Service Type and Learning Framework
Discuss the type of service you will be setting your project in, including which learning framework is applicable
The type of service that will be established for this assignment includes a child day care learning-based facility in an engaging manner. This learning service will be interactive and fun for the kids in order to ensure that they are deeply involved with their learning experiences and take active participation in their learning process.
The learning framework that will be used is estimated to prove a major breakthrough in the field of early childhood development and will also encourage all the stakeholders to be highly dedicated to the education sector for children. The framework will harness outcomes that will be highly competence based. Apart from laying emphasis on goals, objectives, and aims, the framework will majorly focus on measurable skills, observation skills, values as well as the competencies that are required to be acquired by the children (Amunga, Were & Ashioya, 2020). A process of continuous assessment in order to help the child enjoy their basic right of development whether in a semi formal or formal environment will be ensured.
Amunga, J., Were, D., & Ashioya, I. (2020). The Teacher-Parent Nexus in the Competency Based Curriculum Success Equation in Kenya. International Journal of Educational Administration and Policy Studies, 12(1), 60-76.
Discuss which age group you are creating the learning experience for. Why did you choose this age group? Discuss the cognitive development stage they may be in, and how this is taken into consideration when planning the creative learning experience.
The learning experience will be created for children between the age group of 3 to 6 years. This age group is chosen because it is the most vulnerable yet the peak time for learning in an individual’s life. Several researchers have opined that at this age, the child’s mind is like a blank slate and therefore, must be used effectively to help the child grow and develop holistically (Kalman, 2019). According to Piaget’s four stages, the age group of children in consideration for this study is in the preoperational cognitive stage. In this stage, children grow in terms of their memory and imagination (Cowan, 2016). In this stage, children tend to associate meaning with language and objects. They start thinking and identifying things symbolically. Therefore, this is the most important stage where children can be acquainted with things around the world and also provided with the basic knowledge of life. This requirement will be taken into consideration before creating the creative learning experience.
Age Group and Cognitive Development Stage
Kalman, M. (2019). “It Requires Interest, Time, Patience and Struggle”: Novice Researchers’ Perspectives on and Experiences of the Qualitative Research Journey. Qualitative Research in Education, 8(3), 341-377.
Cowan, N. (2016). Working memory maturation: Can we get at the essence of cognitive growth?. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(2), 239-264.
What creative experiences would be beneficial for you to make available for them and why?
Please include one (1) experience from each of the following: a). music and movement, b). construction, c). visual arts and d). dramatic play.
The learning experiences beneficial for the children of this age group in the music and movement genre can be the recitation of poems combined with engaging and collaborative play. The experience for construction can be through constructive games like lego and clay items. The experience for visual arts can be built up through audio visual short stories. The learning experience in dramatic play can also be through group plays, planning, and collaboration.
Discuss two (2) of the experiences in more detail and explain the resources and infrastructure you would need to implement them?
Visual arts will stimulate the observation skills and memory of the children (Winner et al., 2020). The children will be shown a picture of a flower or fruit and they will be asked to replicate the same flower or fruit exactly as per their names. This will not only help the children to associate words with particular objects around them but will also help them to retain them in their memory by replicating them visually. Additionally, they will also be associated with numbers, alphabets, words, colours, clothes, and many other items. This will be done through children’s films and audio-visual displays of rhymes and engaging content. For this, a display setup like projectors, speakers, and computers will be required. Apart from that, stationery items like pens, pencils, and colours will be provided to the students. The next experience will be that of construction. This will be done with the help of puzzles, Lego, building blocks, clay toys, and other toolkits for the children (Dellheim, 2021). The puzzles will be used in completing a picture of a particular item that they will learn about. Building blocks and other puzzle pieces will be useful for developing counting skills. Clay tools and other toolkits fill assist the children to use their imagination to build up items that they like. These will require toolkits and play kits like clay tools, Lego toys as well as puzzle pieces to help the children interact with each other and gain a playful learning experience. Supervisors and teachers specializing in early childhood education will also be on board for this cause.
Beneficial Creative Experiences
Dellheim, E. J. (2021). Objects of unstructured play: toy design for free play in the 21st century.
How will you support the children to participate?
The children will be provided with all sorts of support in terms of resources and educational requirements. They will be provided with skilled professionals who will engage with them. Apart from that projector settings for film displays, game kits, and tool boxes will also be provided. They will be catered to during their participation in the learning experience keeping in mind their cognitive requirements and development process. Communication and interaction will form the base of the entire experience which will help encourage the children.
How will you support the children to implement ideas through creative expression, active learning, and critical reflection?
The combination of visual arts and construction is a perfect way to support the children to implement ideas through creative expression, active learning, and critical reflection. Visual arts will support the installation of knowledge in the minds of the children through an enjoyable process. Then this knowledge will be implemented in the form of creative expression through the construction experience through toolkits and drawing tools (Heinrich & Jochum, 2018). The children will be encouraged to actively participate and take an upper hand during the learning process. At the end of the sessions, they will be asked to speak about what they have learned and how they can improve their particular experience. This will help them to critically reflect on their actions and their participation.
Heinrich, F., & Jochum, E. (2018). Integrating Academic and Artistic Methodologies within a PBL Environment. Journal of Problem Based Learning in Higher Education, 6(1), I-V.
How will you ensure the services’ standards and policies are followed throughout the implementation of the creative learning experience?
One of the main requirements of early childhood education is to offer every child engaging opportunity correlating quality experiences to develop their learning experiences. The standards of the service will be maintained through catering to the educational requirements of each child and also maintaining their health and safety requirements during the process (Benjamin-Neelon, 2018). They will be provided a safe physical environment and will also be exposed to developing constructive relationships with other children. The importance of collaborative partnerships will also be instilled in the minds of the children and their parents.
Benjamin-Neelon, S. E. (2018). Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Benchmarks for nutrition in child care. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 118(7), 1291-1300.
What are the links between the children’s learning, the National Quality Standards (NQS), and the relevant learning framework?
The most relevant link is the derivation of positive outcomes in the children in collaboration and learning quotient. The learning process must ensure positive changes in the children in an engaging manner, keeping in mind their educational requirements of each child. The learning framework also focuses on positive outcomes through active participation and encouragement which is evident in the National Quality Standards as it focuses on the encouragement of interactive activities to build engagement and collaboration among children (Arthur et al., 2017).
Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, S. (2017). Programming and planning in early childhood settings. Cengage AU.
What methods would you use to evaluate the children’s learning?
The children’s learning will be evaluated through direct feedback from the students after the sessions as well as comprehensive surveys from their parents on the development quotient of the children.
How would you reflect on these evaluations and follow up with ongoing improvements in a way that is suitable in your service?
The feedback from the parents will be assessed and incorporated within the practice as per generalizing the needs of all the students. New teaching methods will be incorporated as and when needed to engage the children more in the learning experiences. All of these will be done to improve the collaborative abilities of the children. The aim is to make the children social and build their ability to work in teams while also looking after their individual learning needs.