What is the essence of a high scope curriculum?

Question

Hi, I am a newly graduated EC teacher and am asking for your help and enlightenment. I am aware of the emergent curriculum and inquiry-based learning. I only discovered high scope curriculum from Yahoo!7 Answers and believe that this curriculum is similar to the ones aforementioned. Is this right?

Can anyone bring out the key aspects of this curriculum for me?

Many, many thanks!

Answer 1

My program uses High Scope.  It is a child initiated, adult facilitated curriculum that utilizes a plan-do-review sequence.  We try to base our activities on the children's interests.  So if the children are really into dinosaurs this week, we might do a unit on manners and read books like How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food.  The plan-do-review sequence promotes language development and cognitive development.  The children are encouraged to really think about what they want to do during work time (free choice time) and express it to the teacher.  The teacher will support this process with questions such as What will you do?  Where will you play?  Who will you play with?  As the children play, when they want to change activities, they are encouraged to clean up the materials they are done with and tell the teacher their new plan.  After work time, we have recall time when we review what the children did.  Sometimes it's in the form of a little game "If you played with blocks today, please clap your hands."  But always verbal.  The teacher may ask what did you build, or who did you play with?

So to sum it up, the High Scope curriculum is based on the children's interests and uses a plan-do-review sequence to promote language and cognitive development.  Here is the web site if you want more information:

http://www.highscope.org/

Answer 2

High/Scope is an approach that was developed by Dr. Davis Weikart to serve the children at risk of school failure in the USA. This curriculum model is now used in more than 20 countries including the UK.

The High/Scope approach is based on 40 years of research and its centres recognise and support the differences in children aged between 2 and 6 years of age.

Staff encourage children to become decision makers and problem solvers, helping them to develop skills that will enable them to become successful learners, as they get older.

Dr David Weikart devised the High/Scope programme in response to the continued low achievement of some learners at a school in Michigan, USA. He said "in the high scope approach to early education, adults and children equally share control of the learning".

The High/Scope approach is influenced by the work of Piaget, as his theory of development supported the ideas of active learning.

The wheel of learning, at the centre of which is the child (the active learner), illustrates the main principles of High/Scope. The sections that surround the centre will support the child to be an active learner.

Through active learning – having direct and immediate experiences and gaining meaning from them through reflection, young children will be able to make sense of their world. Children are naturally active learners, as they will ask and search for answers to questions about people, materials, events and ideas that arouse their curiosity.

The High/Scope learning approach places a strong emphasis on the layout of the pre-school and providing appropriate materials to enable children to make choices and decisions.

The adults plan a consistent daily routine that supports active learning. This routine enables the young children to anticipate what will happen next and gives them an amount of control over what they do during some parts of the day.

During the plan, do review process, children learn to create and express their feelings. In a group or individually, children plan what they want to do. They them implement their choices and finally reflect, with help from an adult, to determine what was successful and what was not.