Assignment 3.1 - Designing a Preschool Program This essay should be 1000-1250 wo
ID: 3488570 • Letter: A
Question
Assignment 3.1 - Designing a Preschool Program
This essay should be 1000-1250 words long. You must cover everything listed below in order to obtain a high mark.
Writing and citations should be in APA format.
Note: For all written assignments, only the material assigned in the course should be cited.
A HINT REGARDING WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS (the following will perhaps save you from having a written assignment returned to you for further work): You will note that most of the written assignments in this course ask you to reflect on your own developmental experience and write an autobiographical analysis of that period in your life.
Design a preschool program for children of one of the following age ranges:
birth to eighteen months
eighteen to thirty six months
ages three to five years
By...
Tell the age group for which you are designing the preschool.
Tell what kind of space you would provide, what types of toys or other objects you would use, what types of assistance you would provide, etc. Tie each facet (social, emotional, physical, and intellectual) of your preschool environment to the theories you have studied during this module.
You must explain some of the different facets of how each relate to Vygotsky's, Piaget's, and/or other theories of development.
General Instructions for Written Assignments
Your written assignment is intended to test your understanding of important concepts and discover how to sharpen your intellectual skills of analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and application. The intent of the written assignment is to provide an opportunity to more fully describe, explain, and analyze the books and other sources. When you submit your written assignment, you may want to submit it as an .RTF file attachment, as these usually retain your formatting.
The Course Information page "Research Tips for Students" has resources that can help you successfully complete written assignments.
Preschool teacher Cheryl Schmidt, right, reads Mouse Paint to her preschool children at Bellwood Discovery School in Murfreesboro, Tenn.. Bellwood Discovery School is one of the first schools in
Tennessee to receive a state grant to expand their preschool program.
Explanation / Answer
Schools have always played an important role in a child’s life. Schools help children in many ways and various aspects of their life. This educational institution has the ability to shape their lives, so there should be various programs for them so that they could utilize their full potential to learn certain things appropriate to their ages.
The child enters the Pre-operational stage of the development at the age of 2 years and goes up to 7 years, which is one of the stages of cognitive development (Piaget, 1936).
This can be an appropriate age where Preschool Program can be introduced and used effectively with the students.
The children have the advances in their mental representations by this age as they start developing the concept of language. Piaget has acknowledged language to be the most flexible and powerful source of cognitive development, which Vygotsky has also confirmed.
During the preschool years, children indulge in make-believe play which is an excellent example of the development of representation in the early childhood. Piaget has demonstrated that by this pretention, children practice and strengthen newly acquired representational schemes.
The children flexibly understand that one object can flexibly take different fictional identities in different plays, for example: A yellow stick can be a toothbrush in one game and carrot in another.
The children can be provides with certain toys like this which they can use in multiple plays differently which can help them in contributing to children’s cognitive and social skills. According to Creasey, Jarvis & Berk, 1998) these kind of plays including the puzzles, children’s interaction lasts longer, show more involvement, draw lore children into the activity and children tend to be more interactive. This helps in the overall development of the child which includes social, emotional, physical and intellectual development.
Providing the children sufficient space and play materials is very important aspect of the preschool program as it helps in allowing various play options and also reducing conflicts.
Encouraging children without controlling it can be another strategy that can be used in the preschool program. Model, guide, and build on young preschoolers’ play themes. Providing open-ended suggestions, and talking with the children about the thoughts, motivations and emotions to play characters. I have a personal experience in using this strategy with the children and it showed that these forms of adult support lead to more elaborate pretending. Refraining from directing the child’s play; excessive adult control destroys the creativity and pleasure of make believe.
Offering a variety of both realistic materials and materials without clear functions: Children use realistic materials- trucks, dolls, tea sets, dress-up clothes and toy scenes (house, farms, garage, airport)- to act out everyday roles in their culture. Materials without clear functions (blocks, cardboard cylinders, and paper bags, sand) inspire fantastic role play
Ensuring that children have many rich real world experiences to inspire positive fantasy play: Opportunities to participate in real-world activities with adults and to observe adult roles in the community provide children with rich social knowledge to integrate into make-believe. Restricting television viewing, especially violent content, limits the degree to which violent themes and aggressive behaviour become part of children’s play.
Helping children solve social conflicts constructively: Cooperation is very essential for any kind of play, especially in socio-dramatic play, which helps children in solving disagreements constructively and effectively.
Drawing can also help children a lot with their overall development as it gives them a platform to scribble anything whatever they think and whatever comes to their mind. Their scribbles become the first representational forms which gives a meaning to their pictures.
Their counting and mathematical ability becomes a little stronger. With this they apply this skill to conservation of number tasks involving a few items.
Vygotsky concludes that the make-believe play serves as a zone of proximal development, supporting many competencies. This enhances a diverse array of cognitive and social skills. He also viewed that pretending is also rich in private speech- a finding also supports its role in helping children bring action under the control of thought (Krafft & Berk, 1998). Preschoolers who spend more time in engaged in sociodramatic play are better following classroom rules and regulating their emotions and behaviors (Berk, Mann & Ogan, 2006; Lemche et al, 2003). Vygotsky also argued that, like other higher cognitive processes, the elaborate pretending of the preschool years has social origins.
Cooperative learning can also be introduced in this preschool program which is also helpful in the growth and development of the children. It helps the child to learn cooperation, solving conflicts, managing emotions, etc.
Neo-Piagetian theory accepts Piaget’s stages but simultaneously attributes change within each stage and movement from one stage to the next stage, to increases in the efficiency with which children use their limited working-memory capacity. This contributes in the overall development of the child which includes social, emotional, physical and intellectual development.