Play-Based Pedagogy - Case Study Example

PLAY BASED PEDAGOGY Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Play based pedagogy In many child hood development and learning programs that exist all over the world the aspect of children play is very evident. The most common of these scenarios is provisions for play time breaks during learning time and for the preschool group play is directly incorporated into the learning process. The most reasonable ideas behind using play as the means of learning is to provide the children with purpose. Most young children if directly driven into technical learning will not understand the purpose but if the learning is incorporated into the game such that, the use of the knowledge taught helps the child accomplish the play task then it makes sense for the little ones. (Early childhood schools, 2008) To achieve this goal most government have created specialised class rooms and child care centres where play is possible. However a question of what difference would result if the teacher was to go to the children and not the other way round. This would be interesting because the children will be learning without having to feel the change that comes with the start of education. Most children in the first grade do not like the school and prefer staying home this in overall affects their performance. If the teacher was to visit the children at home or their play areas then it would be a completely different scenario. Study have shown that play is the like the window to child for the rest of the world. The united nations recognise play as a child right. (Early childhood schools, 2008). Rationale With the current global change in the social structure the issue of early childhood education should be protected. Most people have migrated to urban centres in search for jobs and better facilities. When these people final settle down to have families they have very limited space and time for their children mostly because both parents have work. The children are catered for by the grand parents or taken to care centres. In these institutions they have been structured recreational and educational activities the children have very little chance of having self-initiated and open-ended play. (Tandy, C., 1999) To create a solution for such issues many educational frame works have been developed to ensure child play is incorporated in learning activities. One such frame work is the early childhood schools which cater for children from birth to eight years of age. The systems emphasises on quality investment in childhood education because it during this period that brain development is very rapid. As the foundation of learning brain development should be well nurtured in a good environment, avoid severe stress which can cause irreversible brain damage and identification of brain problems early for rectifying. To enable this, the frame work has designed schools as the hubs for integrated learning centres. From my point of view the frame work should also consider the fact of sending the teachers to the students, which would provide a more familiar learning environment for the children. (Early childhood schools, 2008) Goals Most goals have already been tackled by the early childhood schools option. To refine the frame work it is a good idea to have some teachers visiting the children in their localities. These will be expected to; Maintain constant learning environment for the children Provide for self-initiated and open-ended activities Creating a continuous playing mood while learning ( for children learning is not the objective of playing but they learn as they play) Fostering supportive play The above mentioned goals are observed in almost all scenarios where the children play at will. The children just do what they like without direct control but rather supportive one. An observation was made from the local care centre of how children interact with others and environment. Observations scenario The four children are in the age bracket of four to six years, and they are playing in an open field outside the house that has a perimeter wall for security reasons. The interior is design to details replicating a natural external environment. The landscape gives a feeling of a real environment giving the children opportunity for the multisensory activities. There are blocks, different toys, sand, swings, and slides among others. My observation will revolve around Noorah. Noorah is five years old and from a brief description from her parents and her sister, she is very friendly and interactive. When I walk in Noorah is sitting next to many pieces of what I believe is dismantled car and it road track. She has already assembled the upper part but she seems to have a problem with the engine and the tyres. After struggling with the bits and pieces she seems frustrated but still she tries. Finally she decides to call her friend Omar who was playing with a dinosaur to help. Omar readily accepts to help and the two sits around the train. Omar is quite creative and finds out that Noorah had wrongly used some blocks for the completed part. They have to dismantle the compartment and start all over again. Noorah is optimistic and they restart it afresh soon the car was half when both seemed to be stranded. I decided to move closer and find out. Noorah explains to Omar that it is possible that some part is missing and it will not be possible to complete the car without it. Omar agrees but is curious what Noorah would have done with the car and she explained that it would have carried Dora to work. Later on I came to find out that Dora was her doll. Looking disappointed Noorah asks Omar what they should do and Omar being very concerned he replies that they should look for it. The two went through all the stuff lying around but could not find. This had caused attention to the other two children and out of concern they asked them what they were looking for. Noorah explained everything and soon everybody was searching for the piece. After sometime without any luck they decided to ask Sarah. Sarah was the elder sister to Noorah; she came checked around with them to no avail. Then she checked in the bag where the pieces were stored and found it. All the kids were so happy and all proceeded to the car. A few minutes later the car was ready to take Dora to work. All the children at Noorah’s home were so happy that Dora made it to work and Noorah had completed the task. After sometime the children moved back to their previous play activities. Noorah thanked Omar as he headed for his dinosaur. Analysis the complex relationship between children’s play and play-based pedagogy For every learning framework the critical success factors determine the viability of such programs. According to the teacher finding students approach these scenario has portrayed several strong points. Learning As observed the children are highly involved in making the train completion a success. Through the thinking of each one who was involved expands his or her brain capabilities. Initially Noorah thought to herself that she could complete the train set alone, with that perspective in mind she decide to do it. Along the way the task became challenging. At this point through play we see that Noorah learns or has learnt to ask for help from others when she cannot handle a task by herself. This can be described as the child having or being an individual or a group learner. (Giudici, C. & Rinaldi, C., 2001) Although Noorah thinks she is only playing she learns to get help than give or continue suffering alone. On the other hand Omar also learns that it good to help others. Omar could have refused and continue playing but after the success he felt better that he helped and it was good to be part of the success. The same case is replicated to all the other students when they help in search of this missing part. The whole group also realised that when you enquire or ask for help it can help get solutions. If this is followed the children will always ask for assistance in coming days because they have experienced that it can help. (The Early Childhood Learning Knowledge Centre, 2006) Creativity The question we should ask ourselves is why Noorah picked a train of all the other toys. There is high level of creativity behind every game the children play. In the case of Noorah she decided train could be useful for Charlie to get to work. For this is not a game as much it can be compared an adult task with objective. If the train could not have been made then Noorah could have felt bad because that would mean that Charlie would not go to work. There is also a strong message that children understand how systems work like most people take trains to work. This is a good scenario where the children have self initiated and open ended activity which would rare happen with the structured systems. (Charles, J. A., 2003) Development Noorah could not have finished the train if she tried all by herself but at the end she learnt how to do it. The brain development is very fast at her age and if she faces such moderate challenges it strengthens her reasoning capabilities. The train that they made is simple and suitable for her age as her mind develops she will try and fix more complex trains because she believes she can from this experience. This gives her courage to face more challenging tasks with the gift being able to complete the task. In general from the perspective of the care centre there are so many things for her to do and learn every day. As we realised earlier children play for fun and not to learn but they learn as they play. This is the best way for a child to develop. (Bergen, D., 2002) Free and natural All the children had uncontrolled play time session, the children were allowed to do what they like. The whole idea is to observe and let the children make their own personal discoveries. Through experience all human beings learn better than when under instructions. Noorah had personally chosen the train and through her choice the whole class was involved. The care taker was only available under the instruction of the children. (Danby, S. & Baker, C., 1998) Diversity and inclusion The social setting of our communities is changing and with current rate of globalisation all kinds of cultures and religions are intermixed. It is very important that the children from different backgrounds interact at young age. Studies have that children are capable of differentiating skin colour, class and sex. It is very important that the children are taught early enough the difference and differences among races and that they should celebrate them than cause divisions. Among the young children it has been evident of marginalisation, isolation and classism. This should be controlled at young age. The system gives the teacher an opportunity to observe the children behaviour in natural environment. There should be early intervention for cases of division among the children. (Mundine, K. & Giugni, M., 2006) Fair and ethical The children always have very many games they play together, in these games they make rules to be followed by the participants. The fair play goes beyond making sure that the rules are followed but also ensures that respect, friendship and right spirit is maintained. The ethical factors are already formed at young age. How children behave can used as a base for ethical grouping. (Edmiston, B. 2008) General observation made is that the whole group of children in this particular care centre were very friendly and no one time when I was there that I experienced harassment. It is through their friendship and respect that they left whatever they were doing to help Noorah. As the children keep repeating such behaviours they become integral part of them and practice it for the rest of their lives. (Danby, S. & Baker, C., 1998) Linkage to early childhood schools The early childhood schools are based on the ideas of investing on the education of the child when at the age from birth to eight years old. The program of taking teachers to student is meant to get the children learns under the similar environment where they play. Earlier we stated pedagogy is basically incorporating learning activities into play. It can be even much better if the child does not feel interrupted from his or her normal play session to attend school. (Early childhood schools, 2008) Since all the learning can be done in the play centre then it would be advantage to all parties. first the teacher have the chance to set the set the stage for ply through selection of different play materials. such efforts though without the knowledge of the children can help teachers creates a pattern regarding different play behaviours. although this doesnot mean the free play period is interrupted but will be provided for as usual. (Van Hoorn, J., 2007) This location would definitely give the chance to behave normally, under the school activities the children might deviate from their normal behaviour. In cases of such changes then it would be very difficult because the child will be exhibiting dual personality such case can cause misunderstanding among the teacher and the parents. With the teacher being at the care centre then the child does not have the reason to change how he or she behaves. The day care would be at the care of highly trained personnel, the duplicating effort of equipping schools and care centre will no longer be needed; a merge should be formed. The system also offers the best staff-child ratios. When the teachers are send to respective care centres most of which are located within the residential areas. In such cases the less the number of children per teacher the more it will be easy for the integration among the community and the parents. To ensure the program works each of the school board models are to ensure that all the centres where the teachers goes to meet children are maintained at required standards. This gives the adults the opportunities for creation of ideas to facilitate play learn development. (Bruce, T., 2004) References Bergen, D. (2002). The Role of Pretend Play in Children's Cognitive Development, Early Childhood Research & Practice. http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v4n1/bergen.html Bruce, T., (2004). How adults can help creative ideas to be cultivated: In Cultivating creativity in babies, toddlers and young children. Charles, J. A., (2003). Contemporary issues in early childhood. Sturt University Australia Danby, S. & Baker, C. (1998). How to be masculine in the block area, Childhood. 5(12): 151-75. Early childhood schools, (2008). Retrieved on; 5/5/11 from: http://www.det.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/23855/Early_childhood_schools_final_web.pdf Edmiston, B. (2008). Ethics in Play: Forming Ethical Identities in Early Childhood Play. Giudici, C. & Rinaldi, C., (2001). Making learning visible: children as individual and group learners. Mundine, K. & Giugni, M., (2006). Diversity and Difference: Lighting the Spirit of Identity. Canberra: Early Childhood Australia. Tandy, C. (1999). Children’s Diminishing Play Space: a study of inter-generational change in children’s use of their neighbourhoods, Australian Geographical Studies, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8470.00076 The Early Childhood Learning Knowledge Centre, (2006) Let the children play: Nature’s answer to early learning Van Hoorn, J. (2007). Orchestrating children’s play: Setting the stage In Play at the Center of the Curriculum. 4th Ed. Read More