Preschool Educational Philosophies

Preschool Programs and Models

• Preschool programs reflect different educational philosophies, each with distinct approaches to learning and development.
• These philosophies impact the child's role, learning process, and the teacher's role in the classroom.
• Curriculum models vary in their emphasis, activities, and environmental features.

Distinctive Features of Educational Ideologies

• Romanticism:

  • Views the child as a plant, with the teacher as a gardener.
  • Emphasizes the child's natural development and exploration.
  • Learning comes from nurturing the environment to support a child's blooming.
  • Curriculum promotes a child's freedom to explore.
  • Proponents include Freud, Montessori, Froebel, and Rousseau.

• Cultural-Transmission:

  • Sees the child as a machine, requiring passive learning.
  • Favors a teacher as a drill-master, often using stimulus-response principles.
  • Relies heavily on rewards and punishments, repetition, and correct responses.
  • Emphasizes conformity and uniformity, focusing less on individual development.
  • Proponents include Pavlov, Skinner, Thorndike, Watson, and Locke.

• Progressivism:

  • Views the child as a philosopher or scientist, actively involved in learning and developing their own understanding.
  • Emphasizes the teacher's role as a facilitator, helping the child interact with the environment.
  • Learning develops from the child's interaction with the environment.
  • Focuses on cognitive and developmental aspects of learning.
  • Advocates for child-centered learning, through exploration, interaction, and observation.
  • Proponents include Dewey and Piaget.

High Scope: Cognitively Oriented Model

• Established in 1970 by David P. Weikart, this model focuses on the cognitive development of a child.
• The model emphasizes a planned curriculum and the importance of the learning environment to promote learning.
• The curriculum promotes a "plan-do-review" process and emphasizes active learning, within a small-group setting.
• This model also actively attempts to integrate children with special needs.
• Children learn from interacting with their environment, with materials and people.
• Portfolio assessment is valued, including initiative, creativity, social interaction, and engagement with the art, music, movement, language and literacy, logic and mathematics.

Bank Street: Developmental Interaction Model

• Founded by Lucy Sprague Mitchell in 1916, it emphasizes a play-based approach to learning.
• Learning takes place through active learning centers.
• The curriculum is deeply rooted in social studies.

The Schools of Reggio Emilia

• Separate programs are available for infants through 6-year-olds.
• The curriculum is integrated and emergent.
• The curriculum includes a project-based approach where art is the primary medium.
• The classroom environments are rich with aesthetically-vibrant materials.
• A strong sense of community is promoted, with the entire community involved including families and fostering mutual support.
• The approach emphasizes the child's role as protagonist, collaborator, communicator, emphasizing their active participation in the learning process.

Waldorf Schools

• Founded by Rudolf Steiner in 1919, they emphasize developing the whole child through the "head, heart, and hands."
• Waldorf schools prioritize play-based learning.
• Curriculum de-emphasizes academics in early schooling.
• They also utilize educational looping where a teacher stays with the same group of students through multiple years.
• The curriculum includes rhythm, elements based on life and nature cycles, and natural materials.
• Materials used are generally natural like wood, cotton, and wool.
• The classroom environments are tailored to nourish the senses.
• Emphasis on practical life activities like cooking, baking, cleaning, sewing, gardening provide hands-on learning experiences.

Montessori Schools

• Focuses on adapting learning to an individual's pace and need, rather than molding the child.
• Curriculum insists on freedom for selecting materials and choosing activities.
• Training of the senses and engagement with practical life issues are also key components.
• Not necessarily play-based; practical life area instead of fantasy is prioritized.
• Materials are often self-correcting, with tactile appeal.
• A sequential learning approach ensures children work at their own pace.
• Child-sized environments are carefully designed.

Explore various preschool programs and the educational philosophies that shape them. This quiz covers distinct approaches such as Romanticism and Cultural-Transmission, highlighting their impact on learning and teaching roles in early childhood education.