ECED 450 - Capstone Project

Credits: 3
The final capstone course provides students an opportunity to synthesize and demonstrate their learning across the program, bringing together research, theory and application. Students will demonstrate overall degree competencies and show how research informs their professional work in the field of early learning. Students, in consultation with their program adviser will create a final culminating project to be presented to classmates and program faculty.

Enrollment Requirement: Instructor consent.

Course Outcomes:
Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

Integrate learning from previous coursework within the Early Childhood Infant/Child Mental Health program of study into final project.
Demonstrate how research informs professional work and guides program development and decisions.
Apply best practice and current research to support strong caregiver-child relationships.
Demonstrate how collaboration with outside agencies, families, and other professionals in the field is an essential part of relationship-based programs.

Program Outcomes

Will have a comprehensive understanding of the field of Infant/Child Mental Health.
Apply relationship-based principles and strategies that support young children and families.
Assess and analyze children’s development, skills, and behavior based on culturally and developmentally appropriate practices.
Design and create inclusive environments that promote social/emotional learning and are responsive to the needs of all children and families including those considered vulnerable.
Select and apply appropriate intervention strategies for classroom management while promoting a positive emotional climate that is reflective of and responsive to the culture being served.
Screen, assess, and identify children with mental health challenges.
Demonstrate leadership abilities and collaborative skills necessary to resolve interpersonal and organizational challenges that may occur in an early childhood setting.
Establish and maintain connections with appropriate support services and community resources.
Demonstrate the ability to engage in reflective observation, consultation, and practice, and possess the ability to integrate it into the early learning setting.
Advocate for families and young children through service, education, and leadership.

College-wide Outcomes

Critical Thinking - Critical thinking finds expression in all disciplines and everyday life. It is characterized by an ability to reflect upon thinking patterns, including the role of emotions on thoughts, and to rigorously assess the quality of thought through its work products. Critical thinkers routinely evaluate thinking processes and alter them, as necessary, to facilitate an improvement in their thinking and potentially foster certain dispositions or intellectual traits over time.
Responsibility - Responsibility encompasses those behaviors and dispositions necessary for students to be effective members of a community. This outcome is designed to help students recognize the value of a commitment to those responsibilities which will enable them to work successfully individually and with others.
Written Communication - Written Communication encompasses all the abilities necessary for effective expression of thoughts, feelings, and ideas in written form.