independent Studies

  • (TBA)

Individualized Instruction

The Individualized Instruction courses in the Generic Studies Core Curriculum program require students to demonstrate self-awareness and mastery in the use of critical, intellectual skills necessary for understanding the generic principles of the liberal arts and sciences. At Boricua College, the study of these mental processes is referred to as Cognitive Science.

  • Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the fundamental issues and problems of childhood education while considering the historical overview and solutions relevant to American elementary education; examines changes in philosophy and practice in American elementary education from its inception to the present.

  • Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of and competency in the factors contributing to the development of the child as a learner; the interaction between maturation and learning, and a review of recent research findings on the teaching of children at various levels of biological, cognitive, affective and psychomotor development.

  • The student will be able to demonstrate knowledge of basic concepts and principles in the teaching of mathematics, science and technology to children in accordance with the State Learning Standards.

  • Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental concepts of teaching children literacy and language arts; listening, responding, reading and writing techniques; development of lesson plans and evaluation of students, in accordance with the State Learning Standards.

  • Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of the theoretical foundations of reading provided in Language Arts I; students will engage in the practical application of those theories to develop reading materials, and evaluation techniques in accordance with the State Learning Standards.

  • Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of conceptual and practical understanding of language development, readiness for reading, methods, theories and techniques for teaching reading to bilingual students in their 1st and 2nd languages in accordance with the State Learning Standards.

  • Students will demonstrate knowledge of the various aspects of teaching reading in Spanish, in accordance with the State Learning Standards and Common Core. The course also deals with listening, linguistics, culture-driven perceptions and values of children.

*The Teacher Education Program at Boricua College is awarded TEAC accreditation by the Commission of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) for a period of seven years, from May 2014 - May 2021.