Childhood Studies Minor

Childhood Studies is a rising academic field of study that seeks to understand and respond to the complex, lived-experiences of children, within and across diverse sociocultural, political, economic and historical contexts, using multidisciplinary lenses. The CHS minor is available to all UVM students (excluding only Early Childhood Education majors) and compliments degrees across Colleges. The CHS minor will provoke students to consider critical questions regarding difference, power, privilege, and subjectivity, while also appreciating children as agents of culture.

In completing the CHS minor:

  • Students will demonstrate a complex and competency-based view of childhood, including how children are influenced by culture and also function as social agents in their own right;
  • Through readings, activities, assignments and field work, students will demonstrate increased awareness of and appreciation for how socially, culturally, and physically diverse backgrounds and experiences shape children’s lives;
  • Students will develop knowledge and actionable skills in the areas of child development, social science, care, and education that is relational, inclusive, multidisciplinary, pluralistic, anti-bias, and anti-racist;
  • Students will interrogate and advocate for children’s needs and rights in a final capstone experience, by pursuing a community-engaged action research project designed to benefit children.

Requirements

18 total credits required.
Students must take 9 or more credits at the 2000-level or above.
Students may count one interdisciplinary elective toward their major requirements if allowable by the student's major.

EDEC 1070Movie Night:Criticl Childhd3
Developmental Course
EDEC 1630Child Development3
or HDF 1050 Human Development
or PSYS 2400 Developmental Psych: Childhood
EDEC electives. Choose 1 to 2 courses below for a total of 3 to 6 credits:3-6
Intr Early Care & Education
Creative Arts and Movement
Science of Everyday Life
Inquiry-Based Pedagogy
EDEC 3070Advocacy in Action3-6
Interdisciplinary electives. Choose 1 to 2 courses below for a total of 3 to 6 credits:3-6
Cultural Anthropology
Parenting and Childhood
Intro to Disordered Comm
Comm Diff & Dis in Media
Dev of Spoken Language
Culture of Disability
Bilingual Education & Policy
Rlating/Rspnding To Cmnty Nds
Fmly Schl & Cmty Collaboration
Indiv Prac for Inclusion
Race, Bullying &Discrim
Rlating/Rspnding To Cmnty Nds
Collab&Cmmunication in Sch&Com
Culture of Disability
Global Resilience Fam-Schl-Com
Historical Geography
Human Development
Family Context of Development
The Helping Relationship
The Helping Relationship
Dev through Relationships
Advanced Child Development
Developmental Psych: Childhood
Fit Kids: Special Populations
Fit Kids Applied Research
Sociology of the Holocaust
Sociology of Disaster
Stat & Social Justice