Tufts Early Childhood Technology Graduate Certificate Program

06/27/2022

Are you attending ? Want to bring playful coding into PreK-2nd grade?

Join ECT team members Amanda Strawhacker, Amanda Sullivan, & Aim Unahalekhaka for the virtual Creation Lab on Weds 6/29 @ 8:30am CDT!

🙌🏽 Hands-on Play
📚 New Research
🤖 Tech Tools Demo

Don't miss out on:

- Drama and dance with the Robot

- Self-portrait animation using the programming app

- Cutting-edge research from the Research Group at Tufts University

- Raffle Giveaway 🎟, free resources, and more!

09/09/2021

Happy !!

Want to show your support for early childhood educators? Support ECT students in gaining their certification in and fund their travel to Tufts campus for our Summer 2022 ECT Residency!

https://crowdfund.tufts.edu/project/26811

100% of proceeds go to public school teachers, museum specialists, librarians, and more in K-2 settings.

The ECT Summer Residency helps students build hands-on expertise using engineering and technology in playful, developmentally-appropriate ways with young children!

Help Tufts University raise $1,500 for the project: Scholarship Fund for the ECT Graduate Certificate Program. Your gift will make a difference!

05/05/2021

Thinking about grad school?

Join us and

for an Application Workshop TODAY @ 4pm ET: https://gradase.admissions.tufts.edu/register/ECT-5-5

We'll talk about:
- Tips for finding scholarships
- Applying to ECT for FREE by 6/1!
- How ECT can help with your grant apps
- Upcoming Giveaway Raffles!!

05/03/2021

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!! ❤️👩🏾‍🏫🎓🚌📓🍎💻📚🤖❤️

The Early Childhood Technology (ECT) graduate certificate program at the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts was recently featured in a Tufts Now (Tufts University) article titled, "Training Teachers on Educational Technology, Now and for the Future," about how our program is helping teachers to implement technology innovations in early childhood classrooms. We are especially proud of the interview with our faculty and one of our students, who is a public school early elementary teacher, and we wanted to share it with you during Teacher Appreciation Week!

Read the article:

K-12 teachers are nearing the end of an extraordinarily challenging school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and many of them are very stressed out. From learning new technology on the fly to navigating between remote and in-person instruction, educators have faced many additional obstacles in the....

03/01/2021

Happening tomorrow: live event! Join this show & tell conversation about STEAM education in PreK-6, guided by Tufts University faculty members from the Tufts Early Childhood Technology Graduate Certificate Program, and from the Master's program at the Tufts University Department of Education

Sign up to see more engineering education ideas tomorrow, Tues 3/2 @ 6pm EST:

Join Us for Junk Mail Engineering LIVE! Tuesday, March 2nd at 6pm ET. To attend, please register below. We will send you the webinar login a day before the live event to the email address you provide.

02/26/2021

How is your going?

Have you tried to build a structure that is at least 6 inches tall? Or maybe you are building a castle with see-through windows, an imaginary creature, or a bouquet of flowers? What are you and your kids discovering as you build with your materials? What observations is your family coming up with?

Please take a moment to share your creations or comment on how your projects are going, we want to hear from you!

Follow on Facebook and Twitter to check out some of the amazing constructions shared by our current Tufts Early Childhood Technology Graduate Certificate Program students!

And don't forget to sign up for our live event on Tuesday, March 2nd when we talk with faculty in early childhood technology and elementary STEM education on the role that plays in the development of young children. Sign up today:

Join Us for Junk Mail Engineering LIVE! Tuesday, March 2nd at 6pm ET. To attend, please register below. We will send you the webinar login a day before the live event to the email address you provide.

02/22/2021

Did you try our first challenge this weekend? The design constraints were
- Create a 3D structure out of Junk Mail
- Make it at least 6" tall
- Do not use any joiners like tape, glue, or stapes
What was hard? What surprised you? Could your family finish the challenge?
Share a photo of your creation and tag , or share it at our live event on March 2nd @ 6pm EST (registration info to follow)!

Still got leftover junk mail? Stay tuned for your next activity challenge by following on Facebook and Twitter!

A collaborative online event, brought to you by from the Tufts Early Childhood Technology Graduate Certificate Program program at Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts, and the program at Tufts University Department of Education

02/21/2021

Did you miss our Engineering Challenge Announcement?

Join the Tufts Early Childhood Technology Graduate Certificate Program and the Elementary STEM Education ( ) program at Tufts University Department of Education for a special social media chat series on how you can use everyday materials like, junk mail, to explore science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics. Each day we will explore a new idea together and share some of our creations using something that almost everyone receives at their home: Junk Mail.

New to Slow Chats? A slow chat takes place over a series of days on social media with new prompts and comments daily. This ensures anyone, anywhere can participate in the conversation. Whether you are an educator, aspiring teacher, parent, or student, all are welcome to join us on this journey.

How to get started:
- Begin saving/collecting mail and junk mail
- Like this post to follow the conversation
- Try some of the ideas posted. Post your own ideas and discoveries
- Join us for a live event on March 2nd at 6pm ET for a guided discussion on STEAM in early childhood and elementary. We will be showcasing some of our creations, and sharing opportunties to learn more about fostering STEAM education!

Photo credit: Amanda Strawhacker, cited fromhttps://ceeo.tufts.edu/documents/researchPlayfulReport.pdf

02/19/2021

First Activity is here! Read on for great ideas for weekend family fun!

Activity #1

Thank you for joining our series on in early childhood and elementary education.

Have you been saving your junk mail? It's not too late to join us!

For your first challenge look at the materials you have collected so far. How would you build a three dimensional structure that can stand on it's own, and is at least 6" in height? Can you build this without using materials like tape or fasteners (like staples, paper clips) to hold the structure together?

Start slow by joining paper materials with tape or fasteners (like staples, paper clips) to make beautiful sculptures, like those found here: https://www.makeandtakes.com/creating-3-d-paper-sculptures-with-kids

To take this further, can you build your structure to holds something heavy? Check out this website for inspiration! - https://thehomeschoolscientist.com/paper-structures-engineering-challenge/

Comment your questions and observations as you work to this post. Help each other as you work. Post a picture of your work in progress or creations.

02/18/2021

Got ? Join the and Elementary Education STEM programs for a special slow chat series on how you can use everyday materials like junk mail to explore science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics. (STEAM) Each day we will explore a new idea together here, on Facebook. Teachers, parents, students and friends are all invited to participate!

The series runs from February 18th and ends on March 2nd with a live Zoom event (registration details will be shared shortly).

How to get started:
Like this post.
Begin saving/collecting mail and junk mail at home.
Brainstorm things you can build only with the mail you have collected and comment to the post.
Watch this page for new activity prompts.
Share this post with friends and colleagues to join the fun.

Co-sponsored by:
- go.tufts.edu/ECT and
Elementary STEM Ed - https://as.tufts.edu/education/prospective/graduate/elementary-STEM

02/18/2021

Are you exploring at home with your to learners? Join us for , a special FREE event, co-hosted by the MA at the Tufts University Department of Education, and the Tufts Early Childhood Technology Graduate Certificate Program

How to Play:
1) Save your junk mail, and save the date: March 2nd
2) Follow for updates about event details and registration
3) Attend the live Show & Tell event on March 2nd - Kids welcome!

There are great engineering materials you can find in junk mail: cardstock, clear plastic, adhesive, cardboard...see what you can collect and share your creations on our page or at the March 2nd Live Show & Tell Event

Want to learn and play every day with STEAM? Earn your graduate credits in STEAM education:

Tufts Early Childhood Technology Graduate Certificate Program, specializing in early childhood

, specializing in elementary-age students