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.
| Requirement Description | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| EDEC 1070 | Movie Night:Criticl Childhd | 3 |
| Choose 1 of 3 options for Advocacy in Action: | 6 | |
| Advocacy in Action (for 6 credits.) | ||
| Advocacy in Action (for 3 credits, plus another EDEC elective course for 3 credits.) | ||
| Advocacy in Action (for 3 credits, plus another Interdisciplinary elective for 3 credits.) | ||
| Developmental Course | ||
| EDEC 1630 | Child Development | 3 |
| 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 | ||
| Interdisciplinary electives. Choose 1 to 2 courses below for a total of 3 to 6 credits: | 3-6 | |
| Cultural Anthropology | ||
| Parenting and Childhood | ||
| US Food, Social Equity &Dev | ||
| Doc. Film for Social Change | ||
| Media-Policy-Action | ||
| The Helping Relationship | ||
| 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 | ||
| FY Writing Seminar | ||
| Human Development | ||
| Family Context of Development | ||
| The Helping Relationship | ||
| Dev through Relationships | ||
| Advanced Child Development | ||
| Cultural Health Care | ||
| Health Care Ethics | ||
| Special Topics (Knowledge, Society, and Justice) | ||
| The Politics of Sex | ||
| Developmental Psych: Childhood | ||
| Fit Kids: Special Populations | ||
| Fit Kids Applied Research | ||
| Sociology of the Holocaust | ||
| Sociology of Childhood | ||
| Sociology of Disaster | ||
| Stat & Social Justice | ||
| Foundations of Social Work | ||
| Working with Refugees | ||