Prerequisite
ECE 330
Course Description
Focus is on play which offers rich opportunities to create a teaching and living-learning environment that stimulates, nurtures, and develops creativity and imagination in the inquisitive minds of young children. Emphasis is on understanding that play is closely tied to the development of the five (5) domains: physical health, well-being, and motor development, social-emotional development, approaches to learning, language, literacy and communication, and cognitive and general knowledge. This includes cognition, enhancement of motor skills, perceptual abilities, emotional growth, social awareness, skills and competence, creative problem solving, cooperative and collaborative skills, and moral and ethical behavior. Identification of classical and current perspectives of play, emergence and development of play, ways in which young children use play to understand their reality, major settings in which play occurs, inclusive play and attributes of an optimal play environment will be discussed.