Kresha Warnock, Program Chair, Child Development Program, Department of Family and Consumer
Sciences, kwarnock@bsu (765-285-1993; 765-661-9856)
I am applying to develop a new course, tentatively entitled “Promoting Prosocial Behavior in Young Children:
Guidance and Cultural Factors”. The course description is written as follows: “Students will study the researchbased theories and practices of developmentally appropriate guidance as applied to early care and education
settings. Students will examine the relationship between family, community and care and will develop an
understanding of anti-bias and diversity as applied to child development.” This course will look at guidance and
care of young children with a cultural overlay. Best practices in the field of Child Development incorporate a
knowledge of and sensitivity to multiple diverse factors in families and communities. Currently I am teaching the
class as a seminar and it is taking form, but I would greatly value input and interaction with others as I develop
what I consider a pivotal course.
Two projects in the course seem to lend themselves to dissemination and collaboration.


Production of a children’s book: In order to encourage the students to develop a deepened
understanding of their own personal family culture, each student is required to do a one hour interview
with a living, elderly family member. This is valuable to the individual student as it allows him or her to
look at other cultures with deeper understanding of their own. And not only do they learn about the
diversity of generations, but as they share these projects, they gain a deeper understanding of the
diverse backgrounds of their fellow students. A story from this interview is then made into a children’s
book. I have been working with the WikiMarion oral history project to gain information on taking an oral
history. I could use more training in this area. I would also like to expand the collaborative nature of
this class by teaming with an Art class so that a well-crafted story might also contain good quality
artwork. I see such story books as a valuable property to the individual students and their families.
Some might actually be reproduced either for publication and/or distribution in libraries or early care
and education facilities.
Students are also required to develop a lesson plan and present an in-depth activity that will help
children develop prosocial skills in areas such as anti-bias and diversity. Some students will present
these activities to children at the Ball State Child Study Center; others at child care facilities where they
are employed or are interning. Initially, I plan to collect these as examples of activities to be used to
promote social and emotional development at the Child Study Center. However, I will also use them as
training materials at various conferences in -state and perhaps nationally, encouraging participation by
our students in presenting these trainings.
Participating in the Diversity Associates Program will benefit both myself and the Child Development Program.
Although I have years of experience working with families and children in diverse settings, I feel that input on the
course from others with varied training and experiences will make it much more effective. In addition, the Child
Development program is only one year old. Our students will be the leaders for the next generation of Early Care
and Education Programs; professionals who impact hundreds of children over the course of their careers. By
presenting them with the deepest understanding of issues of diversity in their college training, I feel we can not
only positively influence these children and their families, but help our students become leaders in issues of
diversity.