Early childhood education concepts and practice

Education - Early Childhood

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: SUMMIT PRESENTATIONS

Early Childhood Physical Development and Day Care Facility Safety:

Safety in day care facilities is paramount in importance and encompasses numerous considerations. In that regard, guaranteeing the physical safety of children is one of the most significant requirements in the child care environment. To a large extent, the factors that must be accounted for to ensure the physical safety of children relates to the timeline of physical development in infants and young children.

It is well-known, for example, that very young infants lack any fear of falling because they do not perceive depth and height in a manner that triggers any self- protective mechanism, such as avoiding the edges of elevated surfaces. This is a direct function of fetal brain development and the delayed development of cognitive abilities associated with them (Gerrig & Zimbardo 2005). The obvious implications for ensuring infant safety in this area is that all elevated surfaces must include appropriate guard rails and other similar mechanical devices to protect infants from their lack of fear of falling.

By toddlerhood, fear of heights and of falling is reflexive; but their increased mobility presents potential danger of another type. Toddlers lack the necessary vestibular feedback efficiency that enables adults to anticipate and adjust for loss of balance (Poole, et al. 2007). As a result, they often lose their footing suddenly, whether by virtue of ambulating too fast for their physical ability or because they change direction without transferring their weight in the manner that adults do without conscious thought countless times every day.

The implications of this comparative lack of balance and ambulatory stability in toddlers is that the day care facility must be free of sharp corners and any other types of protrusions capable of inflicting injury in conjunction with accidental bumps and falls.

The most practical methods of implementing this safety measure include selecting furniture and fixtures with rounded edges and applying foam padding to any exposed edges or corners. Likewise, it is possible to reduce the chances of injuries from falls by positioning furniture and equipment away from the most traveled paths used by toddlers most regularly. By careful positioning of potentially dangerous surfaces away from open areas, it is possible to reduce the chance for injury simply by minimizing the opportunity to build up momentum anywhere in the vicinity of exposed corners and edges. In the post-toddler years, potential dangers posed by accidents and falls remain high, even though the most common mechanism of their occurrence changes.

Specifically, older children between ages 4 and 8 are no longer at risk from spontaneous loss of balance, but the risks associated with their high energy level and their ability to ambulate with considerable speed presents new dangers that are equally important to mitigate through careful environmental design. Clear glass is a particularly important concern, because highly energetic children are prone to running into things, especially when distracted by environmental stimuli.

Finally, the increasing strength and coordination associated with the middle childhood years corresponds to increasing risks from falls and other mishaps. This is especially important because relative bone strength and density both lag behind the growing child's ability to generate forces capable of producing significant injury (Poole, et al. 2007). For that reason, appropriately padded floors and outdoor play areas is required to minimize the incidence and magnitude of injuries from falls occurring as a result of climbing and roughhousing where hard indoor surfaces or concrete in outdoor areas would otherwise present a danger of contusions or broken bones.

Strategies for Developing Community Partnerships to Benefit Children:

Community partnerships can be a very valuable source of resources used to benefit children and children's programming. In many cases, effective cultivation of potential resources available in the community requires little more than appropriate communications initiatives directed at local business and merchants, particularly those whose products and services relate to the needs of children and families. Business proprietors in the community are usually well aware of the importance of establishing good will and a positive rapport within their local communities. Therefore, they are already inclined to collaborating with programs for the benefit of children once they become aware of any such need.

Community partnerships with local business proprietors almost always provide a mutual benefit, because they facilitate name recognition, such as in the ubiquitous form of sponsorships printed on sports uniforms. Equally important from the perspective of the businesses is the fact that each child represents an extended family who are more likely to patronize any business with whom they are already acquainted through community sponsorship programs. This alone is often sufficient to justify the expenses associated with sponsoring child programs from the view of local business proprietors. Other forms of viable community partnerships include opportunities provided by municipal agencies such as the local police athletic leagues. More often than not, community relations interests of local law enforcement already emphasize community initiatives that relate to public and personal safety concerns. Typical opportunities in this realm include child safety seat day consisting of a voluntary checkpoint where trained safety officials and police officers check the physical integrity and the installation of child safety seats. This is one benefit to children that is particularly important in light of evidence commonly cited that many child safety seats are actually incapable of performing their safety functions by virtue of improper installation or usage.

More generally, the opportunity to form partnerships with local law enforcement provides the opportunity to present crucial child safety information on the dangers of abductions and other forms of child abuse perpetrated by adults against children in an environment that many children enjoy. Both anecdotal evidence as well as empirical studies (Bimonte 2005) suggest that attentiveness and informational recall are dramatically enhanced by presentation formats that are perceived by children as enjoyable rather than academic in nature. In this regard, community partnerships intended to benefit children through association with local law enforcement include a wide range of concerns. Because children admire police officers so much, that environment is particularly valuable opportunity to educate children of all ages to trust police authorities, respect the laws of society, and to understand the nature of threats to their welfare.

Generally, the most important effort required to initiate these kinds of community partnerships is that necessary to publicize their need among appropriate candidates within the local business community and municipal agencies. Ordinarily, the network represented by contacts available to parents and educators is sufficient to promote interest in participation in programs that are beneficial to children in the community.

Promoting the Development of Moral Thought in Children:

One of the most important functions of early socialization is the process of instilling fundamental moral values and a socially conscious perspective that emphasizes mutual consideration and respect of other people. According to experts in developmental psychology (Gerrig & Zimbardo 2005), children are already capable of understanding concepts like fairness, compassion, and social responsibility long before they become able to articulate those ideas verbally.

Likewise, Vygotsky (1978) suggests that the earlier children begin to process abstract moral concepts the more likely they are to incorporate them in a tangible way into their outward behavior. In many ways, the preschool educational format provides substantial opportunity to teach the value of fairness to others, mutual consideration for the rights and sensibilities of classmates, and the principles underlying general concepts of socially appropriate moral behavior in society.

The preschool environment already presents myriad situations where children must wait their turn or share resources with their classmates. While it is certainly possible for teachers to achieve compliance strictly through instructions, it is far preferable to engage students in discussions about the bases of fairness and responsibility during those opportunities for learning. One of the simplest methods of incorporating lessons of this nature might make use of the responsibility to keep the preschool classroom clean in conjunction with explanations about the cleaning staff and the fact that their jobs can be made harder or easier by the cooperation of children with respect to picking up after themselves. More often than not, preschool teachers already require active participation on the part of children in this regard. Therefore, the suggestion relates more to taking advantage of the opportunity for its potential value as a learning tool instead of requiring cooperation in the short-term to accomplish specific tasks without a moral lesson.

Actually, both the preschool environment and the primary school grades present tremendous opportunities to develop moral lessons from ordinary procedures without the need for additional expenditures or resources specifically designed for that purpose. For another example, many classrooms already have small pets such as reptile terrariums or fish tanks. These represent viable bases for specific lessons intended to promote a sensitivity to animals, which, according to many psychologists, is very closely related to the appropriate development of empathy for human beings as well (Byerly 2001). Otherwise, only children already inclined toward sensitivity for animals benefit from their inclusion in the educational environment while students not so inclined either ignore the classroom mascots, or even harm them if given the opportunity to do so. Conversely, where the exhibit is actively incorporated into a lesson on the moral basis for sensitivity to animals, the existing educational environment contributes to the formation of a moral conscience even where direction of that kind is lacking at home.

In very much the same way, the preschool and primary grade school environment is conducive to teaching other important moral values that are often postponed until much later, despite the fact that early introduction to those concepts is much more likely to result in their absorption than later introduction. Racism, sexism, and other forms of bias that are no longer condoned in American society are also capable of being addressed in the preschool years so that those important lessons take root before contradictory messages are received from the external environment.

Informal Assessment of Social and Emotional Well-being in Children:

All too often, educators and other caregivers perform their professional responsibilities in a vacuum, concentrating strictly on their narrow tasks of teaching the alphabet or providing meals at the appropriate time. Both the classroom setting and the day care environment actually present numerous opportunities to assess the social development and emotional well-being of children, albeit in a very informal capacity.

The everyday interactions between preschool and grade school students contains a wealth of information into the social adjustment and emotional development of children without any formal diagnostic psychological testing whatsoever. Excessive shyness and reluctance to participate in classroom (or recreational) activities or to contribute to classroom discussions may suggest the need for formal assessment. In fact, the inclusion of a rich classroom environment is doubly useful, because in addition to promoting attentiveness and subject matter retention (Bimonte 2005), it further highlights the difference between children whose enthusiasm and classroom involvement falls within the normal ranges expected for their age group and those whose lack of involvement suggests possible issues of concern (Cookson 2005).

Similarly, while instances of aggression toward others is often dealt with in the context of isolated incidents, they may also provide the basis for concern even without formal assessment of any kind. It is well established that physical aggression or outright violence perpetrated by children often indicates that they have been exposed to violence in the home or to significant other frustrations for which they have no other outlet (Gerrig & Zimbardo 2005). While professional assessment and expertise is required to explore any such concerns in depth, the preschool educator still occupies a unique position from which preliminary evidence of this nature is readily apparent in the ordinary classroom environment.

Excessive competitiveness is also ignored more often than it is appreciated as a possible indication that a child is overcompensating for pressures or inadequacies in the home environment. Educators who observe acute competitiveness that exceeds what seems appropriate for age and circumstances may initiate informal assessments by engaging the child in conversation about "winning" versus "participating."

Similarly, teasing of the type traditionally considered "normal" in the educational environment is now know to be associated with long-lasting consequences to its victims.

Behavior of this type that actually borders on bullying very often indicates social and developmental issues that will require formal intervention at some point (Wright 2004).

As in the case of other behavioral and developmental issues, informal assessment provides the opportunity for earlier intervention with beneficial results more readily achievable earlier rather than later.

In general, the tendency of educators to ignore the potential diagnostic value of observable childhood behavior probably relates to two factors: (1) because they are extremely task-oriented, they tend to respond in a microcosmic instead of macrocosmic way to instances of behavioral abnormalities; and (2) because they lack specific training in child psychology, they may be reluctant to overstep the bounds of their responsibilities into this area. However, the ordinary preschool and grade school environment is far too replete with valuable information and potential insight into the comparative social development and emotional state of children not to encourage educators to make fuller use of their vantage point for the purposes of initiating strictly informal assessments..

Social Influences and Early Childhood Development:

Human social culture differs so much from society to society that it is virtually impossible to assess the meaning or significance of human conduct without reference to the external social environment. Behaviors that are tolerated, condoned, or encouraged in some cultures are discouraged, even punished, in others. Simple examples that pertain to childhood include eating with one's hands, which is perfectly appropriate in certain societies but not in Western culture, where children are expected to eat with utensils, especially by the time they are of age to enter the educational system.