Hey all I am enrolled in an Early childhood course for level 2. I need Help with a few questions....?

Question

1 Ask three different people to tell you what they think of when they hear that a program for young children is child-centered?

AND

2. Have 3 people define what developmentally appropriate practice means to them...

Answer 1

In a "Child-Centered" education, it is important to consider the learning style and particular interests of the child. For example, a bodily-kinesthetic learner would be taught in such a manner as to offer multiple opportunities for movement and action, as opposed to sitting in a desk or at the kitchen table. In addition, if the student expressed an interest in animals, he or she would be encouraged to read books about animals, train animals, show an animal, write stories about animals, or study in greater depth about animals. Thus, the entire language arts and science program might revolve around this subject of great interest to the child. However, a structure would be created with multiple opportunities for learning to take place.

The term developmentally appropriate care is commonly used by child care professionals to describe care that takes into account the level of physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development of a child.

While there is no one right way to care for children, there are guidelines that focus on how a child develops and the care that is appropriate at various stages. These guidelines help both child care providers and parents understand ways to care for children while helping them develop positive self-esteem.

The following guidelines have been developed by early childhood and child care professionals. These guidelines focus on the idea of developmental appropriateness which is defined in two parts: age appropriateness or the universal, predictable sequences of growth and change that occur in children as they go through their early years of life; and individual appropriateness or the unique growth sequence of each child with their own pattern and timing, as well as individual personality, learning style, and family background experiences.

Answer 2

Child centred means that the environment, learning opportunities, resources, available experiences, etc are all geared towards the development of the child, this may be for learning or for care.

Developmentally appropriate practice means that the resources and activities provided are developmentally appropriate for the age of the child & his/her individual stage of development. e.g. a 100 piece jigsaw is develomentally appropriate for a 5 to 6 yr old, so it would not be developmentally appropriate for a 3 yr old. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

All the above answers are good. Make sure u are familiar with with NAEYC's DAP (Developmentally appropriate practice book). Go to www.naeyc.org for more information.

Good tip: If u see a daycare or school where all the artwork looks the same and is super neat--its is not DAP or child centered bc the kids didnt do it!

:) Former Head Start teacher

Answer 4

1 Ask three different people to tell you what they think of when they hear that a program for young children is child-centered?

A child-centered program would be one that caters to the need of the child for example in baby group we have circle time which is 'child-centered' it doesn't give the parents a turn to talk about adult things or to be adults it's completely 'child centered' and geared to teach and nurture the child.

2. Have 3 people define what developmentally appropriate practice means to them...

If something is developmentally appropriate it suits the development/ maturity of the person...  For example practicing drawing squares is appropriate for my four year old but not for my two year old, and practicing high jump is developmentally appropriate for me but not for my kids

Answer 5

i hope this works for u

a child centered program is a place where the child can grown and learn at their own pace where the activities are hand on experiments and find answers by seeing it, tasting it, smelling it, u get the point using their five senses.

developmentally appropriate practices to me mean making sure there is an appropriate environment, materials, content, and activities for each child's level of development there should be three things to keep in mind age appropriateness, individual appropriateness because ever child is different, and making sure the teacher is familiar with the how the child grew up their culture and social context.