Vo l u m e 3 6 N u m b e r 1 M a r c h XXXXXXXXXX Play-basedlearningandtheearly childhoodcurriculum Play-based learning in the early childhood curriculum has historically been associated with the...

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Answer To: Vo l u m e 3 6 N u m b e r 1 M a r c h XXXXXXXXXX Play-basedlearningandtheearly...

Robert answered on Dec 20 2021
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Running Head: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION (ESSAY)
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Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood Education
Running Head: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood Education
Name
Institution
Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood Development
(A Comparison between the Articles by Edwards, S. & Cutter-Mackenzie, A. (2011) and Thomas, L., Warren, E. & deVries, E. (2011) on Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood Development)
Introduction
Early childhood is the most crucial and rapid development period in a human life. T
his is based on the fact that from conception period through birth to an age of eight years is the critical period to a child’s healthy and complete cognitive, physical and emotional growth. At around the age of 9 months, infants begin engaging themselves in activities, which requires joint attention and involvement of adults. Their knowledge and perception of the immediate environment depends fully on sense organs. They start developing meaning of words through what is shared by adults in which word meaning acquisition is done via symbols and language. In the pedagogy of early childhood curriculum, learning process is perceived to take place through two parallel processes; play-based and teacher-centred also known as intentional teaching. How these two processes contribute to the learning process in early childhood, development has raised an area of investigation. These two concepts have been examined in recent research and findings suggest that play-based learning and intentional teaching are framed according to the combination of different types of play discussed in this essay. These types of play support knowledge context acquisition linked to environmental education. This essay explores on play-based learning, intentional learning and the environment by exploring on two articles in which the first one talks about environmentalising early childhood education curriculum through pedagogies of play and the second talks about play-based learning and intentional teaching in early childhood development. From two articles, it is evident that there is a relationship between play, intentional learning and the environment.
Article by Edwards, S. & Cutter-Mackenzie, A. (2011)
In this article, the authors talk about the concept of child-centred play as a tool to the development of early childhood curriculum and how the concept has been criticized as being insufficient pedagogical approach for enhancing and promoting knowledge development in children. In addition to this critic is the emerging importance of the environment in early childhood development. The article stresses on the importance of environment as an aspect that enables children acquire and experience various environmental aspects that surrounds them. The findings in this article report on how play-based learning activities are promoted by different types of play, which form pedagogical platform for supporting the learning process for children in early childhood learning process. The article argues that environment forms a vital role in play-based learning process in children (Edwards & Cutter-Mackenzie, 2011).
Play-based Learning and the Early Childhood Curriculum
Play is a self-chosen activity undertaken by a child. In this process, there are no prescriptions given by a parent or a teacher. Play contributes to the development of a child’s brain. The neural pathways in a child are developed through exploration, problem solving, thinking and language expression that take place during play process. Researches undertaken on child-centred play reveal the significance of teacher interaction during play activities of children. Theories in the field of child development make three suggestions, which include, play-based learning process in children need to culminate existing cultural competencies, the role of adult educators need to be actively included in children play activities. Reason being, adult educators play a major role in inculcating specific content-based and conceptual ideas. Finally, the importance and role of teacher planning initiative in children’s play, this promotes acquisition of context knowledge. It can therefore be concluded that play in early childhood development represents a transition from child –centred learning process to dynamic relationships that exists between teachers, children, who are learners and context. These relationships extend beyond chid-centred to teacher-centred learning processes (Edwards & Cutter-Mackenzie, 2011).
In the article, the authors argue that play-based learning in the curriculum of early childhood development has a direct linkage with child-centred pedagogy since time in history. The articles says that although the idea of child-centeredness may appear self-explanatory in nature, investigations regarding the term child-centeredness is used in the field of early childhood development has brought about 40 different interpretations on in the context of early learning. Some of the interpretation given in the article include, child’s participation in the decision-making process related to their learning process, reference based on children’s interests, emphasis on individual development of a child in regards to specific development in early childhood development. These interpretations are articulated to the philosophical works of Dewey and Froebel and to developmental discourse. The works of these philosophers have suggested that play-based learning promotes curriculum system in the learning process of children basing on the notion that a child and his or her experience is a central factor in all learning processes (Edwards & Cutter-Mackenzie, 2011).
It is evident that early childhood curriculum are achieved through child-centred approaches. However, there are discussion that have raised alarms regarding the cultural, economic and social assumptions that are associated with the function of...
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