education

Basic Principles Most curricula today that emphasize developmentally appropriate practice and development of the whole child are influenced by ideas embedded in the Bank Street approach. These “big ideas” include the following: Teaching decisions are based on knowledge and understanding of all the developmental domains and cognitive processes. Teachers function as researchers; they record their […]

Bank Street (The Developmental-Interaction Approach) The Bank Street curriculum was developed as a play-based curriculum at the demonstration program for the Bureau of Educational Experiments, founded in 1919 by Lucy Sprague Mitchell and Harriet Johnson; that institution is now known as Bank Street College in New York City. It was renamed and articulated as the

The Project Approach An early-twentieth-century approach (Kilpatrick, 1918) to learning through long-term study of topics that allowed teachers to integrate different areas of the curriculum is enjoying something of a reemergence as the Project Approach (PA). The PA is most closely associated with Lilian Katz and Sylvia Chard, who describe the project method’s origins in

Teacher as Performer A Waldorf teacher could be considered a “performer,” as a primary function of the teacher is to demonstrate activities and model exemplary behavior, since Steiner believed that children are highly motivated to imitate adults and real life through play. Another important idea in the Waldorf curriculum is the concept of natural rhythm;

The Prepared Environment Montessori classrooms are orderly and calm, and the environment is carefully organized and sequenced. The classroom is characterized by three primary areas: practical life, sensory materials, and academic materials for reading, writing, and mathematics. Montessori children are free to move about the classroom but must stay on their chosen tasks and use

The Absorbent Mind The principle of the absorbent mind refers primarily to the notion that children have an innate desire to learn. Further, they are intrinsically motivated to communicate and particularly disposed to learn through imitation and practice (Montessori, 1949). This principle has significant implications for the role of Montessori teachers, as their primary obligation

Curriculum Time Line The emergence of well-known early childhood curricular models and approaches is interconnected with research, developmental theories, and accumulated practical knowledge about how children learn. Basic Philosophy and Principles The books Maria Montessori wrote, including The Absorbent Mind (1949) and The Montessori Method (1909), describe the philosophical and pedagogical principles of her method as

Stop and Reflect Do you think gardening activities are beneficial as part of an early childhood curriculum? Why or why not? What do you think young children might learn from participating in such a garden? 2.2 “Classic” Curricula (Pre-1960s) This section describes, for the purposes of this book, “classic” curricula, those that were well established

Benjamin Franklin Elementary School Community Garden One example of a progressive era shift to practical education is the Benjamin Franklin Community Garden in Cleveland, Ohio. This large community garden was established in 1923, and it continues to flourish today. This excerpt (paraphrased and abridged) from a history of the gardens, written in 1977 by Nicholas

Implementation “An official curriculum is meaningless unless it is translated by teachers into an operational curriculum” (Posner, 2004, p. 191). The delicate dance of choosing and acting out strategies that ensure desired learning in real preschool and school settings may be the hardest part of teaching. Research shows that perhaps the best predictor of high-quality