Early childhood education

Encyclopedia : E : EA : EAR : Early childhood education

Infant playing with a book.

Early childhood education covers the education of a child from the period from birth to eight years of age.

Contents

1 What is Early Childhood Education?
2 Child development

2.1 Theory & Curriculum
2.2 Pedagogy
2.3 Providers

3 Early Childhood Educational Professional
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

What is Early Childhood Education?

Early Childhood spans the human life from infancy to Age 8 and can take place naturally while being watched and with parents/others. But "early childhood education and care" or "early care and education" often act as interchangeable terms with early childhood education. It emphasizes the focus of academically, socially, emotionally, and physically preparing a child during this age range and the focus of protecting and caring for the child in the absence of his/her primary caregiver.

Child development

Children learn quickly at a young age.

There are different developmental domains of children which all relate to each other:

Physical development - Concerning the physical growth and the development of both gross(eg. walking) and fine motor(eg. finger movement) control of the body.
Perception and sensory development - How a child functions using the senses and the ability to process the information gained.
Communication and language development - Using visual and sound stimuli, especially in the acquisition of language, also in the exchange of thoughts and feelings.
Cognitive development - Concerning how the individual thinks and react.
Emotional Development - Concerning children's increasing awareness and control of their feelings and how does he react to these feelings in a given situation.

Social Development - Concerning the child's identity, their relationship with others, and understanding their place within a social environment.

Recent studies on infant brain development show most of a person's neurons are formed from ages 0-5. If a young child doesn't receive sufficient nurturing, nutrition, parental/caregiver interaction, and stimulus during this crucial period, the child may be left with a developmental deficit that hampers his or her success in kindergarten and beyond.

Theory & Curriculum

A wide array of educational philosophies circulate through the field. Older professionals adhere to more of a behaviorist theory as developed by John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner and Edward Thorndike. Others hold to the more unstructured maturationist theory popularized by Jacques Rousseau. Currently early childhood teacher education programs teach a mix of theories dominated by the constructivism (learning theory) theory as put forth by Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky.

Each philosophy forms the undergirding theory behind its own selection of school curriculum used throughout the world. Behaviorist ideas dominant direct instruction methods (like DISTAR). Constructivist ideas dominate curriculums like High/Scope and Montessori. A mix of maturationist and constructionist ideas supply the base theory for the Reggio Emilia approach.

The curriculum in a "Head Start" program is designed to meet the needs of each child. One goal is to build self-esteem that is seen as necessary to future success in school. Staff encourage self-confidence, curiosity, and self-discipline. A variety of learning experiences are designed to meet the children's needs in the various areas of development. Staff should work as a team to implement the new government issued curriculum and teach children, based on their interest and in a fun way. Parent involvement should be the heart of the program. Preschool children must be provided with early literacy, awareness and intervention in order to perform better during the later years. This will lead the to success once they enter schools,and put them on the right track by being well prepared with the right and appropriate equipment.

Pedagogy

The philosophy of early childhood education is largely child-centered education. Therefore, there is a focus on the importance of play. Play provides children with the opportunity to actively explore, manipulate, and interact with their environment. It encourages children to investigate, create, discover and motivate them to take risks and add to their understanding of the world. It challenges children to achieve new levels of understanding of events, people and the environment by interacting with concrete materials. Hands-on activities create authentic experiences in which children begin to feel a sense of mastery over their world. This philosophy follows with Piaget's ideals that children should actively participate in their world and various environments so as to ensure they are not 'passive' learners but 'little scientists' who are actively engaged.

Providers

Providers of early childhood education go by many names:

early childhood programs,
child development programs,
children's centers or day care,
preschool and
kindergarten.