Reggio Emilia

Elian Flores
HBU
Fall 2015

Reggio Emilia is a name associated for a school program in the field of early
childhood education. Reggio Emilia is a Northern Italian town. The Reggio Emilia
approach also known as RE is an educational approach centered on the
development of children. The families living in the Reggio Emilia city wanted to
construct preschool institutions for the development of their children.
Louris Malaguzzi was an important supporter of the Emilia Approach
development. The Reggio Emilia curriculum has the base belief that children have
100 languages to discover, 100 languages to invent and 100 languages to
imagine. In other words, children have many ways to express themselves
especially if they are placed in an appropriate learning environment. According to
the RE model, students are placed in an environment encouraging the development
of social, cognitive, linguistic and symbolic structures with the help of a teacher.
Under the RE model with the right support students are able to continue developing
their learning. Thus the goal of the RE approach is to encourage the student to be
and independent learners and be a problem solvers. The RE curriculum requires for
student to assimilate new knowledge through the use of concrete experiences which
allow the students to study, produce and experiment with their different questions.
The students are encouraged to express their learning painting pictures, forming
sculptures and using dramatizations as ways to convey their learning. The
expression, the hundred languages of a child draws its significance because the
concrete experiences that the student goes through turn into symbolic experiences
that will help them learn. These ideas and concepts that the student create are then
reviewed and corrected.

Finally, the RE approach encourages the development of knowledge

formation, freedom to express and the creation of opportunities for children to
express themselves about the concepts they form. The subjects chosen to study are
based on childrens interest and experience. The projects that the students will
participate in include mathematics, science, writing, music and social works.
Therefore the Reggio Emilia approach is a unique program utilized for the education
of young children.

References
Arseven, A. (2014).The Reggio Emilia Approach and Curriculum Development
Process. International Journal Of Academic Research, 6(1), 166-171.
doi:10.7813/2075-4124.2014/6-1/B.23