Browse through the database below to explore courses that will fulfill certain degree requirements in the CCY program.
When registering for classes on the Course Timetable website, be sure to carefully read through the “Notes/Additional Fees” section of each course you select.
An Honours GPA (weighted average of all York courses) of at least a C+ (5.0) is required to continue in courses and graduate from CCY. You must get at least a B in each of the three core courses in the Program (CCY 1999, 2999, 3998 and 3999).
Core courses must be taken one at a time and in that order. A grade of B is required in each course in order to enrol at the next level. Provided students have an Honours GPA, they are allowed to repeat a core course once to get the required minimum of a B grade.
Hidden in the shadows: an Artifact of Remembrance
CCY student Kate Moo King-Curtis speaks about an art piece she developed in CCY 3688, Holocaust Literature for Children and Youth, that celebrates the lives of children “hidden in the shadows” during and after WWII.
Meet YorkU Graduate Student Applicant – Isabella
CCY student and a graduate school applicant Isabella Fortino answers questions regarding graduate school applications including required material, how to acquire them, financial aid and more.
Search our Courses
Not all of the courses below will necessarily be offered in any given year. For more information, please consult the relevant supplemental calendars. With the approval of the program coordinator, you may complete other courses for credit in CCY. Subject to course exclusion and Faculty regulations, you may also complete courses offered outside of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies for credit in CCY.
Note: We urge you to ensure you have completed all prerequisites for each course you wish to take. Prerequisites will not be waived for CCY.
AP/HIST 1080 6.00 Growing Up in North America
What is childhood? How has it changed over time? This course examines what it meant to be young in different times and places in the United States and Canada. It provides a historical perspective on …
AP/CMDS 1425 3.00 Youth, Media, and Culture
This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to the examination of media produced and consumed by and for young people. Together we will consider how popular media such as television, film, digital media (including games, music, …
AP/GER 1791 6.00 The Fairy Tale: From Grimm to Disney
This class examines the genre of the fairy tale and draws on examples from the 16th century to the present, with special emphasis on the fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm. We will investigate how …
AP/HREQ 1800 6.00 Justice for Children
An historical and current analysis of what happens to children when they are socialized. Among the questions considered along with the meaning of socialization, are the basis of literacy and the role of parents, education, …
AP/SOSC 1910 6.00 The Global South and Human Rights
An examination of the historical relationship among human rights, economic equity, and the idea of development in the global south; attempts of selected countries to alleviate poverty through various development strategies. This will entail a …
AP/CCY 1999 6.00 Introduction to Children, Childhood & Youth Studies
This course introduces students to the field of Children, Childhood & Youth (CCY) studies. It reviews many of the methodological approaches that have governed and continue to govern the study of children, childhood and youth. …
HH/PSYC 2110 3.00 Developmental Psychology
This course considers physical, intellectual, emotional and social development from birth through adolescence and the impact of the interaction of these various aspects of development upon the individual as a whole.
AP/SOSC 2150 6.00 Aging and Caregiving
This course examines the ways environmental factors intersect with social and economic inequalities to produce significant health disparities, particularly for low-income, racial, and Indigenous communities. Specifically, the course focuses on contemporary themes in environmental justice …
AP/EN 2173 3.00 Children’s Literature, 1590-1900
This course provides an historical study of children’s literature written between 1590 and 1900. It explores possible ways of reading that literature, taking into account such issues as its cultural context and its audience. We …
AP/EN 2174 3.00 20th Century Children’s Literature
This course focuses on children’s literature from the 20th and 21st centuries. According to Peter Hunt, “The study of children’s literature involves three elements – the literature, the children and the adult critics. The relationship …
AP/CCY 2300 3.00 Creativity, Play, and Recreation
Drawing on international children’s rights conventions, this course explores children’s rights to play and recreation, as well as the ways that young people actively participate in arts and culture. Students will examine a wide range …
AP/CCY 2700 6.00 Children's Rights and Youth Activism
This course explores the concept of children’s rights, directly as it relates to youth activism, from a critical childhood studies lens. Students will examine recent youth activist movements, conducting in-depth analysis into how these movements …
AP/CCY 2990 3.00 Gendered Childhoods
CCY 2990 takes a historical and cross-cultural approach to examine how gender and sexuality are constructed in childhood. The course begins with a historical perspective on the genealogies of current discourses of childhood and girlhood. …
AP/CCY 2999 6.00 Global Child and Youth Cultures
This course is a critical, cross-disciplinary introduction to the global cultures of children and young people. It explores the ways young people in diverse places and spaces participate in and express social and cultural values …
AP/CCY 3103 6.00 Ancient Mediterranean Childhood
Examines childhood experience and the social construction of childhood in the ancient Mediterranean from the Bronze Age to the end of classical antiquity.
GL/SOCI 3210 3.00 Sociology of Childhood, Adolescence and Youth
This course examines the ways in which sociologists study the process of coming of age, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood in a time when globalization is affecting the circumstances, experiences and life prospects of …
GL/PSYC 3300 3.00 Introduction to Development: Infancy and Childhood
The goal of the course is to teach the fundamentals in the field, and to test a student’s ability to integrate this knowledge in a comprehensive and critical manner. The course is organized to give …
GL/PSYC 3310 3.00 Introduction to Development: Adolescence, Adulthood and Aging
Is development anything more than maturation? Is individual change simply a response to the Zeitgeist? This course focuses primarily on change in the individual and systemic change is considered.
AP/FR 3340 6.00 Littérature pour la jeunesse / Literature Written for Young People
Par l’étude de divers genres d’ouvres littéraires, ce cours a comme objectir d’approfondir la connaissance déjà acquise des étudiant/e/s en littérature en général, et de répondre spécifiquement à leur besoin et désir d’apprendre davantage dans …
HH/KINE 3340 3.00 Growth, Maturation and Physical Activity
Examines and discuss the literature and research studies in those aspects of physical growth and development that directly concern educators. Individual differences in growth and development are stressed throughout. Prerequisite: KINE 3000
FA/DANC 3370 3.00 Dance Pedagogy
Examines the methods and materials associated with teaching dance technique to the adolescent and the adult. The lecture/studio portion of the course is augmented by assisting or observing a series of dance classes.
FA/THEA 3450 6.00 Theatre for Young Audiences
Offers an introductory studio course in the theory and technique of theatre for young audiences.
HH/KINE 3480 3.00 Outdoor and Experiential Education
Introduces fundamental principles and practices of outdoor and experiential education. Current theories, issues, trends and practices are discussed and the objectives of a range of outdoor programs are considered.
HH/PSYC 3500 3.00 Development in Adolescence
This course involves the scientific study of changes in affective, social and cognitive development during the second decade of life. Focus is on fundamental developmental changes, the contexts in which development occurs and the central …
GL/PSYC 3510 3.00 Disturbances in Development
What is the developmental process? When is it considered abnormal? What causes the psychopathology? Theory, research and intervention related to infantile autism, childhood schizophrenia, learning disorders, mental retardation, genetic disorders, child abuse etc., are presented.
This course involves the scientific study of changes in motor development, perception, and social and physical cognition that occur during the first two years of life. Focus is on the nature and determination of these …
AP/GWST 3553 3.00 Girlhood: Feminist Perspectives
Introduces students to the emerging interdisciplinary field of Girlhood Studies focusing on the social, political and cultural relations that shape girls’ lives and experiences. Specific focus will be placed on notions of quality of life, …
HH/PSYC 3630 3.00 The Psychology of the Family
A study of the family unit, drawing on findings and concepts from the areas of developmental, clinical and social psychology. Research on the social psychology and psychodynamics of the family group is considered.
AP/SOCI 3660 6.00 Families and Social Change
The course provides a wide-ranging and provocative analysis of the social forces and individual responses contributing to diversity in family life, emphasizing how social, economic and political changes in Canadian society have reshaped family forms …
AP/CCY 3685 3.00 Canadian Children’s Literature and Culture
In 2017, the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections (CATSC) at Scott Library acquired a special collection of rare 19th- and 20th-century children’s literature. Many of the books in the collection feature Canadian settings or …
AP/CCY 3687 6.00 Graphic Narratives for and about Children and Youth
This course provides an introduction to the graphic narrative form, a medium of literature for and about children and youth that is a significant part of contemporary children’s culture. Students will read widely in this …
AP/CCY 3688 3.00 Holocaust Literature of Children and Youth
In this seminar course, students examine motifs and themes in Holocaust literature about, for, and by children and adolescents: historical fiction, creative non-fiction, short stories, poetry, picturebooks, a graphic novel. The experience is guided by …
AP/CCY 3690 6.00 Children’s Literature and Film Adaptations
This course analyzes changing constructions of childhood and adolescence in children’s literature and adaptations of these constructions in film versions. Issues of ‘translation’ are highlighted both in critical readings and through the pairing of literary …
AP/CCY 3691 3.00 Picture Books in Children’s Culture
In this course, students learn about the intertwining relationships between illustrations and narratives in children’s picturebooks. The course invites students to think about how children, as viewers and listeners/readers, make meaning of what they see …
AP/CCY 3692 6.00 Representations of Children’s Alterity
This third-year seminar takes a cultural studies, visual culture approach to learning about representation, young people and difference. The course’s starting point acknowledges that even the terms “child” and “youth” are representations that obscure embodied, …
AP/CCY 3693 3.00 The Rainbow List: GLBTQ literature and culture for children and youth
Each year, the Rainbow Project Committee announces its annual Rainbow List. These titles reflect significant gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans-gendered and queer-questioning (GLBTQ) experience for young people from birth to age 18. This course analyzes some …
AP/CCY 3694 3.00 Contemporary Childhoods: Theories, Policies and Stereotypes
This is an in-depth course that will explore contemporary theories of childhood and their implication on the lived experiences of children around the world. The first module of the course explores new and developing childhood …
AP/CCY 3697 3.00 Writing By Children and Youth
The course looks at various types of writing by children and youth rather than what is usually (and problematically) understood by “children’s literature”–writing by adults for children. Can adults access “authentic” children’s writing? Can such …
AP/CCY 3698 3.00 Canadian Children’s Health and Quality of Life: A Rights-Based Perspective
This course critically analyzes children’s health and quality of life. Students will explore multiple influences on contemporary Canadian children’s health. The course ethos is the respect of children and youth as human beings, with the …
AP/CCY 3699 3.00 Childhood, culture, and musical arts
This course examines the role of musical arts in the lives of children and young people in global contexts. Students will engage in an in-depth examination of musical arts in its broadest sense from culturally …
AP/CCY 3700 6.00 Children, Youth and the Dramatic Arts
This course introduces dramatic arts as a means of exploring issues in childhood and youth studies. Students in this course examine the development of local and global performances by, for, and about children and youth, …
AP/CMDS 3725 3.00 Young People’s Media in Canada
This course explores the production of media for young people here in Canada. Canada has a long history of producing media texts for children and youth. Our children’s television, film, music, magazine and videogame industries …
AP/CMDS 3770 3.00 Transnational Media Cultures and Global Youth
The aim of this course is to provide students with an overview of the critical debates and issues surrounding youth media culture in a transnational context. This course will trace the impact of the transnational …
AP/HREQ 3961 3.00 International Human Rights and Children
This course critically examines international children’s rights frameworks and whether and how they translate into practice. We will explore competing conceptualizations of childhood and of Western human rights discourses and consider children’s roles as agents …
AP/HREQ 3964 3.00 Equity and Human Rights in Schooling
This course examines issues of inequality and equity in education from a critical human rights perspective. It engages with literature linking educational rights to human rights, adopting a comparative perspective throughout. Efforts to achieve equity …
This course begins at Keele campus where students prepare for archival field work abroad. It incorporates book history, childhood studies, literary and archival methodologies in its exploration of the social and textual production of children’s …
AP/CCY 3998 6.00 The Child and the Book: Children’s Literature Research Methods
This course incorporates book history, childhood studies, literary analysis, and digital humanities methodologies in its exploration of the social and textual production of children’s literature. Beginning with entrepreneurial printer and children’s bookseller John Newbery’s new …
AP/CCY 3999 6.00 Research with Children and Young People
This course focuses on child-centered research approaches to research design, knowledge production (gathering and analyzing data), and disseminating knowledge. The course urges students to acknowledge the value commitments that inform research methods and the research …
HH/PSYC 4010 3.00 Seminar in Developmental Psychology
Some major modern theories of child development are compared and their corresponding data and methodologies are analyzed.
HH/PSYC 4010 6.00 Seminar in Developmental Psychology
Some major modern theories of child development are compared and their corresponding data and methodologies are analyzed.
AP/HIST 4051 6.00 Family, Work and Community: Canadian Society in the 19th and 20th centuries
This course explores major themes in the formation of Canadian society through a critical examination of issues and debates aired in recent historical scholarship. Three periods pre-industrial, industrial and post-Second World War provide a temporal …
AP/SOCI 4060 3.00 The Sociology of Parent-Child Relationships
This course seeks to examine the dynamics of parent/child relationships. Theoretical models and illustrative data from sociology and related disciplines of anthropology and psychology are utilized to provide a comprehensive understanding of this process. The focus …
AP/CCY 4139 3.00 Documenting Childhood and Youth in Film
This online course explores the role of documentary films in understanding the culture of childhood and youth in a global context. Students will engage in an in-depth examination of documentary films (both local and international) …
AP/CCY 4140 6.00 Childhood in Canadian Culture
This course analyzes childhood as represented and experienced in Canadian culture through time, across regions, and among cultural groups. There are two primary aspects to the course: first, an exploration of the range of representations …
AP/CCY 4141 6.00 Youth and Digital Culture
How are children’s lives structured in digital spaces or networked publics? What do these spaces look like? How do children access them and use them? Are they digital homes for institutional voices for and about …
AP/CCY 4142 6.00 Contemporary Children’s Culture
The purpose of this class is to understand children’s lives around the world, with particular focus on the lived experiences of children/youth and childhood/adolescence in the Majority world. In a globalized world our connections to …
AP/CCY 4144 3.00 Indigenous Knowledge and Children’s Literature in North America
Analyzes and examines Children’s Literature and Indigenous Knowledge in North America, focusing on the similarities among diverse traditions of contemporary Indigenous Children’s writers in both Canada and in the United States. Explores the many and …
AP/CCY 4145 6.00 Fantasy & Children’s Culture
Before we explore what “fantasy” constitutes, we consider competing, contemporary constructions of what constitutes the “real”. We proceed to map how varied constructions of childhood had shaped, and were shaped by, their relationship to ascendant …
AP/CCY 4146 3.00 Children’s Culture in Context
This iteration of our course explores mostly contemporary childhood and youth cultures with a specific, Canadian, urban context: Toronto, and its suburbs. Relying on literary fiction, ethnography, photography and film, we study adultist attempts to …
AP/CCY 4147 6.00 International Field Study Tour – Children’s Culture in Context
Students in this course have the opportunity to participate in the “field as the classroom” in order to examine the key concepts, methodologies, and theoretical approaches that frame the interdisciplinary, rights-based and child-centered field of …
AP/CCY 4148 3.00 Children and the Law in Historical Perspective
This course traces the history of children and childhood from the Middle Ages into the early twentieth century using historical, literary, and cultural sources. The primary (but not exclusive) focus is on the Anglo-American legal …
AP/CCY 4149 3.00 Contemporary Canadian Childhood and the Law
This course investigates how children learn about and experience the law through children’s literature and through direct contact with the legal system. Topics include: children’s understanding of legal terminology; the law’s treatment of discipline and …
AP/CCY 4152 3.00 Childhood, Youth, and Migration in Global Perspectives
This course explores the experiences, perspectives, and roles of children and youth in migration processes in a global context. Through an examination of various theoretical texts and case studies, this course provides a critical introduction …
FA/THEA 4334 6.00 Theatre of the Holocaust
Renowned scholar Robert Skloot suggests that Theatre of the Holocaust scripts can express their understanding of historical facts, and although the plays are not history, they would not stand apart from history. Holocaust plays and …
FA/DANC 4369 3.00 Young Dancers: Creators, Performers, and Critics
Examines the young dancer as performer, choreographer, audience member and critic. Studies the philosophic principles, pedagogical practices, creative processes, and performance habits of young dancer companies, and/or dance companies that perform for young audiences.
AP/SOCI 4370 3.00 Immigrant Youth in Canada—Settlement & Integration
Analyses transitions from adolescence to emerging adulthood of immigrant youth. Employs a life course perspective to examine selected experiences and concerns encountered by newcomer youth when settling and integrating into life in Canada. Possible topics …
FA/DANC 4375 3.00 Dance and the Child I
Provides theories, tools and applications for teaching dance to children (ages three-six). Lecture/studio, practicum.
FA/DANC 4376 3.00 Dance and the Child II
Provides theories, tools and applications for teaching dance to children (ages seven-12). Three hours lecture/studio, two hours practicum.
AP/CCY 4410 6.00 Narratives of the Family in Modern Korea
This course gives a historical overview of family narratives in Korea from the end of the traditional period to the present. Materials covered include: traditional palace tales and poetic forms, early twentieth century short stories, …
FA/THEA 4440 6.00 Drama and Education
Explores drama/theatre in an educational context. In addition to examining the major literature in drama in education over the past four decades, the class provides hands-on work in exploring the practical uses of drama in …
HH/PSYC 4460 6.00 Atypical Development
An examination of psychological problems and disorders of childhood and adolescence including an extensive exploration of their nature, causes, and treatment based on current research. Developmental risks and protective factors will be considered. Students are …
AP/HUMA 4516 3.00 Children's Literature in North and South Korea
In this course students gain experience in using various approaches to study the roles of translation in the development of children’s literature and films in North and South Korea. While the two countries share cultural …
HH/KINE 4560 3.00 Physical Activity and Children: Pedagogy
Examines teaching methods available for people working in a physical activity setting with children. Emphasis is placed on the core program components of dance, games and gymnastics. Curriculum and lesson planning for school based physical …
GL/EN 4644 3.00 The Golden Age of Children’s Literature
This course focuses on the “Golden Age” of Children’s literature (1863-1911). Landmark texts are considered in terms of their innovation, experimentation and enduring influence. Cultural, historical, and sociopolitical contexts are considered.
HH/KINE 4650 3.00 Sport, Physical Activity and Youth Development
Explores developmental theories and psychosocial research that facilitate understanding of positive youth development through sport and physical activity. Students will be introduced to theoretical and empirical research from developmental psychology and sport psychology fields. Specific …
GL/EN 4655 3.00 A Tarnished Age: Dystopias for Children
This course focuses on the “Third Golden Age” of Children’s Literature. The darkness and violence of contemporary dystopias for young adults is highly politicized. Cultural, historical, and sociopolitical contexts and rhetorical strategies are considered.
AP/GEOG 4700 3.00 The Critical Geographies of Education
The Critical Geographies of Education (CGE) explores the complex interactions between education, space, and civil society. In an ideal democratic society, publicly funded schools serve many purposes. Aside from its educational mandate, schools are places …
AP/CMDS 4708 6.00 Youth Cultures and Media Practices
This course analyzes contemporary youth cultures with an emphasis on the ways in which youth engage with diverse and converging media texts and practices. The course develops a contextual understanding of media literacy, identities, embodiments, …
AP/CCY 4824 3.00 Imagining Anne Frank: The Girl, The Diary, The Afterlives
Analyzes Anne Frank’s World War II diary from literary, cultural, and historical perspectives. Examines the evolution of Frank and the diary as cultural icons by analyzing representations of Frank as a figure in literature, including …
AP/SOCI 4830 3.00 Childhood and Violence
This course explores violence experienced by children and violence committed by children. The course explores the ways that children and adults learn, use and experience violence (physical and sexual) in societal settings such as schools, …
AP/CCY 4900 6.00 CCY Work-Focused Placement Course
This course provides hands-on, Work-Focused EE opportunities in the form of placements to fourth-year CCY students. Students complete part-time, supervised placements with an organization/employer that helps them gain relevant work experience and meet the learning …
AP/CCY 4998 6.00 The Child and the Book: Honours Research Project
In this course, students conduct a classroom-based research project (framework for which is created in CCY 3998). This will include undertaking a unique research project focusing on children’s literature, conducting independent research using the children’s …
AP/CCY 4999 6.00 Honours Research Project
This course builds on the theoretical foundations learned in CCY 3999. In order to take this course you MUST have completed the prerequisite CCY 3999 as you will draw heavily on your previous course materials …