A One-Week Curriculum
DAY 1: Engagement Educators should select specific knowledge type to assess and ensure that the process is detailed enough to gather in-depth information. Hailikari, Katajavuori, and Lindblom-Ylanne (2008) explained that assessment of prior knowledge serves as diagnostic tool for educators that seek ways of supporting students through the learning process. The authors explained that assessment of prior knowledge makes teachers aware of the type of tasks each child can complete and helps to address mismatch between an educator’s expectations of a child’s knowledge and the actual knowledge level of that child. Constructivism theory states that a child is never a blank slate, as they bring with them their past experiences and cultural elements (Shah, 2019) to the early learning context. Educators should discovery these experiences and cultural aspects. Assessments at this stage are diagnostic and formative in nature. According to Edmund and Nalley (2006), diagnostic assessments help educators determine what the student already knows while formative test outcomes guide the teachers to motivate children to learn and achieve more enhanced skills. The process directs a child’s attention to key areas of focus, and the outcomes enable the teachers to plan for an effective learning process. In accordance with Lev Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978), this phase involves recognition of teacher’s role as the individual with higher knowledge in the learning context. It also recognises the importance of students in the process of learning. | |
SUBJECT | TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES |
History
| Edmund and Nalley (2006) stated that students in history class should be aware of historical events and use the thinking skills associated with this subject. During the assessment, therefore, educators should check: l Children’s knowledge of historical themes, ideas, and facts related to their cultures l Capacity to communicate historical thinking or knowledge to others Assessment techniques: i. Dialogue ii. Oral response |
Philosophy | Check for potential cultural influences on the children’s: l Social participation l Creativity l Self-esteem l Empathy for others Assessment methods: i. Narratives ii. Dialogue iii. Games |
Geography | Aim: to examine the children’s knowledge of their countries of origin and its characteristics Assessment method: l Ask the children about their countries of origin, and the name of their towns, cities, and communities Assessment technique: i. Oral response and dialogue |
DAY 2: Exploration Involves investigation of the phenomenon, which could lead to emergence of ideas that challenge prior knowledge. Given that exploration stage follows diagnostic and formative assessments, the activities that a child gets exposed to are carefully selected by the educators and are believed to have the potential to help the child attain institutional or educator’s learning objectives (Hailikari et al., 2008). The learning materials and activities must, thus, be selected by the subject teacher for effective learning. At exploration stage, children’s inborn curiosity is already triggered and they are ready for active involvement in play. Cognitive development theory also agrees that children aged 3-5 years (or in pre-operational stage) can participate in pretend play (Piaget, 1971). Vygotsky (1978) in his socio-cultural theory emphasised that exploratory play is effective if it exposes children to societal and cultural factors. Duran and Duran (2004) stated that exploration stage should be student-centred and involve active participation of learners. Educators should encourage learners to use process skills such as communicating with peers, questioning, prediction of tests, and observing. The inquiry-based activities or experiences for this phase lead children to develop desired skills and concepts, and the teacher serves as a facilitator (Duran & Duran, 2004). Learning here happens in a cooperative environment and the teacher is not allowed to issue direct instructions. An educator should use exploration phase to enable children gain “hands-on” encounter with phenomenon before giving definitions and explanations. | |
SUBJECT | TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES |
History | Goals of exploring history: l Help children identify and respect peer’s differences l Strengthen social, teamwork, and coordination skills l Enable children connect their identity to real life situations Key learning activities: i. Painting of a home - creates room for conversations about the rituals that form the home’s culture, ii. Viewing of historical pictures, and or iii. Trip to history and arts museum |
Philosophy | Aim: to expose children to situations that require critical thinking and creativity
Activities: l Offer play opportunities - games like building with block or playing pretend promote critical thinking. The games should highlight cultural aspects of the children’s society |
Geography | Purpose is to expose children to new contexts that will help them learn about their geographical location
Learning activities: l Use maps to show the children the position of the country where the early childhood centre is located, and the cultures of the people that live in the local community l Share pictures of the country’s landscapes and highlight features of the country where the school is located |
DAY 3: Explanation Constructivist theory argues that learners play the role of constructing information (Shah, 2019). That is, after exploring phenomenon and developing some ideas, the children begin to use the new knowledge to describe their experiences. Bybee (2009) stated that teachers should allow children to be the first to explain the concepts and processes they used in exploration stage based on the new ideas they acquired in this phase and their prior knowledge. Constructivists support that children have the ability to link prior and new knowledge during explanation (Shah, 2019). Cognitive development theory also indicates that 3-5-year-olds have better language and thinking abilities (Piaget, 1971). The purpose of this stage is to focus children’s attention on specific concepts from the previous phases, and show learners the appropriate way of organising description of concepts and the correct language to use. The children describe how they understood the concepts from exploration activities and even ask questions regarding the same (Duran & Duran, 2004). By letting the children describe their learning experiences, the teacher spots misconceptions that emerged during the initial phases and offers clarification. The teacher may offer formal explanations, visual aides, or notes to help children understand the concepts (Duran & Duran, 2004; Bybee, 2009). | |
SUBJECT | TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES |
History | The aim is to discover how much knowledge children gained from exploration tasks.
Key learning activities: i. Explain the components of the drawing, rituals performed at home, and the associated culture ii. Explain what they understand from historical pictures iii. Tell others what they saw during a trip to history and arts museums
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Philosophy | Aim: To discover children’s ability to connect prior and new ideas from exploration tasks Activities: l Children should talk about the role held during pretend play and what they did to meet the requirements of that role l If the teacher opts for building with blocks, the children should identify the structure or item they constructed and why they did so. |
Geography | Aims to measure the level of understanding of each child, based on exploration practices Activities: l The children should demonstrate ability to link prior knowledge with the new ideas to describe the geographical location of the early childhood centre |
DAY 4: Elaboration At this stage, children should express deepened knowledge of studied phenomenon and ability to apply the newly gained knowledge to new contexts. After the appropriate explanation is offered in the previous activity, educators should create space for further learning experiences to extend the children’s knowledge and skills in elaborating the concepts (Duran & Duran, 2004; Bybee, 2009). Elaboration stage involves holding of discussions and seeking of information. Group discussions enable children to present and defend their ideas in relation to instructional tasks. Discussions result in more appropriate task definition and identification or collection of information that enables task completion. Bybee (2009) explained that this phase enables children to derive information from peers, teachers, and the available learning materials. In accordance with socio-cultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978), elaboration recognises the role of social contexts in learning and cognitive development. Discussions should help learners to understand the conception of instructional tasks, trace the information bases, and identify the approaches for completing tasks. In group discussions, a child expresses understanding of the particular subject and gets feedback from peers who belong to their own level of understanding (Bybee, 2009). Elaboration stages involves learners in new experiences and exposes them to new problems that require them to apply explanations that they were already taught. At the end of elaboration phase, children should be able to transfer learning and generalise skills and concepts. When conducting this phase of learning, however, teachers should remember that at this age children are increasingly egocentric and may struggle adopting peers’ perspectives (Piaget, 1971). Appropriate controls should be implemented. | |
SUBJECT | TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES |
History | Aim: To expand knowledge of the child Activities: i. Give mini-assignments that involve parent’s participation - helps with bonding and a child can learn more about the family origins of his or her father and mother ii. Introduce history-themed easy-to-read books
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Philosophy | Aim: to boost critical thinking and ability to justify choices or decisions Activities: l Introduce more games that require children to make use of ideas, skills, and knowledge gained in previous activities |
Geography | These advanced tasks should help children to learn specific factors about parents’ home countries in detail
Activities: l Give mini-assignments to be completed with the parents’ help - tell children to identify songs, games, and food associated with the cultures of the parents’ home countries l In the classroom, make individual cut-outs representing the shapes of the identified countries |
DAY 5: Evaluation At this stage, the educators perform summative assessment to determine if students have attained the learning objectives. Edmunds and Nalley (2006) explained that summative assessment should come at the end of the course or instruction to judge the student’s performance and give grading. The assessment’s main purpose is to determine the amount of instruction content that the child has mastered. Educators administer tests in this phase to determine children’s level of understanding, skills, and abilities (Bybee, 2009). Through this phase, children get the chance to apply skills they have acquired so far to evaluate personal understanding when communicating solutions. In an inquiry-based context, Duran and Duran (2004) argue that evaluation of children’s performance should be an ongoing process. Based on the learning level of the children, the teacher may use exams, quiz, and written assignments to assess the level of understanding of the children. | |
SUBJECT | TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES |
History | Teaching of history in early childhood centres is supported by recent research findings that oppose Jean Piaget’s view that four to eight year old children lack self-concept of time (Skjaeveland, 2017). According to Skjaeveland (2017), recent studies reported that children are capable of understanding historical time and may even develop a sense of chronology without perceiving time as a unit of measurement. In fact, children in early childhood centres understand the difference between “long ago and close to now” (Skjaeveland, 2017, p. 10) without knowledge of dates or years.
At early childhood education level, children should: l Understand the time associated with history l Demonstrate some knowledge of cultural background l Show knowledge of historical concepts and facts Assessment techniques: i. Dialogue ii. Oral response iii. Quiz iv. Exam |
Philosophy | Aim: To determine effectiveness of the learning process and find out if learning objectives are achieved Assessment detail: l Children should have reasons for supporting a decision during the play-based learning experience; and even the alternative decisions they would have made l During play, the children should be considerate, cooperate, and be able to control their emotions |
Geography | Evaluation may be based on the mini-assignment from elaboration phase or the educator may give a quiz or any relevant class activity Assessment requirements: l Children should easily identify the location of the already discussed countries on a map l Every child remembers the location of the early childhood centre, and the culture of the local people |
