One of the primary purposes of the ELC is to prepare undergraduate and graduate child development and early childhood education professionals with a foundation for work with young children and their families. Practicum and assistantship experiences are available as part of the academic programs of study in the Child and Family Studies department. The ELC also supports graduate student research and coursework by providing a site for study or observation. To have access to the ELC for coursework or research, students should complete a Use of the ELC form.
What about students from other majors?
Participation in our Early Learning Center for Research and Practice classrooms is a designed component for some CFS majors. We also, however, encourage students and faculty from other degree programs to feel free to contact us with ideas concerning ELC-based learning experiences for non-CFS majors. To date, we have been fortunate to have students from Nursing, Speech and Language, Social Work, Kinesiology, Art, and other majors conduct projects ranging from outdoor playhouse design to early education in dental hygiene. Many students utilize the ELC as a site for thesis and dissertation research projects. One example can be found in the fall 2015 issue of Accolades magazine