1. What is Curriculum?
EDU 259
Spring 2014

2. Curriculum for Young Children
Teaching is fun, exciting, and rewarding, especially observing enthusiastic and happy children.
Copyright 2013 Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

3. What Is Curriculum?
1. Collection of ideas including learning, program, plans, school subjects, materials, topics of study. 2. Both planned and unplanned experiences to develop skills and knowledge.
Looking at Terminology Particular words, or terms, have meaning and significance. Early childhood programs do not have fixed rules with fixed terminology.
Copyright 2013 Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

4. Curriculum Defined curriculum a noun
A course of study; a program of studies (Barnhart and Barnhart, 1990)
Curriculum for young children is the topic of this textbook.
curriculums or curricula
plural
More than one course of study or program
The teacher tried many different types of curriculums. The teacher tried many different types of curricula.
curricular
adjective
Of, having to do with, or describing curriculum
Early childhood educators continued to develop their curricular practices.
Copyright 2013 Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

5. What Is Curriculum?
Curriculum is an organized framework that delineates:
The content that children are to learn
The process through which children are to learn
The process through which children achieve the identified
curricular goals
What teachers do to help children achieve these goals
The context in which teaching and learning occur

6. Activities: The Core of the Curriculum
1. Hands-on - children use their hands, arms, legs, feet, and bodies rather than just listening and observing teachers.
2. Concrete - allow children to use real materials as active participants.
Copyright 2013 Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

7. Benefits of Planning and Managing Your Curriculum
Ensures best opportunities to develop in secure, stable, interesting
environments.
Allows teachers to predict and prepare for events.
Gives sense of predictability, confidence, and control.
Maximizes use of time, increases opportunities for quality interaction.
Copyright 2013 Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

8. Multilevel Process Philosophy Goals
- Expresses basic principles, attitudes and beliefs of program
Goals
- General overviews of what children are expected to gain
Objectives
- Specific teaching techniques or interpretations of the goals
- Meaningful descriptions of what is expected to be learned
- Designed to meet the physical, intellectual, cultural, social, emotional, and creative development of each child
©2012 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

9. DAP Curriculum Goals are developmentally and educationally significant
Learning experiences reflect what is known
- about young children in general
- about young children in particular
- about the sequences in which children acquire specific concepts, skills and abilities
Builds on prior experience
©2012 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

10. Developmentally Appropriate Practice—What Is It?
Programs are based on the accumulation of data and facts about what children are like
Programs designed for young children must be based on what is known about young children
Early childhood educators must be steeped in child development knowledge
Children must be considered in the context of their family, culture, community, past history, and present circumstances
What is known about child development and learning of a particular age group so that the curriculum has appropriate experiences and learning activities to help children achieve and be challenged
What is known about each individual child, the individual rate of growth, and the unique learning style so that the curriculum will reflect their needs, interests, and preferences
What is known about the social and cultural context of each child so that the curriculum provides meaningful and relevant learning experiences that are respectful of the backgrounds of the children and families in the group.
Culturally appropriate curriculum is also developmentally appropriate curriculum
The curriculum should reflect the plurality of contemporary American society in general and the individual classroom in sensitive, relevant ways
Banks (2006) describes transformative curriculum as a familiar ways of doing things and providing new insights and ways of thinking about culture
For children to gain any meaningful knowledge, the content must contribute to a fuller understanding of human diversity, not just as a special-occasion topic
© 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.

11. Basic Principles of Development
Domains of children’s development—physical, social, emotional, and cognitive—are closely related. Development in one domain influences and is influenced by development in other domains
Development occurs in a relatively orderly sequence, with later abilities, skills, and knowledge building on those already acquired
Development proceeds at varying rates from child to child as well as unevenly within different areas of a child’s functioning
© 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.

12. Basic Principles of Development
Early experiences have both cumulative and delayed effects on individual children’s development; Optimal periods exist for certain types of development and learning
Development proceeds in predictable directions toward greater complexity, organization, and internalization
Development and learning occur in and are influenced by multiple social and cultural contexts

13. Basic Principles of Development
Children are active learners, drawing on direct physical and social experience as well as culturally transmitted knowledge to construct their own under-standing of the world around them
Development and learning result from interaction of biological maturation and the environment, which includes both the physical and social worlds that children live in
Play is an important vehicle for children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, as well as a reflection of their development
© 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.

14. Basic Principles of Development
Development advances when children have opportunities to practice newly acquired skills as well as when they experience a challenge just beyond the level of their present mastery
Children demonstrate different modes of knowing and learning and different ways of representing what they know
Children develop and learn best in the context of a community where they are safe and valued, their physical needs are met, and they feel psychologically secure

15. Common Misunderstandings about Developmentally Appropriate Practice
There is only one right way to carry out developmentally appropriate practice
Developmentally appropriate classrooms are unstructured
Teachers teach minimally or not at all in developmentally appropriate classrooms
© 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.

16. Common Misunderstandings about Developmentally Appropriate Practice
Developmentally appropriate programs do not include academics, generally interpreted to be the formal skills of learning reading, writing, and arithmetic
Developmentally appropriate programs are only effective for particular populations, “usually assumed to be typically developing, white, middle-class children”
In developmentally appropriate classrooms, there is no way to tell whether children are learning
© 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.

17. Common Misunderstandings about Developmentally Appropriate Practice
Developmentally appropriate practice can be achieved simply by acquiring certain kinds of toys and materials
Developmentally appropriate practice uses no goals or objectives
In developmentally appropriate practice, the curriculum is child development
Developmental appropriateness is just one in a sequence of changing trends in education
Results of Appropriate vs. Inappropriate Practices
Self-Esteem
Mastering
Meaningful
Self-control
Stress
Later academic patterns
© 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.

18. Inclusive Curriculum
Reflects awareness of and sensitivity to diversity of all areas of a child’s life: cultural, social, language, religion, gender, and capabilities
Authentic inclusion: an approach that builds on and integrates multicultural and anti-bias strategies for a sensitive and culturally affirming program that includes all children
Children with disabilities, from immigrant families, from families whose first language is not English, from all cultures, and girls and boys need the same things in a learning environment
Adaptations are made to fit the capacities of individual children as needed
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

19. Effective Curriculum: Integrated Curriculum
Coordinates many subject areas and utilizes a holistic approach to learning
Makes it possible for teachers to include skill development activities in context, not isolation
Subject areas cut across learning activities and reinforce concepts in meaningful ways as children engage in their work and play
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

20. Effective Curriculum: Advantages of an Integrated Curriculum
Reflects the natural way children develop at their own rate and not in all areas of growth at the same time
Allows for a wide range of abilities within a classroom age range of one year, as well as within a mixed-age group
Accommodates individualization as children meet a variety of materials and experiences at their own unique developmental levels
Maximizes the effect of rates of learning, different styles of learning, and multiple intelligences
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

21. Effective Curriculum: Advantages of an Integrated Curriculum
Provides for learning to take place within the context of meaningful activities
Requires large blocks of time so learning can be more in-depth
Promotes self-motivation and extension of learning
Blends hands-on learning with skill acquisition
Lends itself to both a theme and project approach to curriculum planning

22. Effective Curriculum: Emergent Curriculum
Curriculum that emerges out of the children’s experiences and interests
Emphasis is on children’s interests, their involvement in their learning, and their ability to make constructive choices
Teachers set up materials and equipment for a few activities each day that will capture children’s interest, watch and evaluate what the children do, and support and extend what the children make of their experiences
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

23. Effective Curriculum: Emergent Curriculum (cont.)
Taking cues from children
Noting what they play with, what they avoid, and what they change
In order to be a meaningful learning experience, the curriculum should come out of the daily life in the classroom
Children are encouraged to use whatever style of learning is most natural to them
A materials-rich environment where play is valued forms the foundation for the curriculum
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

24. Effective Curriculum: Emergent Curriculum (cont.)
Collaboration and mutual learning
Interaction between teachers and children, who both offer suggestions and ideas
Accent is on mutual learning for both children and adults
To be successful, teachers must listen and observe carefully as children play and generate new ideas, and then respond to what they hear and see that the children have learned
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

25. Effective Curriculum: Emergent Curriculum (cont.)
Sources for Curriculum Ideas
Children
Teacher’s and parents’ interests and skills
Developmental tasks of the age group
The physical and natural environment, as well as people and things
Curriculum resource books
Family and cultural influences
Serendipity, or the unexpected
Daily issues of living together, problem solving, conflict resolution, routines
Values expressed by the school philosophy, the families, and the community
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.