DESCRIPTION OF COURSE(S) OF STUDY

The elementary and early childhood education program is designed to prepare candidates to be
teachers of young children and leads to certification for pre-kindergarten to grade five in
Georgia. The cross-disciplinary nature of the program’s course requirements, with special
emphasis on content studies in mathematics and reading, corresponds to the broad and integrated
nature of teaching in the elementary grades as well as the fundamental importance of developing
the reading and mathematical skills of young learners. The program provides candidates with an
understanding of developmentally appropriate practices and an awareness of and sensitivity to
cultural diversity and individual differences among young learners.

The course of study required of Elementary and Early Childhood Education majors includes 45
semester hours of general education courses, 18 semester hours of lower division required major
courses, 24 hours of upper division required teaching field courses, and 36 hours of professional
education requirements for a total of 123 semester hours. The complete program is described
below and is shown on the Program Advisement Checklist on Page 14-15.

General Education Requirements

The General Education core required of all Kennesaw State University students provides a solid
and comprehensive foundational academic experience. In a series of interrelated courses
focusing on the liberal arts, sciences, and mathematics, the core provides opportunity for
candidates to acquire the intellectual skills and knowledge needed by educated persons in a
diverse, global community. The core lays the foundation for success in academic, professional,
and personal arenas and provides an introduction, connection, and integration to the variety of
disciplines candidates need to master to be successful teachers. The General Education program
is arranged in the following manner.

Area A Essential Skills—9 Credits

English 1101 Composition I 3 credits
English 1102 Composition II 3 credits
Math 1101 Mathematical Modeling 3 credits

Area B Social Issues—5 credits

SELECT ONE:
Anthropology 2105 Social Issues: Perspectives in Anthropology 2 credits
OR
Geography 2105 Social Issues: Perspectives in Geography 2 credits
OR
Psychology 2105 Social Issues: Perspectives in Psychology 2 credits
OR
Sociology 2105 Social Issues: Perspectives in Sociology 2 credits
AND
SELECT ONE:
Communications 1109 Human Communications 3 credits
OR
Foreign Language 1102 Foreign Language II 3 credits
 OR
Philosophy 2202 Ways of Knowing 3 credits

Area C Humanities/Fine Arts—6 Credits

English 2110 World Literature 3 credits
AND
SELECT ONE:
Art 1107 Visual Arts in Society 3 credits
OR
Music 1107 Music in Society 3 credits
OR
Theatre 1107 Theatre in Society 3 credits

Area D Science, Mathematics, and Technology—10 Credits

Science 1101 Interdisciplinary Science I (with lab)* 4 credits
Science 1102 Interdisciplinary Science II* 3 credits
Math 1107 Applied Elementary Statistics* 3 credits

Area E Social Sciences—12 credits

Political Science 1102 American Government 3 credits
Economics 1100 Global Economics 3 credits
History 1110 Introduction of World Civilizations 3 credits
History 2112 America Since 1890 3 credits

Health and Physical Education – 3 credits

Health, Physical Education and Sport Science 1000
Fitness for Living 3 credits

* Denotes selections from cluster of core science and mathematics subjects required of students
intending to pursue the elementary and early childhood education program

Major Requirements
Elementary and early childhood education program candidates take a range of courses in the
content areas of mathematics, science, language arts, social sciences, health and physical
education, and the arts during their professional work; they also take a range of courses in
general and content-based pedagogy. Many of these courses require field experiences. The major
courses are arranged in the following manner; courses with field experienced are marked with
asterisks.

Lower Division Major Requirements – 18 credits

*ECE 2205 Organization and Administration of Early
Childhood Programs 3 credits
*EDUC 2201 Teaching and Schools in a Changing Society 3 credits
*EDUC 2204 Human Growth, Development, and Learning 3 credits
GEOG 1101 Introduction to Geography 3 credits
HIST 2111 America to 1890 3 credits
SCI 2201 Concepts in Science (with lab) 3 credits

Upper Division Major Requirements – 24 credits

HPS 3670 Early Childhood Health/Physical Education for the
Classroom Teacher 2 credits
FAED 3340 Music and Art for the Elementary School 2 credits
MATH 3315Critical Content of Math I (Sets and number theory) 3 credits
MATH 3316 Critical Content of Math II (Rational numbers
and fractions) 3 credits
MATH 3317 Critical Content of Math III (Geometry) 3 credits
*ECE 3320 Teaching Reading PK-2 3 credits
*ECE 3330 Teaching Reading Grades 3-5 3 credits
*ECE 3340 Diagnosis and Application of Literacy Instruction 3 credits
EDUC 3310 Multicultural Perspectives in Teaching and Learning 2 credits

Professional Education Requirements – 36 credits

EDUC 3302 Curriculum and Assessment 3 credits
EDUC 3308 Learning, Motivation, and Classroom Management 3 credits
*EXC 3304 Education of Exceptional Students 3 credits
*ECE 3313 The Preschool Curriculum 3 credits
*ECE 4401 Teaching Mathematics in Early Childhood Education 3 credits
*ECE 4402 Teaching Science in Early Childhood Education 3 credits
*ECE 4405 Teaching Language Arts and Social Studies in
Early Childhood 3 credits
*ECE 4410 Reading Across the Curriculum 3 credits
*ECE 4473 Student Teaching: Early Childhood (P-5) 12 credits

* Denotes courses with required field experiences.

Other than the electives available in general education, no electives are available in the
elementary and early childhood education program. This is due to (1) the Board of Regents
limiting the number undergraduate hours required for graduation to 123, (2) the Board of
Regents requiring extensive mathematics and reading courses in the program, and (3) Kennesaw
State University’s 45-hour general education requirement.

Note that our candidates take several blocks of content-focused courses; they are described in
Standard 1, Element 1 (see chart on Page 39).

A program feature unique to the Professional Teacher Education Unit and the Elementary and
Early Childhood Education program is the TOSS program. TOSS is the acronym for “Teaching
Of Specific Subjects,” and is our sequence of professional methods courses. This sequence is
taken in the semester prior to the final semester which is devoted to student teaching. Candidates
must satisfy admission requirements to be permitted to enroll in the TOSS courses. Four TOSS
courses are taken concurrently: ECE 4401 Teaching Mathematics in Early Childhood Education,
ECE 4402 Teaching Science in Early Childhood Education, ECE 4405 Teaching Language Arts
and Social Studies in Early Childhood, and ECE 4410 Reading Across the Curriculum. Both
content and pedagogy are highlighted in these courses. The TOSS courses are held on location at
an elementary school in one of our collaboration complexes (South Cobb County, West Cobb
County, or North Cobb County/Cherokee County). The TOSS program is divided into two parts.
The first part occupies the first 10 weeks of the semester and consists of normal classroom
experiences expected in college classes and a field experience of one day per week. The second
part occupies the last 5 weeks of the semester and consists of a full-time field experience in
which candidates are assigned either to the school where classes were held or to a different
school in the complex. This field experience has the same basic characteristics as the student
teaching experience.

Candidates pass four transition points during their study in the program: admission to teacher
education, admission to the Teaching of Specific Subjects (TOSS) sequence, admission to
student teaching, and program completion. These are discussed in Standard 2 Assessment (page
90-91).