In a sample of 74 university students studying early childhood and pre-kindergarten education, researchers assessed the relationships between child development knowledge, complexity of reasoning about development, prior work experience with children, and teacher-preparation content courses and laboratory courses. There was no statistically significant association between knowledge of child development and complexity of reasoning. The former primarily involves the acquisition of facts about patterns of general change, whereas complexity of reasoning permits caregivers to apply those facts to real-life care-giving dilemmas. Child development knowledge was predicted by the number of completed pre-kindergarten content courses, but not by experience with children. Complexity of reasoning was predicted by both content and laboratory courses, the effects of which were assessed separately. Findings suggest that teacher-preparation content courses, supplemented by guided experience with children, provide a basic framework for integrating important concepts about children's growth and behavior. (Contains 2 tables.)