Early Childhood Education (ECE) Explained

• Early Childhood Education (ECE) originated during the European Enlightenment

Early Childhood

• Defined as the period from birth until 8 years old
• The brain exhibits remarkable growth during this time
• Children are highly susceptible to environmental influences, and those they feel connected to

Early Childhood Education

• Serves as preparation for primary education
• It is also known as nursery education
• Extends from kindergarten to grade 3
• Aims to develop skills and foundational concepts in preparation for later life, it addresses social, emotional, cognitive, and physical needs
• Strives to develop compassionate, capable, and responsible individuals
• Enables students to explore their interests and build relationships, it is also the beginning of independence
• The main goal is general child development
• Qualities of an ECE educator include, patience, creativity, strong communication skills with kids, empathy, is outgoing, and enthusiastic

Tabula Rasa

• Meaning children are a clean slate

Developmental Milestones

• Physical or behavioral indicators of growth or maturation in infants and children

Manipulative Materials

• Concrete objects for students to actively explore the idea in a hands-on way
• Examples, blocks, shapes, spinners, or folded paper

Republic Act (RA) 10157 - "The Kindergarten Education Act"

• Requires all children to have access to mandatory kindergarten education that effectively promotes physical, social, intellectual, emotional, skills, and values formation

Republic Act 8980: Early Childhood Care and Development Act

• Addresses funds for a comprehensive policy and national system for Early Childhood Care and Development

Republic Act 10410 “Early Years Act (EYA) of 2013

• Acknowledges that the period from zero (0) to eight (8) years is the first crucial stage of educational development

Republic Act (RA) 9155

• Relates to the governance of Basic Education Act of 2001

• Provides overall framework for principal empowerment by strengthening principal and leadership goals, and local school based management within the context of transparency and local accountability

• Principles of ECE include respect for the child, absorbent mind, sensitive periods, prepared environment, and auto education

Scope of ECE

Social Development

• Emphasizes instilling attitudes/values of equality, peace, and collaboration
• Importance of "Please" and "Thank you"
• “The cradle to social cohesion”

Emotional Development

• Self confidence, self regulatory skills of emotions, self-expression, and self respect

Physical Development

• Fine motor skills such as biking and running
• An understanding of healthy skills like exercise, hand washing, and eating
• Motor control and independence

Intellectual and Academic Development

• Intellectual curiosity, observing, wondering, questioning and discovery
• Self directed learning

Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE)

• Students begin education through the language they understand best
• Building a strong foundation before adding additional languages

Five Primary Educational Learning Theories

• Behaviorism
• Cognitive
• Constructivism
• Humanism
• Connectivism

Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP)

• Involves a teacher nurturing a child's social, emotional, physical, and cognitive well being
• Involves strength-based approach and play-based approaches

Golden Years for Children (0 - 5 years old)

• The critical period for emotional, social, and spiritual growth
• Greater parental attention is required

People to Remember

Plato

• In search of truth, education is transformation
• Advocated for Prenatal/Infant Care, Storytelling, Play, Miniature Tools, Physical Education, and 3rs and Music

Aristotle

• Believed education should be the same everywhere

Martin Luther

• Protestant reformer that believed teaching reading to children is important
• Music and physical education should be included in the curriculum
• The roots of childhood education can be traced back to the early 1500s
• Advocated education should be universal
• Children should learn to read independently
• Schools to teach children to read universal compulsory education.

John Amos Comenius

• "Play" is the natural medium for children's learning
• Emphasized that education should occur through senses
• Early years are crucial for shaping character
• Authored Orbis Pictus (The World Illustrated), and Didactica Magna (The Whole Art of Teaching)

Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel

• Founded a school called "kindergarten" in 1837
• Strongly believed children learn through play
• Emphasized observation
• Wrote "Education of Man"
• Formalized the early childhood setting and founded the first Kindergarten
• Kindergarten - "Garden of Children'

Jean Jacques Rousseau

• Father of Early Childhood Education
• Childrens nature unfolds according to an innate timetable
• Emphasized a flexible environment to meet the needs of children
• Believed children are inherently good
• Childhood education should be child centered

Maria Montessori

• First female doctor in Italy
• Believed children are a source of knowledge, with the educator as a social engineer
• Suggested that learning environments are just as important as learning itself
• Founded the Montessori method of education
• Believed children learn best through self-directed activity within a prepared environment with self-correcting materials

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi

• Father of Pedaogy
• Education through activity and sensory objects
• Use of real objects when teaching
• Integrated the curriculum that developed the whole child

John Dewey

• Believed education should focus on the students interest rather than the subject matter
• Classroom should foster social consciousness and be democratically run

Elizabeth Peabody

• Emphasized moral and religious aspects of education

William Torrey Harris

• Key figures*

Theory of Multiple Intelligences (Howard Gardner)

• Proposes individuals process information in diverse ways, highlighting unique ways of learning and understanding

Visual-Spatial Intelligence

• People who are good at visualizing things
• They are often good with directions, maps, charts, videos, and pictures
• Think in images and pictures, and see things in one mind

Linguistic-Verbal Intelligence

• People who can use their words well, both in writing and speaking
• Typically very good at writing stories, memorizing information, and reading
• Learning through spoken and written words, reading, listening, speaking, and writing

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

• People who are good at reasoning, recognizing patterns, and logically analyzing patterns
• Tend to think conceptually about numbers, relationships, and patterns
• Quantifying things, making hypotheses, and proving them

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

• Good at body movement, performing actions, and physical control
• Tend to have good hand-eye coordination and dexterity

Musical Intelligence

• Good at thinking in patterns, rhythms, and sounds
• Have a strong appreciation for music and are often good at musical composition and performance
• Learning through songs, patterns, rhythms, instruments, and musical expression

Interpersonal Intelligence

• Good at understanding and interacting with other people
• Skilled at assessing the emotions, motivations, desires, and intentions of those around them
• Sensing peoples feelings and motives.

Intrapersonal Intelligence

• Good at being aware of their emotional states, feelings, and motivations
• Tend to enjoy self-reflection and analysis, including daydreaming, exploring relationships with others, and assessing their strength
• Learning through feelings, values, and attitudes: understand other people
• Understanding yourself, what you feel, and what you want

Naturalistic Intelligence

• More in tune with nature, and are often interested in nurturing, exploring, exploring the environment, and learning about other species
• Learning through classification, categories, and hierarchies: ability to pick up on subtle differences

Behaviorism (B.F. Skinner)

• Asserts that all stimuli elicit responses based on the environment, and individuals are positive and negative reinforcement

Theorist Jean Piaget

• Constructivism indicates humans construct their knowledge

Socio Constructivism (Ley vygotsky)

• characterized by learning as a process where social interaction is key to obtaining knowledge

Meaningful Learning David Ausbel

• Proposes new knowledge relates to what one already knows through the process of connecting the two concepts

Learning by Discovery (Jerome Bruner)

• Effective learning results from facing problems to solve and transfer

Social Learning (Albert Bandura)

• Occurs as a consequence of mental processes and relationships with the environment

John Watson

• Behaviorism
• Known for experiment of Albert Watson and Pavlov classical conditioning
• Stimulus Generalzation
• Extinction
• Spontaneous Recovery
• Discrimination
• Higher order conditioning

Reinforcement Schedule

• Fixed interval is every 10 mins
• Variable internal is using different internals
• Fixed ration is 5 times
• Variable Ration different ratios

Theories

• Associative learning - Edwards Throndike
• Law of exercise - Drills and practices & Law of readiness - Ready & prepared & Law of Effect - End results
• Insight learning - Wolfgang kohler
• Trial and Error & Ape/Sultan - chimpanze.

David Ausubels Meaningful Learning Theory (Subsumption Theory)

• Advance Organizer” “Knowledge is hierarchically organized

Ways to Represent Knowledge

• Enactive, which is active based
• Iconic, which is Images or symbol
• Symbolic, which is Verbal or words

Intellience Theory, WICS Model by Robert Sternberg

• Memory, Analytic, Creative, and Practical Skills

Skinner

• Learning occurs within the social context- for effective modeling

Gestalt Theory

Gestalt Principles:

• Law of Proximity, Law of Similarity, Law of Closure.
• Law of Good Communication, Law of Good Pragnanz,
• Law of Figure/Ground. Pay attention to the foreground first.

B.F Skinner

• Reinforcement schedule ( variable ratio
• Cognitive development and sociocultural theory in the 1960,

Jeans cognitive development theory

• Everything we know and understand is filtered through our current frame of reference

constructivism approach

Language development

• Scaffolding occurs in process where instructor, responds contingently when instructing a novice

Linguistic Unit

• Words communicate, facts or opinions

Pragmatics System

• Enables us to communicate, social skills

turn-taking

• The process of conversations that require practice and recognizing non verbal queues

Speech development

• The use of language over the course of growth and is influenced by the environment
• Sounds or syllables

Articulation

• Production of words and the capacity is influenced by genetic and the environment.

syntactic system

• How words relate to construct sentences and how to apply meaning during communication
• Rapid increase of syntactic knowledge

Word meaning to baby

• Focus on each and every one relationship between words