Honours Bachelor of Child Development (BCD)

This course provides students with knowledge and resources necessary to promote their own safety, health, and nutrition, and that of children, families, and communities they encounter. The importance of creating contextually relevant environments that maximize well-being in collaboration with others is emphasized. Specific information on diseases and common childhood illnesses, as well as information on cultural diversity in meal planning, gives students the knowledge they need to encourage health, safety, and nutrition in a variety of settings.

This course is an in-depth study of growth, development, and learning of the child from conception through toddlerhood. This course examines diverse theories of development and engages students in discussion of the principles and tenets of these theories. Students will observe and make inferences about childrens current and emerging skills using various tools and strategies.

This course will provide the basis for future curriculum courses. It is designed for students to develop an introductory understanding of the history, philosophies, theories, and models of teaching and learning. Multiple worldviews of teaching and learning will be explored. Students will reflect on their own experiences as learners and begin to articulate an informed vision for their practice.

Students will reflect on the historical, philosophical, and social foundations that shape current perspectives on human rights in Canada, and examine the multiple roles of practitioners responsible for the wellbeing of children in a complex pluralistic society. Critical reflective practice is introduced as a tool for understanding self and others. Various approaches to interpersonal communication with children, families, communities, and colleagues within diverse contexts are explored.

This field placement seminar is designed to support students in integrating practical skills and knowledge into preschool settings. This course focuses on developing a solid foundation for professional practice that values the diversity of children, families, communities, and colleagues in early childhood settings. The seminar is designed to allow students to discuss experiences from their field placement and reflect on these experiences with other students.

This course is an in-depth study of growth, development, and learning of the child from preschool through middle childhood. This course examines diverse theories of development and engages students in discussion of the principles and tenets of these theories. Students will observe and make inferences about childrens current and emerging skills using various tools and strategies.

This course explores the principles, methods, and materials for working with children from birth to 12 using art and science to explore the natural world in an integrated and inclusive curriculum. Students will participate in activities to develop practical skills enabling them to support childrens development of art, science, and ecological awareness in various environments. The benefits of art, science, and nature experiences throughout childhood will be investigated.

In this course students develop a critical understanding of Canadian legislation and policy that impacts professional practice in their work with children, families, and communities. Students will examine the role of ethics in professional practice and consider how to apply a code of conduct to ethical dilemmas in their work. Students will learn to develop advocacy strategies that are responsive to current societal trends and issues that impact children, families, and communities.

This field placement seminar is designed to support students in integrating practical skills and knowledge into infant and toddler care settings. This course focuses on developing a solid foundation for professional practice that values the diversity of children, families, communities, and colleagues in early childhood settings. The seminar is designed to allow students to discuss experiences from their field placement and reflect on these experiences with other students. This field placement seminar is designed to support students in integrating practical skills and knowledge into infant and toddler care settings. This course focuses on developing a solid foundation for professional practice that values the diversity of children, families, communities, and colleagues in early childhood settings. The seminar is designed to allow students to discuss experiences from their field placement and reflect on these experiences with other students.

This course provides students with an overview of childrens diverse abilities, with a focus on developmental differences. Students will learn differentiated and universal strategies to support children with a wide range of exceptionalities in specialized or inclusive community settings. Students will interpret pertinent legislation and policies regarding special needs services and funding and generate advocacy efforts for childrens rights. An inclusive and person-centered approach is used as a foundation for navigating collaborative conversations.

This course explores the principles, methods, and materials for working with children from birth to 12 years of age using physical literacy and music in an integrated and inclusive curriculum. Students will participate in activities to develop practical skills enabling them to support childrens development of physical literacy and music skills in various environments. The benefits of physical literacy and musical experiences throughout childhood will be investigated.

Students will gain the knowledge and skills necessary to promote and sustain supportive partnerships with families. Theory and practice relevant to collaborative work with families is emphasized. Sustaining partnerships during times of family disruption is discussed.

This field placement seminar is designed to support students in integrating practical skills and knowledge into kindergarten and early elementary school settings. This course focuses on developing a solid foundation for professional practice that values the diversity of children, families, communities, and colleagues in school settings. The seminar is designed to allow students to discuss experiences from their field placement and reflect on these experiences with other students.

Theories of attachment focus on the nature of social and emotional adult-child relationships and how they develop. Literature on attachment enables students to examine how attachment affects development, what effect caregiving (both in home and out of home) has on attachment and how early attachments affect relationships in later life. Observations in diverse settings will enable students to identify and describe behaviours associated with different patterns of attachment. Students will examine how attachment can be nurtured and optimized between caregiver and child. In addition, an examination of the criticisms of attachment theory will be scrutinized and alternate relational constructs discussed.

This course explores the principles, methods, and materials for working with children from birth to 12 using mathematics and digital literacy in an integrated and inclusive curriculum. Students will participate in activities to develop the practical and theoretical skills required to support childrens development. The focus will be on developing the skills and understandings to be critically reflective of pedagogical practices in the areas of mathematics and digital media.

This course will give students the opportunity to explore diverse theories of child and family relationships. Students will gain skills in identifying the cultural and historical lens of each theory, along with the inherent assumptions of family trends. A sound knowledge of family research and theory application will provide students some of the tools necessary in understanding families and to recognize their role in positive change where needed in family life.

In this course, students are introduced to critical social theory, and the various sub-fields of critical theory relevant to work in human services contexts. Students will develop the skills necessary for questioning the values and assumptions of society, and to move beyond mere explanation of social phenomena, towards transformation of society. Dominant discourses about children and childhood are problematized and deconstructed with an aim to reconceptualizing ways of being in the world with children that are equitable and just. Critical literacy is explored as a pedagogical tool for engaging children in the critical reading of the world.

This field placement seminar is designed to support students in integrating practical skills and knowledge in community settings. This course focuses on developing a solid foundation for professional practice with children, families, communities, and colleagues in community settings. The seminar allows students to discuss experiences from their field placement and reflect on them with other students.

Policies and practices related to childrens mental health are critically analyzed. Different classification systems for understanding and defining childrens behaviours are studied. The application of evidence-based practices for intervention and program planning are considered. Culturally competent strengths-based narratives are developed to facilitate trans-disciplinary practice and care collaboration.

Students will explore emotional wellbeing from infancy through adolescence. Students will gain knowledge and skills needed to promote the development of positive mental health across the lifespan. Psychosocial and sociocultural factors that influence socioemotional trajectories from birth through adolescence are discussed. Early prevention and intervention programs will also be introduced. Students will contemplate how adolescent socioemotional wellbeing can be supported in the community within diverse contexts. Finally, students will learn how to assess suicide risk in children and collaborate with caregivers in creating safety.

Community organizations, service providers, residents, governments, and large institutions work together to enhance child, family, and community services. Students will be introduced to social work, public health, policy development, education, child development, and early intervention disciplines to explore the possibilities of inter-professional practice. Students will identify resources and gaps in community services and opportunities for professional collaboration.

Students will investigate the ways the brain functions, changes over time, and responds to both environmental and genetic factors. Connections between the continuum of development of cognitive skills and the contexts that they develop will be explored. Students will examine the link between early adversity, brain development, and gene expression with the goal of leveraging the science of brain development to support their professional practice. This course will expand on topics that have been introduced in previous development courses such as self-regulation, executive functioning, memory, attention, and learning.

This course will familiarize students with the research process. Students will come to understand the many decisions they need to make to develop a research project. To this end, this course will provide students with practical understanding of research methodologies relevant to the human services field. Topics secondary to the research process such as time management, personal motivation, organization, identifying the audience, writing conventions, and formatting will be discussed. Students will also learn about research ethics.

This course is designed to familiarize students with the purpose, function, and rationale for care collaboration. The skills associated with practitioner roles in service delivery by child and family agencies are explored. Students examine a variety of delivery models in human services and ways to address practitioner self-care and compassion fatigue. Students will explore their own biases and beliefs in order to enhance cultural competence in working with diverse families.

This course is intended to provide students with an introduction to language acquisition from infancy through the early school years by exploring syntax, morphology, semantics, phonology, and pragmatics. Development of more than one language is explored. Individual differences in language learning and how and why these occur are examined. Atypical language development with attention to the most common disorders is also addressed.

This course is designed for students to learn to identify children affected by stress, trauma and/or violence and to effectively support them. Students will learn about the signs and symptoms of stress and trauma and how stress, violence, and trauma affect childrens learning, cognitive brain development, and social-emotional development. The short and long term consequences of being exposed to stress, trauma, or violence, as well as the social and family causes, will be considered. Central to this course is the examination of resilience and the strategies that may be used to meet child and family needs.

In this course students will develop an applied research proposal based on a research interest relevant to their professional practice. Students will learn how to formulate a feasible research design based on particular philosophical and methodological assumptions. Students will learn to effectively synthesize the literature and theoretical frameworks relevant to their research topic. Choosing or designing valid and reliable instruments when conducting research and ethical protocol for research will also be addressed.

This course is designed to introduce students to a variety of tools used to identify childrens differing abilities. Students will learn that screening and assessment are part of the continuum of intervention and not only a means of labeling and identification. Students will gain insights into the range of screening and assessment instruments typically used with families and children birth to twelve years of age.

As future practitioners poised to work in pluralistic contexts, it is important to gain understanding of global perspectives about children and childhood. This course will focus on the significance of sociocultural-historical circumstances and the impact that local values, beliefs, and practices have upon children, families, communities, and colleagues. At the same time, the influence globalization plays in creating a normalizing discourse about children and childhood is critically examined.

As graduates of this program you have a responsibility to share with others the knowledge and experience you have gained in a way that honours and supports community capacities. Through this course, you will build your own values and beliefs about how change is facilitated in and effects peoples lives. Students will connect with a group of adult community members with the focus to engage in partnerships with them to create transformative learning opportunities that have the potential for far reaching effects.

This course will focus on the successful completion of an applied research project. Students research will be conducted under the supervision of faculty. Students will collect and evaluate data to make recommendations and draw conclusions on the basis of the analysis of the research findings. Students will be required to present their findings to representatives in the field.

Students will gain understanding of the nature of funding for universal and targeted programs (at the federal, provincial, and municipal government levels) that address the needs of a wide range of families. Empirical research, government documents, and other publications are examined. Students will examine the evolution of principles and theories of family support connected to service delivery. Contextually relevant programs for families with complex service needs will be explored.