6.12.2008
Peer Review #1
In Rousseau's (1712-1778) educational thoughts and writings he began to recognize the child as important . He saw the child as one who engages his environment through play. How is this view of the child similar to our own constructivist view of today? Was this the beginnings of "best practice" in early childhood education? Discuss. Post reply to comment box. My answer is comment one.
The Child
2 comments:
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (2007), play is essential to children for several reasons. First, play engages children and parents creating closeness and emotional security. Second, play contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional domains of development.
Play is such an important part of a child’s development it has been recognized as the right of every child by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Play presents the child with many opportunities to engage the imagination and interact with peers and adults. In the constructivist view children build a foundation of knowledge from their interactions within the physical and social world of friends, family, and others.
Piaget (1962) suggested play begins with the reflexes of sucking in the sensorimotor stage. Later a child may accidently cause a toy to move or bounce and develops an understanding of cause and effect. Thus, play develops for the pleasure it brings as the child assimilates the world around him. Piaget called this “ludic symbolism” meaning without purpose and often play is viewed this way by society which serves to further lower the value of play.
Since our educational system is based on measuring outcomes it is difficult to measure the worth of play when viewed as having no purpose. Free play has become an important part of early childhood programs, and various rating scales and accreditation methods require that a "substantial portion" of the day be used for free play. "Free play involves child choice from a range of activities, and is characterized by a lack of instruction or structure. "(Keefer, 2005, p.107).
As educators, parents and policymakers come to understand play in a child’s development the role of play in childhood will shape future practices and pedagogic reform in the early childhood environments.
Although Rousseau initially discounted education and thought it an evil device of society, he later envisioned the right kind of education may better society. He saw education as the tool to draw out the special nature of childhood and his work became the beginnings of child study.
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2007). The importance of play in promoting healthy child development and maintaining strong parent-child bonds.
Keefer, L. R. (2005). Defiant behavior in two- and three-year-olds: A vygotskian approach. Early Childhood Education Journal, 33(2), 105-111.
Piaget, J. (1962). Play, Dreams and Imitation in Childhood. New York: Norton.
It does seem to share many of the attributes of a child centered approach. Rousseau stated the purpose of education was to identify and draw out the special nature of childhood (p. 52) and that emphasis was on learning about children rather than controlling them. He did see the child constructing his own knowledge through interaction with nature and requiring little or no in-put from the adult. I wonder if the adult/teacher did any scaffolding of learning or let the child work out the problems he encountered.
Jan
Post a Comment