College’s Early Childhood Development Center Celebrates 40th Year

For 40 years, scores of preschoolers have come to the College of Charleston looking for the same thing as their older campus peers: a place to be intellectually stimulated while enjoying the company of curious classmates.

Each year about 55 preschool students aged two through kindergarten find such a place at the N.E. Miles Early Child Development Center (ECDC), which is part of the School of Education, Health and Human Performance.

Learn by Example

ECDC functions academically as a demonstration preschool for research, observation and practicum purposes. As many as 30 graduate and undergraduate students from the College work at ECDC each semester, assisting a staff of four lead teachers who each have a master’s degree in early childhood education.

RELATED: ECDC has earned the highest possible early childhood accreditation through NAEYC.

“The ECDC is particularly important as a practicum and research site for students and faculty who want hands-on experiences with young children in a physical setting with many unique characteristics,” says Candace Jaruszewicz, program director. “We have worked with students from many different departments and schools on campus and in our community to customize field experiences or internships that meet many different kinds of needs.”

Kids love ECDC!

The nationally accredited center credits its successful learning environment tohighly qualified staff, a low adult-to-child ratio, and a diverse learning environment that reflects the cultural and linguistic diversity of the College and community. The schoolyard is also presently the only one in South Carolina to be certified as a Nature Explore Classroom.

RELATED: Learn more about the Nature Explore Classroom designation.

Daily outdoor play opportunities include a sound garden, archaeological dig site, gardening, a mud kitchen and rain-barrel watering system installed by graduate students in the Environmental Studies program.

Together these components form an “eclectic, project-based approach influenced by a long tradition of research on the value of learning through play and teacher decision-making that responds to children’s individual needs and interests,” says Jaruszewicz. “Children who develop and refine their social skills and whose curiosity is supported at an early age tend to be very successful in their later academic experiences and lives.”

In 2002, ECDC was rededicated in honor of pediatric ophthalmologist Nathan Edgar Miles, whose bequest allowed for the renovation of the center. Thanks to Dr. Miles’s generosity, new generations of students have blossomed into self-directed learners and citizens. A handful of ECDC students have even returned, years later, to the College as undergraduates, continuing their education in the place where it all began.

Help celebrate ECDC’s 40th birthday on October 3, 2014 from 4 to 7:30 p.m. at 91 Wentworth St.

The celebration continues over the next eight months as ECDC hosts three film screenings and panel discussions regarding the value and dimensions of play. This series is scheduled for 6:30-8 p.m. on October 22, 2014; January 22 and April 15, 2015 at the School of Education, Health, and Human Performance Alumni Center (86 Wentworth Street).