Students

ECH 130 – Health in Early Childhood

2014 – S3 External

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Senior Lecturer
Shirley Wyver
Contact via Through iLearn if enrolled, otherwise by email
Room 367, X5B
Main consultation is through iLearn
Credit points Credit points
3
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description
This unit examines health, wellbeing, nutrition and safety of children from infancy to 12 years. Implications for children, families and communities are addressed, including practices in a range of settings. Issues and debates arising from research, available technology, community attitudes and values are critically examined. This unit introduces students to the syllabus content associated with the personal development, health and physical education (PDHPE) key learning area with particular focus on the safe living, personal health choices, and growth and development strands. Skills and knowledge in planning, teaching and assessing PDHPE programs are examined, including modifications to the curriculum to meet the needs of diverse learners.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • Remember key concepts in early childhood health
  • Understand key debates and conflicting approaches to best practice
  • Understand health concepts holistically
  • Apply approaches to promoting health in early childhood practice
  • Analyse existing approaches to health on the basis of research evidence
  • Evaluate claims about early childhood health

General Assessment Information

In order to successfully complete the assessment you must:

  • Have access to the textbook and read at least the required chapters. 
  • Listen to all lecture recordings.
  • Use the Assessment Guide to ensure correct preparation and completion of assessments.

This unit has additional activities to support you through the unit.  These include:

  • An on-campus session.  This session is not compulsory, but is available for students who feel they would benefit from face-to-face classes.  To help with planning, please register by 22 December, 2014 if you wish to participate in the on-campus session.
  • iLearn discussion forums are available to support you through each assessment.  It is not essential to engage in these discussions, but many students find the assessment forums helpful.

Because Session 3 is fast paced, if you find you are not keeping up with your assessment, try to withdraw from ECH130 by 19 December, 2014 at the latest.  19 December is the Census Date for Session 3 (see http://mq.edu.au/courses/session_3/important_dates/).

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Due
Dimensions of Health 10% 12 December 12pm
EYLF & PDHP 10% 17 December 12pm
Screen-viewing 40% 05/01/15
Overview of Unit 40% Exam period

Dimensions of Health

Due: 12 December 12pm
Weighting: 10%

The purpose of this assignment is to develop a broad understanding of early childhood health.  Health policies, procedures and practices have an important role in Australian public health.  A basic understanding of some of the key concepts in health prevention and intervention will prepare you for this unit.

The quiz questions will come from Chapter 3 of your textbook.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Remember key concepts in early childhood health
  • Understand key debates and conflicting approaches to best practice
  • Understand health concepts holistically
  • Apply approaches to promoting health in early childhood practice

EYLF & PDHP

Due: 17 December 12pm
Weighting: 10%

Teachers use a range of documents to support the health and wellbeing of infants and children.  Key documents are the Early Years Learning Framework (for Birth to 5 years) and the Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (Kindergarten to Year 6) Syllabus.  The purpose of this assignment is to support your understanding of these key documents.

Required readings

http://docs.education.gov.au/node/2632

http://syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au/pdhpe/

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Remember key concepts in early childhood health
  • Understand key debates and conflicting approaches to best practice
  • Understand health concepts holistically
  • Apply approaches to promoting health in early childhood practice

Screen-viewing

Due: 05/01/15
Weighting: 40%

Option 1: Essay due 12 January at 12pm

According to Vanderloo (2014) "Screen-viewing among children remains a global health concern."  Discuss current evidence regarding Vanderloo's claim.

Although your key article has a focus on preschool aged children, you may include evidence from any age group, birth to 12 years.

Your key reference (Vanderloo, 2014) is available from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2431/14/205  It is in an open access journal, so you will not need to go through the University Library and will not pay to access the article.

Further details, such as the marking rubric, are available in the Assessment Guide on iLearn.

 

Option 2: Quiz to be held 5 January 9am - Register no later than 2 January 12pm.

The quiz will cover:

  • Vanderloo (2014) - available from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2431/14/205
  • 3 chapters from your textbook.

Further details are provided in your Assessment Guide (available on iLearn)

The quiz will only be held at the Macquarie University North Ryde Campus.  If you miss the quiz you must submit the essay.  The only exception is for students who have submitted a Disruption and have had their case approved.  They will be offered the quiz at a later date and must also attend the Macquarie University North Ryde Campus.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Apply approaches to promoting health in early childhood practice
  • Analyse existing approaches to health on the basis of research evidence
  • Evaluate claims about early childhood health

Overview of Unit

Due: Exam period
Weighting: 40%

The exam will cover content from lectures and your textbook.

Additional details will be published in the Assessment Guide available on iLearn.

Students are required to be available throughout the duration of the exam period http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/examination/procedure.html  If you are unavailable on the day of the exam and it's not due to unavoidable circumstances such as hospitalisation, then you will be marked as absent from the exam and you will fail the unit.  The exam cannot be completed before the date listed in the University exam timetable.

Students who live outside of the Sydney Metropolitan Area who are registered for a regional exam centre will be able to complete the exam at their exam centre.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Apply approaches to promoting health in early childhood practice
  • Analyse existing approaches to health on the basis of research evidence
  • Evaluate claims about early childhood health

Delivery and Resources

Essential resources for this unit are:

ECH130 has a series of pre-recorded lectures which will be made available to students at the beginning of Session 3 (See Unit Schedule).

The textbook for ECH130 is:

Garvis, S. & Pendergast, D. (2014). Health and wellbeing in childhood. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

You must have access to this textbook throughout the unit.  Please purchase the textbook as soon as possible.  The Marketing Excerpt PDF at http://www.cambridge.org/at/academic/subjects/education/education-history-theory/health-and-wellbeing-childhood#contentsTabAnchor provides part of Chapter 1 and may be useful if you want to look at the textbook in advance.  Chapter 3 of the textbook will be available in the ECH130 e-reserve folder (Macquarie Uni Library) before S3 commences.

 

Unit Schedule

MODULE

LECTURE TOPIC

LECTURER

1

1

Concepts in Health

Physical activity in the early years

Shirley Wyver

Shirley Wyver

1

Changing health contexts & variations on ‘typical’

Wendy Nolan

 

1

Managing risk in outdoor play

Helen Little

1

Road safety

Kids and Traffic @Macquarie University – Louise Cosgrove

1

Water safety

Wendy Nolan

1

1

PDHPE (1)

PDHPE (2)

Carole Dawes

Carole Dawes

2

2

Infection control

Food handling and storage

Wendy Shepherd

Wendy Shepherd

2

Illness & Immunisation

Wendy Nolan

2

 

2

Indigenous Children's

Health

 Nutrition

Hamish Dunn

 

Rosemary Dunn

2

2

 Allergies

 Human lactation

Rosemary Dunn

Jenni Burgess

2

Sleep

 

Shirley Wyver

3

 

3

Wellness and wellbeing

Bullying

Helen Little

Cathrine Neilsen-Hewett

3

 

3

Child Maltreatment (1)

 Child Maltreatment (2)

Carol Newall

 

Carol Newall

3

 

3

 Mental health (1)

 

 Mental health (2)

Carol Newall

 

Carol Newall

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html

Assessment Policy  http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html

Grading Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html

Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html

Grievance Management Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grievance_management/policy.html

Disruption to Studies Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html The Disruption to Studies Policy is effective from March 3 2014 and replaces the Special Consideration Policy.

In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/student_conduct/

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://informatics.mq.edu.au/help/

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Graduate Capabilities

Capable of Professional and Personal Judgement and Initiative

We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

  • Apply approaches to promoting health in early childhood practice

Assessment task

  • EYLF & PDHP

Commitment to Continuous Learning

Our graduates will have enquiring minds and a literate curiosity which will lead them to pursue knowledge for its own sake. They will continue to pursue learning in their careers and as they participate in the world. They will be capable of reflecting on their experiences and relationships with others and the environment, learning from them, and growing - personally, professionally and socially.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Analyse existing approaches to health on the basis of research evidence
  • Evaluate claims about early childhood health

Discipline Specific Knowledge and Skills

Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Remember key concepts in early childhood health
  • Understand key debates and conflicting approaches to best practice
  • Understand health concepts holistically
  • Apply approaches to promoting health in early childhood practice

Assessment tasks

  • Dimensions of Health
  • EYLF & PDHP
  • Overview of Unit

Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking

We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Remember key concepts in early childhood health
  • Understand key debates and conflicting approaches to best practice
  • Understand health concepts holistically
  • Apply approaches to promoting health in early childhood practice
  • Analyse existing approaches to health on the basis of research evidence
  • Evaluate claims about early childhood health

Assessment tasks

  • Dimensions of Health
  • EYLF & PDHP
  • Screen-viewing
  • Overview of Unit

Problem Solving and Research Capability

Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Understand key debates and conflicting approaches to best practice
  • Understand health concepts holistically
  • Analyse existing approaches to health on the basis of research evidence
  • Evaluate claims about early childhood health

Effective Communication

We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

  • Apply approaches to promoting health in early childhood practice

Assessment task

  • Screen-viewing

Engaged and Ethical Local and Global citizens

As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Assessment task

  • Overview of Unit

Socially and Environmentally Active and Responsible

We want our graduates to be aware of and have respect for self and others; to be able to work with others as a leader and a team player; to have a sense of connectedness with others and country; and to have a sense of mutual obligation. Our graduates should be informed and active participants in moving society towards sustainability.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Assessment task

  • Overview of Unit