education

Development and Curriculum across the Early Childhood Years This final section of the chapter examines how the developmental characteristics of children at different times influence the way curriculum is conceived to meet their needs and interests. Infants and Toddlers Good curriculum for infants and toddlers is significantly different from curriculum for preschool and older children […]

What might be the pros and cons of each? Good curriculum for infants and toddlers is significantly different from curriculum for preschool and older children in many ways, but it is grounded in the same principles of DAP (described in Chapter 1) that apply throughout the early childhood years (Gestwicki, 2011). Curricula for children from

Stop and Reflect Can you think of other materials that might provide the kind of open-ended play described above? What might be the pros and cons of each? Scholastic Studio 10 / Getty Images Children need extended periods of time to fully develop their ideas. Block structures, for example, can take several days to complete.

A Box with Three Lives On a Monday morning, Owen’s dad brought a large cardboard box to the class after a weekend delivery of a new washing machine. The teacher, Ms. Mary, set the box in the middle of the meeting circle and said, “H-mmm, I wonder what we could do with this, would you

The Challenge of Time Time is one of the biggest challenges for teachers who want to use play as the foundation for their curricula. Curricula may be divided into segmented blocks of time that may be inadequate for optimal focus and engagement. Consider children playing with blocks. Block building involves a developmental sequence of increasingly

Types of Activity Centers Materials Play requires materials that children can use to explore their physical limits, to learn about natural phenomena, to employ imagination and make believe, and to develop language and conceptual understandings. An extensive commercial market offers an array of choices targeted to the needs and interests of young children. However, a

  Types of Activity Centers Dedicated Space Play Focus Dramatic play Pretend play with props (themed materials) that allows children to take on roles and develop play scenarios about familiar themes Construction Building with blocks and other materials that can be put together and taken apart; woodworking Language and literacy Reading, listening to tapes and

Play as an Organizing Element of the Curriculum Ross Whitaker / Getty Images Classroom space is defined for specific activities, in this case an area for block play. A convincing body of evidence confirms the importance of play in the setting of early childhood education. As the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) stated in a

What might you expect to learn about a child’s cognitive, physical, or social development from observing the child at play? Much has also been learned over time about the role of language as children develop play scripts (Bateson, 1976). When one child announces to another, “Let’s play veterinarianI’ll be the doctor and you be the