How Is Early Childhood Curriculum Developed? Jupiterimages / Thinkstock Early childhood curricula can vary widely in philosophy and approach. Early childhood educators can benefit from having a framework within which to compare them. The curriculum a program or school chooses or develops is defined in many ways, both theoretical and practical. From a theoretical perspective, curriculum […]
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What is my role as a teacher? As you explore the information and materials about the curriculum you will be using in your classroom, you may wonder how a curriculum is created in the first place and what makes one curriculum different from another. For example, if the director of your preschool says that it
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John Dewey At about the same time Montessori was conceptualizing early education in Italy, John Dewey’s (18591952) work completely redirected the course of American education with a movement known as progressivism. Dewey, known first as a philosopher, believed in pragmatism, or faith in the value of experience (practice) to inform ideas (theory). He promoted a
Maria Montessori Many of Maria Montessori’s (18701952) ideas are embedded in virtually every early childhood program, and her influence on our thinking about curriculum has been profound (Goffin, 2001; Morrison, 2011). Montessori was the first woman in Italy to earn a medical degree, and she was a tireless child advocate. She insisted that through proper
A Cast of Influential Thinkers Many scientists, theorists, and philosophers have contributed to the current view that children should be respected as individuals in their own right. Further, these thinkers continue to help us understand how children learn and the methods and environments that best encourage the learning process. The following brief profiles describe individuals
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How Did Early Childhood Curriculum Evolve? Prior to the seventeenth century, childhood was not generally considered a distinct phase of the life span. Children who survived the first years of life were quickly incorporated into the work routines that sustained the well-being of the family. However, beginning with the Enlightenment, thinkers like John Locke (16321734)
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Expectations:A high-quality comprehensive early childhood curriculum A high-quality comprehensive early childhood curriculum emphasizes global, integrated learning across all areas of development (NAEYC/NAECS/SDE, 2003). However, our knowledge of how children grow and develop across each of the individual developmental domains (cognitive, social-emotional, physical, creative) affects the expectations we have for children of different ages in each
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Teacher-Child Ratios Young children usually spend their entire day with the same teacher, child-care provider, or small team of teachers, and early childhood educators usually plan for and implement all components of the curriculum. Typically, however, the teacher-child ratio, or the number of children each individual adult is responsible for, increases by age, because we
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General Distinctions In general, curriculum for infants and toddlers emphasizes language development, socialization, exploration of the immediate environment, and acquisition of self-help skills, often through daily routines like diapering and feeding. Preschool curricula focus on the development of social and interpersonal skills, play, acquiring a love of learning, and thinking skills. Kindergarten serves as the
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How Do Curricula Vary within Early Childhood Education? All curricula, including those developed for young children, are designed to complement and support the students for whom they are intended. They include: Stockbyte / Thinkstock A curriculum for infants emphasizes one-on-one interactions between adults and children. A theoretical or philosophical orientation Stated or implied assumptions about
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