Early childhood topics often broach some fearful aspects that can affect a child during his or her most vulnerable time in life and throughout that child’s life, such as domestic violence and autism. But, early childhood also can represent a joyful time in life that for a child and his or her parents, teachers and caregivers. Learning about the issues that can alter a child’s life forever is vital, as both harmful and joyful aspects within a child’s early years can affect how that child sees the world as an adult.

While there are no blueprints to becoming a parent, early childhood education is available to anyone who can afford to take the classes. As an alternative, inquisitive parents and caregivers can comb the Web to find reputable, reliable and free information that provides instruction on early childhood issues. The following list, which was gathered from as many diverse sources as possible, represents a sampling of those offerings. The list is divided into categories, and each link is listed alphabetically within those categories by course name. This method shows our readers that we do not favor one open course over another.

Learning and Cognition

1. Early Childhood Development: Early Learning, the Brain and Society: This video lecture focuses on a child’s capacity to learn with a focus on the nature vs. nurture debate [Provost Distinguished Lectures].
2. Early Development: This unit provides a look at the human being in the context of an indvidual life cycle. It also examines some of the processes that contribute to the formation of a new person [The Open University].
3. Early Learning and the Brain: Cognitive development and social understanding in infants and children is the focus of this video [University of Washington].
4. Human Growth and Development: This course follows the development of motor, language or cognitive capacities and skills from the beginning of life to its end [Tufts University].
5. Human Memory and Learning: This course surveys the literature on cognitive and neural organization of human memory and learning [MIT].
6. Individualized Reading Instruction in the Elementary Grades: Explore techniques for assessment of reading and writing skills and learn how to develop strategies for meeting the needs of young students [Open.Michigan].
7. Infant and Early Childhood Cognition: This course provides lecture slides and a complete bibliography that focuses on an introduction to cognitive development [MIT].
8. Knowledge in Everyday Life: This unit focuses on knowledge, learning and thinking of children between ages three and eight [The Open University].
9. Play, Learning and the Brain: This learning module examines the subject of brain-based learning, with a focus on young children [The Open University].

Psychology and Emotional Health

10. Adult Perspectives on Childhood Experience with Domestic Violence: This course focuses on how violence can affect a child through adulthood, with a focus on uxoricide, or the homicide of one parent by the other parent [University of Virginia].
11. Autism Theory and Technology: the Centers for Disease Control identified an estimated one in 150 school-age children as having autism in 2005. This course, developed for 2007, provides a foundation in autism theory and technology that paves the way to develop new technologies [MIT].
12. Childhood Psychological and Emotional Health: Connexions offers a learning module that examines physical and psychological abuse issues [Rice University].
13. Developmental Psychology: This course is a series of lecture podcasts offered by the University of California at Berkeley [Webcast Berkeley].
14. Power of Positive Parenting: This course can provide parents with the skills necessary to raise children well [Utah State University].
15. Psychiatric Epidemiology: Learn more about major mental disorders that occur in childhood and beyond through this course that also examines issues of classification [Johns Hopkins].
16. Psychology of Gender: This course examines the biological as well as social differences that contribute to current understandings of gender differences [MIT].
17. Substance Abuse and the Family: This course examines families that live with substance abusers, and how this abuse affects everyone, even young children. The course also supplies methods and resources for helping such families [UMass Boston].

Physical Health

18. Childhood Obesity: Healthy eating and physical activity are important in childhood development. These choices are influenced by physical environment, including advertising, food industry public relations, parental involvement and more. Learn how to reshape that environment for a healthier child [University at Albany School of Public Health].
19. Don’t Panic! The ABCs of Pediatric Emergencies: Dr. Christine Cho explains how to handle pediatric emergencies and when to go to the hospital [University of California].
20. Health Across the Life Span: Frameworks, Contexts, and Measurements: This course provides an alternative to the disease-based approach to population health, from children to the elderly [Johns Hopkins].
21. Immunization Hesitancy: A Rising Tide that Challenges the Public Health: Learn why societal support for traditional childhood immunization is changing from renowned experts who speak about these changes and their ehtical implications in the advancement of biology and medicine. [ICUIrvine].
22. Pregnancy and Young Children: Learn more about how pregnancy affects young children, including topics on parental smoking, food supplements, breastfeeding issues and much more [Bandolier].
23. Preventing Infant Mortality and Promoting the Health of Women, Infants, and Children: This course discusses the scientific basis for infant mortality and analyzes cuases and consequences [Johns Hopkins].
24. The Impact of Physical Activity and Obesity on Academic Achievement Among Elementary Students: This Connexions study compares the effect of physical activity and obesity on academic achievement. The focus is on children in the third grade [Rice university].
25. WHO Reproductive Health Library: Learn more about studies on newborns through this series of papers and lectures. This list includes the “Kangaroo Mother Care” method to reduce mortality in low-birth-weight infants [World Health Organization].

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