Principles of Early Childhood Education Semester 1

Enrollment Message

Available for 2026 Summer registration. Students need access to a webcam or video recording device.

Course Description

This course introduces you to the world of early childhood education by exploring how young children grow, learn, and interact with the world around them. You will learn about child development across all major domains, discover how to create safe and supportive learning environments, practice observing children, and explore the importance of nutrition, routines, and effective communication with families. Throughout the course, you’ll gain practical skills that early childhood educators use every day—like planning developmentally appropriate activities, responding to emergencies, modeling professionalism, and understanding what young children need to thrive. By the end, you will have a strong foundation to help you decide whether a career in early childhood education is right for you.

• Indiana Core40 Diploma Applicable through class of 2028
• Counts as a directed elective or elective all diplomas
• Indiana NEW Diploma Applicable for students entering school in 2025-26 (Class of 2029) 
• Fulfills an Elective Credit

Course Goals

Upon completion of the course, students will…

• identify key developmental domains (cognitive, physical, social/emotional, and language).
• explain how they influence young children's learning and behavior.
• describe one major developmental theory and apply it to the design of a developmentally appropriate learning activity.
• demonstrate the ability to observe, record, and interpret children’s behaviors to draw meaningful conclusions about their needs.
• create a classroom safety and injury-prevention plan that outlines supervision strategies, hazard reduction, and routines that support safe learning.
• explain how to implement developmentally appropriate emergency procedures and model how to communicate them effectively to young children.
• design a daily classroom schedule that integrates predictable routines supporting children’s independence, health, and emotional security.
• develop a nutrition education activity and justify how it encourages healthy habits in young children.
• create a balanced weekly meal and snack plan that meets USDA Choose My Plate guidelines for early childhood settings.
• demonstrate professional communication skills by guiding families through policies related to medication, safety, and the child’s daily experience.
• explain key expectations of professional conduct in early childhood education and apply them in scenarios involving attire, technology use, and social media behavior.

Indiana Academic Standards

• Next Level Programs of Study Competencies

Units of Instruction

• Unit 1 The Early Childhood Education Profession
• Unit 2 Planning a Safe, Clean, and Healthy Learning Environment
• Unit 3 Planning Food Service & Nutrition
• Unit 4 Typical & Atypical Development
• Unit 5 Observation & Recording Methods

Grading/Evaluation

Indiana Online does not assign letter grades, grant credit for courses, nor issue transcripts or diplomas. A final score reported as a percentage of total points earned will be sent to students upon completion of a course. Your school of record can also access this score within the Student Information System, Genius. The final score will be shown as a percentage in Canvas and Genius. The student’s school of record will determine the letter grade based on their specific grading scale.

Students must complete at least 70% of the course and take all parts of the final exam(s) to have a score reported to their school of record. Failure to meet these requirements will result in a score of 0 reported to the school of record.

Assessments

Online assessments consist of formative and summative assessments represented by computer-graded multiple choice, teacher-graded writing assignments including hands-on projects, model building and other forms of authentic assessments. The course includes the minimum number of assessments

• 13 Discussion
• 15 Assignments
• 9 Quizzes

The assessments for this asynchronous course are weighted as follows

Teacher Contact Response Time

Students can use email or the private message system within Genius or Canvas to access highly qualified teachers when they need teacher assistance. Students will also receive feedback on their work inside Canvas. The Teacher Information page of their course may describe additional communication options.

The teacher will respond to student inquiries (email, text, call) within one business day. Assignments will be graded and posted within two business days.

Expectations for Academic Conduct 

Student Handbook 

It is your responsibility to read the student handbook to understand all aspects of taking an online course including expectations for academic conduct. Contact your teacher if you have any questions. 

Assistance for Students with Accommodations

Indiana Online supports an inclusive learning environment for all students. If there are aspects of the instruction or design of this course that hinder your full participation, such as inaccessible web content, or the use of non-captioned videos and podcasts, reasonable accommodations can be arranged.

Technology

Technology Requirements 

Students are required to have a computer device with headphones, a microphone, webcam, up-to-date Chrome Web Browser, and access to YouTube. Please review Indiana Online’s Technology Requirements.

Technical Skills Needed 

Basic technology skills necessary to locate and share information and files as well as interact with others in a Learning Management System (LMS), include the ability to

• download, edit, save, convert, and upload files
• download and install software
• use a messaging service similar to email
• communicate with others in online discussion or message boards, following basic rules of netiquette
• open attachments shared in messages
• create, save, and submit files in commonly used word processing program formats and as a PDF
• save a file as a .pdf
• copy and paste and format text using your mouse, keyboard, or an html editor’s toolbar menu
• insert images or links into a file
• search for information within a document using Ctrl+F or Command+F keyboard shortcuts
• work in multiple browser windows and tabs simultaneously
• activate a microphone or webcam on your device, and record and upload or link audio and/or video files
• use presentation and graphics programs
• follow an online pacing guide or calendar of due dates
• use spell-check, citation editors, and tools commonly provided in word processing tool menus
• create and maintain usernames and passwords

Technical Questions?  Please contact the Indiana Online Helpdesk.