Regents’ Center for Early Developmental Education
As with the University of Northern Iowa the Regents’ Center is changing. As some
grants are wrapping up and new ones appear on the horizon the work of improving early
developmental education continues. New opportunities using technology to assist in
student learning as well as product development promise to expand not only external
funding opportunities but also new revenue streams for the Center.
Coaching and Mentoring for Preschool Quality
In the recent past, part of our focus has been on program quality. The work of Coaching
and Mentoring for Preschool Quality (CAMP Quality) continues.
CAMP Quality Project Goals:
To increase the effectiveness of Head Start teachers and assistant teachers
in promoting the language, academic, social, and emotional development
of children in their classrooms
To increase the effectiveness of Head Start supervisors in mentoring and
supervising Head Start teachers
To improve the educational and social-emotional outcomes of Head Start
children
The results continue to show promise. For example, here is a testimonial from one of the
CAMP Quality mentors:
“The teachers really improved immensely in their awareness of and use of openended questions and multiple feedback loops. They actually SAW how learning
was enhanced and extended because of the way they were interacting and
planning.”
Further analysis and publication of the results will inform a larger audience of our
effectiveness in the enhancement of quality in the education of young children.
Additionally the recent past has seen an ongoing focus on content enhancement.
Center for Early Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics
Children construct knowledge of the world through exploring, experimenting, and
forming nascent "theories" about how the world works. However, national efforts in math
and science rarely focus on children below third grade, and almost never below
kindergarten. Clearly, more can be done in the early years to take advantage of children's
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Questions? Regents’ Center 319-273-2101
natural curiosity and lay a foundation for later STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics) learning.
An additional project of the Center supports early childhood educators in creating handson, interactive classroom activities that encourage young children to develop and use
scientific inquiry processes to explore and better understand their environments. This
project continues to reach students (and their teachers) in an age group that has received
little attention from the STEM community. In addition to laying a foundation that will
contribute to increasing the number of students who choose to pursue careers in STEM
fields, the work of the Center for Early Education in Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics (CEESTEM) will also contribute to raising the scientific literacy of all
students, including those who do not choose careers in STEM fields.
A Model developed at the Regent’s Center that encapsulates our major efforts has
informed the CEESTEM work as well as currently developing work.
Identify interests and prior ideas, skills, and
experiences
Capitalize on the learner
Activate learner
Stimulate interest
Facilitate exploration
Check for understanding
Support problem solving
Intervene to promote
deeper thinking
Scaffold experimentation
Document learning
Foster communication
Integrate other curricular
areas
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Questions? Regents’ Center 319-273-2101
Electronic Device Application Development
The development of unique applications for hand-held communication devices is viewed
as an essential next step in the investigations underway at the Center. The first such
application was developed for Apple devices and is named Tapatan.
Apps for Apple devices – Click on the Box Above for A Demonstration
The Regents' Center for Early Developmental Education at the University of Northern
Iowa is proud to bring parents and children of all ages Tapatan, the game of three in a
row that is NOT Tic-Tac-Toe. More spatial reasoning, more challenging logic, more
strategy, more perspective taking, more FUN! Tapatan is available free of charge for use
on the Apple iPad, iTouch, and iPhone.
Two additional games (Always Six and Find Nine) have been developed for Android
based devices. All of these games are currently ready for field-testing and equipment has
been purchased for this work to begin as soon as possible.
The work of the Regents’ Center continues to evolve and meet the needs of the teachers
and students in early childhood education programs across the State, Nation and
Internationally.
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Questions? Regents’ Center 319-273-2101