Be an advocate for children in and out of school
Be an advocate for children in and out of school
Be an advocate for children in and out of school
Child Development & Education
Fuel your passion for embarking on or continuing a career in child education at AUSB, where educators are valued and given the tools they need for success in the classroom and beyond.
Our approach to learning and teaching is reflective, experiential, and engaging, led by experienced faculty who demonstrate mastery in their professions. We combine academic instruction and hands-on experience to build important intellectual and professional tools centered around six core purposes – Critical Thinking, Diverse Perspectives, Social Justice, Applied Learning, Communication, and Self-Awareness – designed to graduate globally-aware citizens, socially-responsible leaders, and highly marketable graduates. Learn more
At AUSB, we focus on child advocacy, cultural context, and global current affairs to prepare you for the diverse and complex issues that educators face every day. The concentration also takes your education to the next level with its distinctive practicum experience, which allows students to observe various age groups and educational models. Course subjects include psychology, child and adolescent development, early childhood education, and additional liberal arts disciplines.
Students are strongly encouraged to complete several of the following courses (chosen in consultation with an Academic Advisor):
CDE 303 Child Psychology (3)This course covers the process of development from conception through early childhood years at the biological, cognitive, social, emotional and cultural levels. We will discuss the interactions of these various facets of development in specific areas like gender roles, aggressive behavior, or education and apply this knowledge to practical situations. We will also look at the child in relationship to family, school, and the community.
|Emerging Models of Early Childhood Education
CDE 304 Emerging Models of Early Childhood Education (3)This course will explore models of established early childhood education through an analysis of historical and theoretical antecedents. Students will study the major models in the field and examine how those approaches have changed over time and what their influence is on school today. Students will look at such models as Montessori, High/Scope, and Reggio Emilia. In addition they will look at the impact of No Child Left Behind on preschools programs.
|Integrating Curriculum: Best Practices
CDE 305 Integrating Curriculum: Best Practices (3)This course will look at curriculum development for young children in the framework of reflective teaching practices. By combining in-depth theoretical principles with practical applications students will become familiar with methods to plan curriculum by providing for child-centered, relationship based teaching. They will reflect on their own teaching practices, requirements from their work sites, as well as state mandates.
|Media, Technology and Children
CDE 306 Media, Technology and Children (3)This course is a study of the impact of modern media upon the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development of children. A critical exploration of communications through such channels as television, music, magazines, the Internet, and video games will be conducted. The positive as well as the negative manner in which the media influence the attitudes, values, and behaviors of young audiences will be examined.
CDE 307 Child Advocacy (3)This course will explore a variety of concepts in child advocacy, including a range of individuals, professionals and advocacy organizations who promote the optimal development of children and family systems. Topics include individuals or organizations engaging in advocacy to protect children’s rights that may be abridged or abused in a number of areas. These topics will be examined from a variety of perspectives, both theoretical and cultural, and case studies will be analyzed.
|Special Education: Response to Intervention
CDE 308 Special Education: Response to Intervention (3)This course provides an overview of the Response to Intervention (RTI) model, a multi-tiered framework designed to provide data-differentiated instruction appropriate for today’s diverse learners. Students will explore the assessment, intervention, and monitoring practices consistent with the model and apply its concepts to practical situations with regard to special education. Students will develop an understanding of relevant legal and ethical factors as well as the use of transdisciplinary teams, classroom grouping strategies, and researched-based instructional methods and programs.
|Practicum: Child Advocacy
CDE 310 Practicum: Child Advocacy (3)This practicum includes a field-based experience and is to be taken in conjunction with CDE-307 Child Advocacy. Students will spend 20 hours at an approved site and begin to look at childcare systems through the lens of advocacy. Through structured observations, the student will examine a range of factors that promote the optimal development of children and family systems. From the field experience, we will consider the teacher/caregiver’s role in assessing and addressing problems in the classroom, connecting with appropriate social agencies, and supporting families. Finally, as part of professional development, students will look at organizations at the local, state, and national level that can be accessed to keep current with advocacy opportunities in the early childhood field.
CDE 311 Practicum: Curriculum (3)This practicum includes a field-based experience and is to be taken in conjunction with CDE-307 Child Advocacy. Students will spend 20 hours at an approved site and begin to look at childcare systems through the lens of advocacy. Through structured observations, the student will examine a range of factors that promote the optimal development of children and family systems. From the field experience, we will consider the teacher/caregiver’s role in assessing and addressing problems in the classroom, connecting with appropriate social agencies, and supporting families. Finally, as part of professional development, students will look at organizations at the local, state, and national level that can be accessed to keep current with advocacy opportunities in the early childhood field.
CDE 320 Parent/Child Relationships (3)This course will focus on parent/child relationships and all the societal factors that affect them. Students will research and explore contemporary issues related to family structures and the resiliency of children to meet their needs in a fast-changing world. Students will become familiar with current neuroscience findings on children’s brain development. Any adult working with or caring about children and families will benefit from the material presented and the broad vision of the vital role children play in our future.
CDE 332 Adolescent Development (3)At the completion of this course, the student should have an understanding of the process of human development from middle childhood through adolescence at the biological, cognitive, social, emotional and cultural levels. Through discussion and directed learning the student will become familiar with current research literature in adolescent development, and demonstrate the applicability to current practical situations.
|Theories of Learning and Cognition
CDE 343 Theories of Learning and Cognition (3)This course examines the models and processes relevant to human cognition and learning. Topics include information processing, attention, memory, language, problem solving, and decision making. Surveys of empirical research and applications of concepts to everyday experiences will be conducted.
COM 355 Intercultural Communication (3)Technology has compressed the world into a global village composed of myriad international and non-dominant domestic cultures. Communication between cultures is essential but complicated by different contexts, values, expectations, and perceptions. This course examines different theoretical and practical approaches to the complexities of both verbal and non-verbal communication across cultures. Communication styles of various nationalities are examined along with such issues as dominance, gender, religion, prejudice, time, distance, and silence.
COM 358 Group Dynamics (3)This course examines theories and research about groups, and applications of social psychological (rather than clinical) notions of group processes. The course provides a setting in which students engage in both didactic and experiential learning about group roles, group development and task oriented and non-rational group dynamics. Topics include, among others: group functioning, development, role emergence and differentiation, leadership and authority, scapegoating and the relationship between these and non-rational behavior.
| Child Development and Learning
HDV 455 Child Development and Learning (3)This class provides students with the opportunity to study and do research related to current child development theory and their applications in school and classroom contexts for children in grades K through 8. Students learn to read and interpret professional journal articles in order to explore the influence of culture on child development and child rearing practices. Student will learn to conduct developmental observations and interviews with children. Primary topics are cognitive, emotional, social and moral development, moral education, the role of children in US culture, and children’s rights. This course is offered by the MAE Program.
| Language Development and Acquisition
HDV 458A Language Development and Acquisition (3)This course combines the study of cognitive, personal, and social development with the study of the psychophysical dimensions of first- and second-language acquisition, language structure and its use, and the developmental and sociocultural factors that affect language learning and use. Genetic and social factors influencing cognitive and social development are studied. Candidates review contemporary theory and research on first and second language acquisition and use. The course also reviews current theory and research on how the variables of development, class, and ethnicity impact language learning. Then, the course focuses on dialects and standard languages, the implications of the differential status of language and dialects, value systems, acculturation patterns, and language environments. Finally, relevant federal and state laws, policies, and legal requirements governing the education of second language learners are studied, along with a review of different school-based programs designed to support English language development. This course is offered by the MAE Program.
|Conflict Management I: Nature and Cause
GBL 314 Conflict Management I: Nature and Cause (3)An interdisciplinary examination of individual, group, organizational, national and transnational conflicts in the ‘Ages of Globalization and Terrorism.’ The world is irreversibly interdependent and marked by the free flow of capital, goods, people, knowledge and ideas, and at the same time subject to the increasingly turbulent forces of nationalism, ethnicity, religion and the spread of destructive technological capabilities (nuclear arms). By examining the root causes of conflict from the perspective of biology, psychology, economics and business, politics and technology, students will delve into the nature and sources of modern conflict, the strategies and tactics most often employed by disputants and the dynamic and structural forces that cause conflict to escalate, stalemate, deescalate and ultimately settle.
|Ethical and Legal Issues in Human Services
PHL 369 Ethical and Legal Issues in Human Services (3)This course will give students an ethical decision making model to apply to professional situations. We will discuss the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice as a reference to ethical behavior in work situations in which professionals encounter. Through class discussions of possible scenarios and situations, students will also have opportunities to explore personal values, attitudes, and beliefs regarding a variety of topics such as gift giving, boundaries, dual relationships, and diversity issues. The course will also cover general ethical/legal principles that counseling professionals encounter, such as confidentiality issues, privileged communication, and issues of abuse and neglect.
|Culture & Emotions
PSY 333 Culture & Emotions (3)The science of emotion is critical to our understanding of human behavior and needs. This course explores the major psychological perspectives on emotion, both historic and contemporary, with an emphasis on cultural context. Topics include the components and functions of emotions, causes of emotions, and individual, gender, and cultural differences. Students will explore the causes of emotional dysfunction and how emotions can be regulated and controlled.
PSY 339A Positive Psychology (3)This course provides an overview of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The field of Positive Psychology is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best with in them, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play. Its three central tenets are explored: positive emotions, positive individual traits, and positive institutions. This includes the study of contentment with the past, happiness in the present, and hope for the future.
|Theories of Personality
PSY 340 Theories of Personality (3)This course is designed to acquaint students with the major theories of personality and schools of thought in psychology. A comparative approach is used, based on the assumption that each theory contributes a part to the whole understanding of the human personality. An objective is to study the parts in order to gain a greater understanding of the whole. A final goal of this course is for each student to develop her/his own theory of personality based on a critical understanding of predominant theories in order to come to know one’s own biases, assumptions, strengths and weakness.
|Family Systems & Interventions
PSY 368 Family Systems & Interventions (3)This course provides an overview of family systems in a global context. Students will explore family structures as manifestations of the cultural groups to which the family belongs, and interventions which reflect those cultural values. First to define family therapy were American family therapists such as Whitaker, Satir, Minuchin and Bowen. But as family therapy travels across the globe, it is changing to fit unique cultures and circumstances. This course explores both American and global models of the family as a living system in which change is best facilitated by considering the family in context. Students will have an opportunity to examine their own family system through a variety of class assignments.
Dr. Johnson brings a wide range of knowledge in such areas as: cultural and global diversity, service learning, comparative philosophy, comparative religion, meditation, business ethics and social responsibility, philosophy of education, and education reform.
Tina's projects include the Ubumwe Center, which supports Rwandan genocide survivors with disabilities, and Invisible Children, which provides education for former child soldiers in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Core Faculty, BA Program
Guy Smith received his MA from SDSU and has over 40 years experience as an instructor and an administrator in higher education.
Just a handful of the broad possibilities:
- Childhood Education
- Teacher’s Assistant
- Parent Educator
- Child Care Worker
Find your niche with positions that relate to child development, education, or advocacy, and work alongside trained professionals serving youth under the age of 18.
AUSB has a relationship with over 100 community organizations that provide service learning opportunities for students. This requirement is met by completing 40 service hours with an approved non-profit agency.
“Antioch’s core values, that are reinforced every term, are the most valuable intangible I am receiving. It is awesome to be able to develop holistically as a person and be supported in that process while I continue my education and reach for my career goals.”
– Sheri Kent
BA, Child Development & Education concentration
Graduate School Opportunities at AUSB
After completing their degree, most graduates choose to go on to a teaching credential program and/or Masters in Education option. AUSB’s MEd with Teaching Credential program is the perfect opportunity to accomplish both, and the Early Decider Program for qualifying students provides a seamless transition to this next step.