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Jackman
Wyatt &
Beaver
Early Education Curriculum A Child’s Connection to the World
7th edition
Early
Education
Curriculum
A Child’s
Connection
to the
World
To register or access your online learning solution or purchase materials

for your course, visit www.cengagebrain.com.
7th
edition
Nancy Beaver
Susan Wyatt
&
Hilda Jackman
Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Contents
Preface ix Box 2-1: Observing Young Children Guidelines 33

About the Authors xi Anecdotal Record 33
Box 2-2: Anecdotal Record/Observation Form 34
To the Students xxii
Box 2-3: Anecdotal Record Worksheet 34
Checklist 35
PART 1 Reflective Log or Diary 35
Case Study 35
Preparing for Learning through Assessment, Portfolio Assessment 35
Curriculum, and the Environment Use of Technology in Assessment 35
Authentic Assessment 36
Box 2-4: Assessment Checklist 39
1 Starting the Process 2 Assessment Guides: Curriculum Planning 41
Early Childhood Education 3 Summary 42
Learning and Developmental Theories of Early Reflective Review Questions 43
Childhood Education 4 Explorations 43
Reflect On This 12
Developmentally Appropriate Practice 12
3 Creating Curriculum 44
Brain Research: Brain Development 13
Box 3-1: NAEYC Ethical Core Values 46
Child Development and Learning 13
Process of Planning and Scheduling 46
Diversity: Cultural, Linguistic,
Schedules and Routines 46
and Ability Differences 18
Box 3-2: Infants 48
Individual Strengths, Interests, and Needs 18
Box 3-3: Toddlers and Preschool 48
Social and Cultural Contexts 19
Curriculum Development 49
Importance of Play 19
Curriculum Planning Cycle 51
Reflect On This 20
Examples of Curriculum Models and Programs 52
Developmental Stages of Play 20
Box 3-4: Guiding Principles of the Reggio Emilia
Box 1-1: Why Play Is Important 20
Approach 56
Theorists and Play 21
Multicultural or Anti-Bias Considerations 56
Fostering Play 22
Culture Is Learned 58
Box 1-2: A Call to Action 23
Box 3-5: Guidelines for a Multicultural Anti-Bias
Communication with Families 24
Environment 59
Box 1-3: Infant Daily Report 25
Themes, Units, Projects, and Webs 59
Box 1-4: Toddler Daily Report 26
Themes and Units 59
Summary 26
Basic Concepts for Developing Thematic
Reflective Review Questions 27
Curriculum 60
Explorations 27
Projects 60
Webs 62
2 Observation and Assessment 29 Use of Technology in Curriculum Development
Purposes of Observation and Assessment 30 and Instruction 63
Reflect On This 30 Lesson Plans 63
Child Outcomes 30 Reflect On This 67
Environment 31 BOX 3-6: Bloom’s Taxonomy 68
Curriculum 31 Activity Plan Worksheet Template 69
Plan of Observation and Assessment 31 Summary 69
Observation 31 Reflective Review Questions 70
Explorations 70
vi
Brief Contents
4 The Learning Environment 71 Puppets 113

Managing the Early Childhood Environment 72 Word Walls 114
Arrangement of the Learning Environment 72 Strategies to Support Writing 114
Reflect On This 76 Activities that Encourage Children to Become
Box 4-1: Indoor and Outdoor Areas Safety Checklists 77 Authors and Illustrators 116
Equipment, Materials, and Supplies 80 Reflect On This 117
Learning Environment Checklist 81 Teachers as Storytellers 117
Managing the Environment with Appropriate Poetry 117
Guidance Techniques 82 Activity Plans 117
Transitions 84 Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate
Summary 85 Activities for Young Children 118
Reflective Review Questions 86 Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate
Explorations 86 Activities for Young Children 119
Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate
Activities for Young Children 120
Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate
PART 2 Activities for Young Children 122
Discovering and Expanding the Early Technology in Language and Literacy
Education Curriculum Development 124
Technology & Teaching: Using Guidelines 124
Diversity in Language and Literacy 125
5 Language and Literacy 90 Reflect On This 126
Language, Literacy, and Literature Defined 91 Creating Partnerships with Families 127
Purposes and Values of Children’s Books 92 Case Study: Dual-Language Learners 129
Developmental Stages of Language and The Teacher’s Role 129
Literacy 93 Guidance for Language and Literacy Play 129
Language Development of Young Children 93 Teaching Tips Reading to Children 129
Literacy Development of Young Children 94 Summary 130
Brain Research: Brain-Based Literacy Learning 95 Reflective Review Questions 132
Planning and Preparing the Environment 98 Explorations 132
Setting up the Writing Environment 98 Language and Literacy Books for Young Children 133
Reflect On This 99
Types and Genres of Books for Children 99
Selection of Books for Young Children 103 6 Creativity: Art and Music 135
Children’s Book Awards 106 Art and Music Defined 136
Recommended Books 106 Developmental Stages of Art and Music 138
The Language Center 107 Art Development 138
Literacy Environment Checklist 108 Brain Research: Creating Art 138
Integrating Language and Literacy into the Music Development 140
Curriculum 108 Reflect On This 141
Strategies to Support Reading 108 Planning and Preparing the Environment 142
Integrating Literature into Other Curriculum Art Environment 142
Areas 110 Outdoor Environment 142
Flannel Board Activities 110 Aesthetic Environment 143
Group Time Activities 112 Music Environment 143
vii
Contents
Art Environment Checklist 144 Types of Play 174

Music Environment Checklist 148 Understanding Fantasy and Reality in Young
Integrating Art and Sensory Play Children 174
into the Curriculum 148 Planning and Preparing the Environment 175
Reflect On This 148 Clothes for the Dramatic Play Center 176
Use of Food in Art Projects 149 Imbedding Multicultural Materials in Learning
Involving Children in All Forms of Art 149 Centers 176
Integrating Music Play into the Puppets 177
Curriculum 154 Reflect On This 182
Types of Music 155 Social Science/Dramatic Play Environment
Songs and Singing 155 Checklist 182
Move with Scarves Activity 157 Integrating Social Studies and Dramatic
Using the Voice 157 Play into the Curriculum 183
Choosing Classical Selections 157 Goals of Early Education Social Studies 183
Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate Social Studies and Thematic Strands 184
Activities for Young Children 158 Appropriate Dramatic Play by Age
Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate Groupings 188
Activities for Young Children 159 Reflect On This 190
Technology in Children’s Art and Music 159 Dramatic Play and Other Learning Centers 190
Technology & Teaching: Children’s Art and Music 159 Making Prop Boxes 190
Diversity in the Creative Arts 160 Field Trips as Concrete Experiences in Early
Multicultural and Anti-Bias 160 Education 191
Activities for Children with Special Needs 161 Additional Developmentally Appropriate
Creating Partnerships with Families 161 Activities 195
Reflect On This 162 Box 7-1: Humpty Dumpty (finger play activity
The Teacher’s Role 162 with song) (suitable for toddlers and
Guidance for Art and Music Play 162 3-year-olds) 196
Case Study: Art Activities 162 Box 7-2: The Doughnut Shop (dramatic play for
Teaching Tips Art and Music 163 4- and 5-year-olds) (entertainingly illustrates
Summary 164 the concept of subtraction) 198
Reflective Review Questions 167 Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate
Explorations 167 Social Studies Activity 199
Creativity Books for Young Children 168 Activity Plan Worksheet: Activity Plan Worksheet for
Children’s Books and CDs featuring Music Young Children 200
and Movement 168 Technology in Social Studies and Dramatic
CDs 169 Play 201
Technology & Teaching: WebQuest 201
Diversity in Social Studies and Dramatic
7 The Child’s World: Social Studies and Play 201
Dramatic Play 170 Creating Partnerships with Families 202
Social Studies and Dramatic Play Defined 172 Family Quilts 203
Developmental Stages of Social Studies and Making the Class into a
Dramatic Play 173 Neighborhood 204
Brain Research: Pretend Play 173 Case Study: Stereotyping 205
Reflect On This 174 The Teacher’s Role 205
viii
Brief Contents
Guidance in Social Studies and Dramatic 9 Science 230

Play 205 Science in Early Childhood Defined 231
Teaching Tips Culture and Dramatic Play 206 Developmental Stages of Science Play and
Summary 207 Learning 234
Reflective Review Questions 208 Brain Research: Executive Function 234
Explorations 208 Reflect On This 235
Social Studies and Dramatic Play Books Planning and Preparing the Environment 235
for Young Children 209 Suggested Science Materials and Equipment 235
Science Environment Checklist 237
8 Sensory Play 210 Integrating Science into the Curriculum 237
Sensory Play Defined 211 Investigate Water 238
Developmental Stages of Sensory Play 212 Discover Rainbows 239
Brain Research: Sensory Integration 212 Explore Shadows 239
Reflect On This 213 Focus on Nature 240
Planning and Preparing the Environment 213 Reflect On This 242
Props and Materials 214 Ecology in the Early Education Environment 242
The Learning Environment 215 Animals in the Early Education Classroom 246
Sensory Environment Checklist 216 Box 9-1: The Animals in Our World 246
Integrating Sensory Play into the Nutrition and Cooking Experiences in Early
Curriculum 216 Education 248
Purposes and Objectives 218 Sensory Snacks 249
Activities in the Five Senses 219 Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate
Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate Cooking Activity 252
Sensory Activity 220 Technology in Science 253
Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate Technology & Teaching: Science 253
Sensory Activity 221 Diversity in Science 253
Technology in Sensory Play 221 Imbedding Culture in Science 253
Technology & Teaching: Sensory Play 221 Supporting Each and Every Child’s
Diversity in Sensory Play 221 Success 254
How Can Teachers and Families Help? 222 Creating Partnerships with Families 254
Creating Partnerships with Families 222 The Teacher’s Role 255
Reflect On This 223 Reflect On This 255
Touch 223 Guidance in Science Play 255
Sight 223 Case Study: Science 255
Hearing 223 Teaching Tips 256
Smell 223 Summary 256
Case Study: Messy Sensory Play 223 Reflective Review Questions 258
The Teacher’s Role 224 Explorations 258
Guidance for Sensory Play 224 Science Books for Children 259
Teaching Tips Water Play 224
Summary 225
Perform Simple Experiments 226 10 Math 260
Reflective Review Questions 228 Math Defined 262
Explorations 228 Developmental Stages of Math 263
Language and Literacy Books for Young Children 229 Reflect On This 263
ix
Contents
Numbers and Operations 263 Planning and Preparing the Environment 285
Patterns, Functions, and Algebra 265 Fine Motor and Manipulative Environment Checklist 286
Early Geometry and Spatial Sense 266 Integrating Fine Motor and Manipulative Play into
Measurement 267 the Curriculum 286
Data Analysis and Probability 268 Fine Motor Play for Infants 286
Problem Solving 268 Fine Motor Play for Toddlers 286
Brain Research: Activity-Dependent Fine Motor Play for Preschoolers 287
Development 269 Reflect On This 290
Planning and Preparing the Environment 270 Fine Motor Play for Primary-Age Children 290
Materials for Developing Math Concepts 270 Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate
Math Environment Checklist 271 Fine Motor Activity 290
The Learning Environment 271 Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate
Reflect On This 271 Motor Activity 291
Integrating Math Activities into the Technology in Fine Motor and Manipulative
Curriculum 271 Play 292
Math and Science 272 Technology & Teaching: Handwriting 292
Math and Cooking 272 Diversity in Fine Motor and Manipulative Play 292
Math and Art 273 Creating Partnerships with Families 292
Math and Language, Literacy, and Literature 273 The Teacher’s Role 293
Activity Plan Worksheet 273 Case Study: Toddler Fine Motor Materials 293
Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate Guidance in Fine Motor and Manipulative
and Multicultural/Anti-Biased Activity 274 Play 294
Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate Teaching Tips Fine Motor Development 294
and Multicultural/Anti-Biased Activity 274 Summary 294
Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate Reflective Review Questions 296
Math Activity 275 Explorations 296
Technology in the Mathematics Program 276 Fine Motor and Manipulative Play Books for
Technology & Teaching: Computers 276 Young Children 296
Diversity in Math Play 277
Creating Partnerships with Families 278
The Teacher’s Role 278 12 Large Motor and Outdoor Play 297
Guidance in Math Play 278 Large Motor and Outdoor Play Defined 298
Case Study: Restaurant 279 Recess 299
Teaching Tips Math Activities 279 Reflect On This 300
Summary 279 Developmental Stages of Large Motor and
Reflective Review Questions 280 Outdoor Play 300
Explorations 281 Brain Research: Physical Activity 300
Math Books for Young Children 281 Planning and Preparing the Environment 301
Reflect On This 301
Large Motor and Outdoor Environment Checklist 303
11 Fine Motor and Manipulatives 282 Integrating Large Muscle and Outdoor Play into
Fine Motor and Manipulative Play Defined 283 the Curriculum 304
Developmental Stages of Fine Motor and Motor Development and Physical Fitness 304
Manipulative Play 283 Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate
Brain Research: Math, Science, and Reading 284 Large Motor Activity 307
Brief Contents
Activity Plan Worksheet: Developmentally Appropriate Case Study: Block Building 326
Large Motor Activity 308 Teaching Tips Blocks and Woodworking 328
Technology in Large Motor and Outdoor Summary 329
Play 308 Reflective Review Questions 330
Technology & Teaching: Issues Relating to Large Explorations 330
Motor and Outdoor Play 308 Construction Books for Children 331
Diversity in Large Motor and Outdoor Play 309
Creating Partnerships with Families 309 14 Putting It All Together: Evaluation
The Teacher’s Role 310
Guidance in Large Motor and Outdoor Play 310 and Documentation 332
Case Study: Gross Motor for Infants 310 Evaluation Defined 333
Teaching Tips Outdoor Play 311 Process of Evaluation 334
Summary 312 Standards 334
Reflective Review Questions 313 Reflect On This 334
Explorations 313 Ethical Issues 336
Large Motor and Outdoor Play Books for Young Methods of Evaluation 336
Children 313 Reflect On This 340
Interpreting and Using Evaluation Results 340
Interpretation of Information 340
13 Construction: Blocks and Using Assessment Information 343
Woodworking 314 Documentation 344
Block Play and Woodworking Defined 315 Method of Documentation 345
Reflect On This 316 Final Thoughts 347
Developmental Stages of Block Building 316 Summary 348
Brain Research: Spatial Reasoning 318 Reflective Review Questions 349
Planning and Preparing the Environment 318 Explorations 349
Equipment and Materials 318
Reflect On This 319 Appendix A My Self Integrated Curriculum Theme
Woodworking 320 with Activities 350
Equipment and Materials 320 Appendix B Additional Activities and Songs 360
Construction Environment Checklist 321
Appendix C Songs and Poems 372
Integrating Construction Play into the
Curriculum 321 Appendix D Forms 379
Blocks 321 Appendix E Resources for Teachers 383
Woodworking 323 Appendix F Additional Standards by Chapter,
Activity Plan Worksheet Construction Zone 323
Including Common Core State Contact
Activity Plan Worksheet Woodworking 324
Technology in Blocks and Woodworking 325 Information 387
Technology & Teaching: Construction Play 325 Appendix G Professional Organizations 390
Diversity in Construction Play 325 Glossary 393
Creating Partnerships with Families 325
References 399
The Teacher’s Role 326
Guidance Guidelines 326 Index 411
xi
Contents
Preface
Research confirms the value of early education for young children. Our early childhood
profession continues to guide us with new and effective teaching applications, position
statements, and developmentally appropriate practices. All three authors are colleagues
with 46 years of experience as teachers. They have worked together as part of the Dal-
las County Community College District’s Child Development/Early Childhood Education
department. Our goal is to help students and developing professionals make informed de-
cisions about curriculum content. To that end, the focus of Early Education Curriculum:
A Child’s Connection to the Word, seventh edition, remains the same: the children and the
dedicated early childhood professionals who contribute daily to improve the lives of chil-
dren everywhere.
Philosophies of This Book

We should listen to the children and concentrate our efforts on the development, needs,
abilities, and interests of all children, including those with cultural, linguistic, and other di-
versities, as we plan our early childhood curriculum. In response to the needs of our stu-
dents, the early childhood profession is dedicated to discovering new knowledge through
research and new professional positions, and to establishing inclusiveness, equity, equality,
and diversity through developmentally appropriate practices. It is the role of early education
curriculum to integrate these insights into each classroom, from infancy through the early
primary years.
In this seventh edition, the following interconnecting philosophies are underscored.
●● The first advocates that curriculum be child centered and child initiated, that it is
sensitive to, and supportive of, the development of young children, individually and
in a group, emphasizing acceptance of each and every child. This includes acceptance
of cultural, linguistic, gender, family orientation, and ability diversity in young
children.
●● The second focus is on the curriculum itself, which provides for all of a child’s
development by planning developmentally appropriate experiences that build on
what children already know and are able to do. New findings inform us even more
about early cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development. These facts help
us to make connections as to how we teach and how children learn.
●● The third philosophy of this text is to encourage children to learn by doing. This
encourages experimentation, exploration, self-control, and the building of a positive
self-image (“I can do it myself!”).
●● The fourth recognizes the importance of cultural context in the development and
learning of young children. Growing up as members of families and communities,
children come to us with rich backgrounds of cultural experiences. Now, more than
ever, the curriculum should promote opportunities to support a child’s cultural,
linguistic, gender, family orientation, and diversity.
●● The fifth belief advocates developing a learning environment that invites creativity.
This provides opportunities for unevaluated discovery and activity, while promoting
acceptance and respect for one another’s creations. This also helps one to develop an
awareness that the process of creative thinking is complex.
xii
Preface xiii
●● The sixth concept involves reciprocal relationships updated and are based on the use of strong statistical
between teachers and families. Positive communication data that help formulate our practices. Teachers have
between home and school is crucial to providing a to have the ability to use appropriate observation and
consistent and beneficial experience for young children. assessment techniques to create the data needed to
●● The seventh philosophy recommends that curriculum begin the development of curriculum, experiences,
facilitate physical activity and play by integrating and environments to support children’s development
movement within activities throughout the day. Each of and learning. A new feature of this chapter is about the
these philosophies allows children to make choices and use of technology in assessment.
is nourished by play. With less time and opportunity ●● Chapter 3, Creating Curriculum, offers examples of
for children to play, it is critical for us to encourage and curriculum models and programs; explains the process
support play in all our early childhood programs. of curriculum development, including multicultural,
anti-bias, and special needs considerations; and
To best address these interconnecting philosophies, cover- describes the development of concepts and skills,
age in this edition has been expanded to all age groups through themes, specific lesson and activity plans. More coverage
second grade and includes hot topics in Brain Research, reflec- of the curriculum cycle and use of technology in
tive practice, intentional teaching, hands-on teaching ideas, and assessment and curriculum planning has been added to
using the environment as a teaching tool. The research behind this chapter.
the techniques discussed has been further highlighted in this ●● Chapter 4, The Learning Environment, reflects
edition, whereas curriculum chapters will consistently include the continuing focus of this text on the learning
headings on “Technology” and “Diversity.” environment. It describes developmentally appropriate
early learning environments, indoor and outdoor;
Intended Audience selection of equipment, materials, and supplies; and
This book is designed for a beginning student as well as an ex- play guidance, including transitions. It also includes
perienced teacher looking for current early childhood philoso- the first environment checklist that will also be
phies, research, curriculum resources and activities, and fresh included in Chapters 5 to 13. Those checklists will be
ideas and insights. It can be used by those in two-year colleges on specific environmental areas that are described in
or four-year university early education curriculum courses, those particular chapters. A floor plan was added to
graduate classes, mini/fast-track courses, distance learning, this chapter to accommodate the primary grades that
and workshop/seminar courses for continuing education of were not covered in the previous edition.
teachers. It is also applicable for students working toward the
These four chapters form the foundation for the remaining
Council for Professional Recognition (CDA) credential or any
chapters.
professional working with children and families.
Part Two, “Discovering and Expanding the Early Edu-
cation Curriculum,” explores each curriculum area in depth,
Chapter Changes and Highlights taking into consideration the individual child, group of chil-
The text remains divided into two parts. Part One, “Preparing dren, the process of setting up appropriate environments with
for Learning through Assessment, Curriculum, and the En- a chapter checklist for use in observing environments, special
vironment,” presents the elements of the foundation of early subject content, information on the use of technology, more
education curriculum, and includes four chapters as follows: ideas to involve parents, meeting diverse needs, and integra-
tion of all curricula. Chapters 5 to 13 present developmen-
●● Chapter 1, Starting the Process, gives early childhood
tally appropriate activities for each age group and encourage
historical information, learning, and developmental self-esteem and creativity development. These chapters are
theories of early childhood education; the importance organized to provide greater clarity and consistency to sup-
of play in the lives of children; and communication port better comprehension by the student.
with parents. The chapter has been thoroughly
updated, including new standards and new references; ●● Chapter 5, Language and Literacy, describes the
outdated references and material have been deleted acquisition of languages with emphasis on dual-
throughout. The Brain Research feature identifies language learning. A major focus is teaching strategies
how knowledge of brain development is crucial to an and providing practical experiences and materials to
understanding of how to create curriculum. support the development of language and literacy skills
●● Chapter 2, Observation and Assessment, describes the through literature. An additional activity plan has been
purposes and process of observation and assessment; add to extend the age range of activity plan samples
and also presents guidelines for assessment. This topic through the primary grades. The brain research feature
area is important because of the increase in reliance has added a description of new research related to the
on the use of standards to guide our decisions about 50-million word gap by age 3 for low-income children.
what and how we teach. These standards have been All references have been updated.
xiv P refac e
●● Chapter 6, Creativity: Art and Music, describes the make and test predictions, observe, solve problems,
creative process with a specific emphasis on art and and make connections. The chapter contains many
music. A focus of this chapter is how children discover activity ideas for integrating science throughout
their own original ways to explore forms of art and the curriculum including explorations of earth
types of music and dance. Ideas are shared concerning elements such as water, ecology, animals, nutrition,
the creation of an aesthetic environment and the use and cooking. The use of technology in documenting
of the outdoors to foster creativity. Practical teaching science projects and the use of cooking experiences to
strategies, experiences, and materials (including explore diversity are discussed. New information on
homemade instruments) support the development of brain research has been added. There is an increased
creativity in diverse children. An additional activity focus on nature in this addition, including the creation
plan has been added to this chapter to extend the age of outdoor classrooms that incorporate a variety of
range covered to the primary grades. New and updated natural elements for children’s play. An additional
information has been added related to technology ideas activity plan for 2- and 3-year-olds has been added to
for Music teachers. All references have been updated. this chapter. All references have been updated.
●● Chapter 7, The Child’s World: Social Studies and ●● Chapter 10, Math, discusses the importance of
Dramatic Play, describes themes and appropriate providing hands-on, developmentally appropriate
content for social studies in the early childhood math experiences in a meaningful context that
curriculum. The chapter includes developmental give young children opportunities to develop math
theories and research on the stages of play and types awareness and understanding. The chapter contains
of social dramatic play. A thorough discussion of a thorough explanation of mathematical terms and
dramatic play includes the use of puppets and prop teaching strategies. There is a focus on how the
boxes and provides practical ideas for use in the environment is set up to provide opportunities for
classroom. The chapter includes a discussion of field children to develop number sense and logical ways of
trips as concrete experiences introducing children thinking about time, space, and other mathematical
to the social world. The chapter includes additional ideas, as they discover math concepts through the
information about multicultural play by including process of play. New research on the use of technology
materials form different cultures. A new video has been added and the term cardinality has been
“Multicultural Lessons: Embracing Similarities and added to key terms. An additional activity plan for
Differences in Preschool Education” has been added to primary grades has been added to this chapter as well.
the MindTap digital platform. All references have been A new video titled Using Read-Alouds to Develop Math
updated. and Literacy Skills has been added to the MindTap
●● Chapter 8, Sensory Play, discusses how the senses are digital platform. All references have been updated.
used as learning portals and how every day, the early ●● Chapter 11, Fine Motor and Manipulatives, describes
childhood classrooms should be filled with activities the different types of small muscle movement and
that involve multiple senses. Piaget’s sensory motor coordination and how teachers can support the
period of learning, Goscoyne’s continuum of fluid development of this coordination for different age
play process, and sensory integration are defined. children. The chapter describes how fine motor play
A curriculum planning web for the book, My Five is integrated throughout the curriculum with specific
Senses demonstrates how to integrate sensory learning details on the importance of crossing midline and the
throughout the curriculum. The chapter discusses use of scissor activities to develop cutting skills and
how to use technology and incorporate diversity pincer grasp. Suggestions for supporting each and
into sensory play. New brain research on sensory every child’s success address student diversity and
development and an additional activity plan for 2- activity ideas for parents to do at home are included in
and 3-year-olds have been added to this chapter. All the chapter. All references have been updated.
references have been updated. ●● Chapter 12, Large Motor and Outdoor Play, explores
●● Chapter 9, Science, describes science for young how through large muscle and outdoor play children
children as engaging children in active construction develop their eye–hand coordination, balance and
of ideas and explanations to develop both inquiry and coordination, large muscles skills, general health,
process skills. Categories of science to be explored a sense of freedom, an understanding of nature,
identified by the National Research Council, are creativity, social play skills, multisensory integration
defined and the development of the brain’s executive and learning, ability to explore and solve problems,
function is explained. The chapter relates the stages of and their imaginations. Different types of movement
child development to scientific learning and evaluates are defined and suggestions for equipment selection
how the preparation of the environment supports identified. Ideas are described for including motor
that learning as children use the scientific process to development and physical fitness within activities
Preface xv
designed to target other curriculum areas such as applying concepts, practicing skills, and evaluating decisions,
music and art. New guidance on the crucial role of guiding them to become reflective educators.
recess in school by The Council on School Health has
been added as well as a new Brain Research feature Updated and Revised Coverage
that shows the relationship of physical fitness to better Early Education Curriculum takes an application-based ap-
relational memory. A new video titled 2–5 Years: Gross proach that provides hands-on teaching tools, techniques,
Motor Development for Early Childhood has been and tips for preschool and after-school programs through
added to the MindTap digital platform. All references second grade. Building on the foundations of previous edi-
have been updated. tions, the seventh edition has been thoroughly updated and
●● Chapter 13, Construction: Blocks and Woodworking, revised:
describes well-planned block play and woodworking ●● Organization and Coverage: The text has been
experiences where children create, build, construct,
updated, where needed, and the curriculum chapters
and stay engaged to facilitate children’s development
(Part Two) continue to maintain a consistent chapter
across domains in an engaging context. The unit block
structure.
shapes and storage as well as the developmental stages ●● Case Studies: Chapters 5 to 13 now have case studies
of block play are visually represented to facilitate
to help apply the information in each chapter to
student understanding. A list of equipment and
different teaching setting situations. Each case study
materials to use in woodworking is provided. The
includes a “What Do You Think?” set of questions to
Brain Research feature discusses spatial reasoning
get students to think critically about the case and what
and how to use technology in teaching construction
they would do in the classroom.
play. New ideas for addressing diversity through block ●● Brain Research: Information on brain research related
play and an additional activity plan for primary age
to the specific curriculum area appears throughout
children have been added in this edition. A new video
the textbook. While keeping seminal information
titled Preschool Stacking Activity has been added to the
about brain research that was in the sixth edition, the
MindTap digital platform. All references have been
seventh edition includes new research:
updated. ●● Chapter 1 examines varying cultures roles in
●● Chapter 14, Putting It All Together: Evaluation and
children’s play.
Documentation, examines the purpose, use, and ●● Chapter 8 provides new research on the value of
process of evaluation including identifying standards
sensory experiences.
for evaluation and ethical issues. The process used ●● Chapter 9 research links young children’s time in
for creating a documentation plan is explored and
nature activities as having a large influence on the
methods for interpreting and using evaluation
development of the child.
results are described. Types of evaluation including ●● Chapter 10 describes the role of math activities on
quantitative, qualitative, formative and summative
brain development.
evaluation are defined. Samples are provided to ●● Chapter 12 discusses the direct link between the
illustrate types of documentation used in evaluations.
level of child’s physical fitness and memory.
All references have been updated. ●● Chapter 14 describes the Scientific Research-Based
All chapters of the text are separate and complete, and Intervention’s (SPBI) system for evaluating data to
at the same time connecting to other chapters to form curric- assess progress toward learning goals.
ulum as a whole for children from infancy to age eight. This ●● Technology: Each curriculum chapter contains
allows each instructor to use the chapters in any sequence. a special section that focuses on the impact of
This approach is helpful in meeting the individual needs of technology related to the curriculum area discussed.
the teacher, the student, and ultimately the children. This edition includes more information about the
use of technology across the curriculum. Chapter 2
describes new technology in assessment that allows
the teacher to better track a child’s progress and to
New to This Edition plan individualized instruction based on each child’s
MindTap for Early Education Curriculum: A Child’s Connec- needs and abilities. Chapter 3 identifies software that
tion to the World, seventh edition, is a first-of-its kind digital assists the teacher in lesson plan development and in
solution with an integrated eportfolio that prepares teachers the delivery of content throughout the curriculum.
by providing them with the knowledge, skills, and compe- ●● Cultural and Linguistic Diversity: The importance
tencies they must demonstrate to earn an education degree of culturally relevant curriculum appears throughout
and state licensure, and to begin a successful career. Through this edition and remains a continuing emphasis in
activities based on real-life teaching situations, MindTap the text. Chapters 5 to 13 each contain a section on
elevates students’ thinking by giving them experiences in how diversity impacts that chapter’s specific subject
xvi P refac e
area. Teaching strategies for a diverse population throughout the text. Expanded information is provided on
are also included. New case studies also provide themes, projects, webs, and developmentally appropriate ac-
additional information on dealing with diversity tivities. All of the features in this seventh edition are created
in the classroom. to provide a resource of ideas, methods, suggested practices,
and guidance goals that will give teachers and students guide-
Chapter Pedagogy and Features lines to create and enrich their own curriculum.
●● Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs): Student learning
Special Learning Features
outcomes have been updated to provide a clear road
This book is designed to help students build knowledge with
map of the major topics in each chapter and to allow
each chapter. Concepts are introduced in a specific chapter
for better assessment of student learning. SLOs have
and then reviewed for elaboration and application through-
also been revised to focus on higher levels of thinking
out the text. Topics are approached developmentally and
●● National Standards: National standards in
placed appropriately within the curriculum area where stu-
literacy, mathematics, science, art, social studies,
dents can benefit from their content. Each topic becomes a
and music continue to appear at the beginning of
part of the entire curriculum.
each curriculum chapter as they relate to specific
In addition to the new features discussed previously,
standards; they are also integrated before relevant
numerous learning aids appear in the text to help student
chapter material as icons. Essential recommendations
comprehension:
and position papers of the NAEYC and Association
of Childhood Education International (ACEI) are ●● Key terms are bolded and listed as a running glossary
included as well. In particular, NAEYC’s Code of in the text margins so that students are able to identify
Ethical Conduct defines core values that are deeply them as they read the chapters.
rooted in the field of early childhood care and ●● Sectional icons visually highlight concentrated coverage
education. Also included are DEC Recommended that relates to developmentally appropriate practice,
Practices, Common Core State Standards, and InTASC NAEYC standards, Head Start standards, and InTASC
Model Core Teaching Standards. The major standards teaching standards. Depending on the topic of a chapter,
(NAEYC, DAP, InTASC, and Head Start) have been additional standards icons have been added, such as ILA
compared to chapter content in a Correlation Chart for language and literacy and NSES for science.
located inside the covers. Additional standards more ●● Chapter organization is formatted around the student
specific to a subject or group of students, such as DEC learning outcomes for that chapter.
and ILA, are included in the chapters they relate to ●● Observation, Assessment Strategies, and Evaluation
and in Appendix F. guidelines, forms and suggestions provide effective
●● Brain Research boxed feature: This feature provides tools to be used throughout the early childhood
information about significant brain research targeted curriculum. Guidelines and forms are available as
at the content of each chapter. New and updated digital downloads in the Professional Resources
research is found in Chapters 1, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 14. section within MindTap.
●● Technology and Teaching boxed feature: This ●● Learning Environment Checklists provide center-
feature discusses issues related to technology, based checklist to assist students as they complete
including suggestions for the use of technology in the observations in the children’s classrooms. These are
curriculum area discussed in the chapter. In some also available as digital downloads in the Professional
instances, it provides cautions related to its use. New Resources section within MindTap.
information on using technology has been added to ●● Activity Plan Worksheets provide detailed plans
Chapters 2 and 3. with guidance tips and assessment strategies, and
●● Appendix F has been revised to include the standards are included as digital downloads in the Professional
that are specific to each chapter’s content. Contact Resources section within MindTap.
information for the Common Core and also contacts ●● Lesson Plan samples provide guidance in weekly
for the standards for states that have their own planning for different age groups
standards have also been included in Appendix F. ●● Appendices are designed to give teachers practical
●● Videos: TeachSource videos and questions have been information that can be used across the curriculum.
moved to the MindTap digital learning platform under Appendix A, My Self, is an integrated curriculum
Activity 2 of the learning path. theme with developmentally appropriate activities.
Appendix B, Additional Activities and Songs, is new
More Features to Look For and includes additional activities that can be used in
Current and improved children’s book lists—available as dig- curriculum development. Appendix C, Songs and
ital downloads in the Professional Resources section within Poems, is also new and provides songs appropriate for
MindTap—are included at the end of each curriculum chapter curriculum topics. Another new Appendix, D, Forms,
Preface xvii
provides a collection of forms that can be used to

support classroom activities. Appendix E, Resources MindTap Moves
for Teachers, includes updated and new useful Students Up Create
resources. Appendix F, Additional Standards by Chapter Bloom’s Revised
including Common Core State Contact Information, Taxonomy Evaluate
describes additional early childhood standards and
Analyze
their alignment with the text content. Common Core
State standards contact information is also included.
Apply
Appendix G, Professional Organizations, includes
updated and new useful resources.
Understand
●● Standards Correlation Chart: A correlation chart of
NAEYC Standards for Early Childhood Professional Remember & Know
Preparation, DAP, InTASC, and Head Start is
correlated to each chapter, and is included on the
Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and
assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman.
inside covers of this edition. The chart identifies how

the content in this text aligns with these standards.
As students move through each chapter’s Learning Path,

Ancillaries they engage in a scaffolded learning experience, designed
The following ancillary materials are available to accompany to move them up Bloom’s Taxonomy, from lower- to high-
the seventh edition of Early Education Curriculum: A Child’s er-order thinking skills. The Learning Path enables preservice
Connection to the World. students to develop these skills and gain confidence by:
Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank ●● Engaging them with chapter topics and activating their
An online Instructor’s Manual accompanies this book. It con- prior knowledge by watching and answering questions
tains information to assist the instructor in designing the about authentic videos of teachers teaching and
course, including sample syllabi, discussion questions, teaching children learning in real classrooms.
and learning activities, field experiences, learning objectives, ●● Checking their comprehension and understanding
and additional online resources. For assessment support, the through Did You Get It? assessments, with varied
updated test bank includes true/false, multiple-choice, match- question types that are autograded for instant feedback.
ing, short-answer, and essay questions for each chapter. ●● Applying concepts through mini-case scenarios—
students analyze typical teaching and learning
Cengage Learning Testing Powered by Cognero situations, and then create a reasoned response to the
Cognero is a flexible, online system that allows you to author, issue(s) presented in the scenario.
edit, and manage test bank content from multiple Cengage ●● Reflecting about and justifying the choices they made
Learning solutions. Create multiple test versions in an instant within the teaching scenario problem.
and deliver them from your LMS, classroom, or wherever
you want! No special installs or downloads needed. Create MindTap helps instructors facilitate better outcomes
tests from school, home, the coffee shop—anywhere with In- by evaluating how future teachers plan and teach lessons in
ternet access. ways that make content clear and help diverse students learn,
assessing the effectiveness of their teaching practice, and ad-
MindTap™: The Personal Learning Experience justing teaching as needed. MindTap enables instructors to
MindTap for Early Education Curriculum: A Child’s Connec- facilitate better outcomes:
tion to the Word 7e, represents a new approach to teaching ●● Making grades visible in real time through the Student
and learning. A highly personalized, fully customizable learn-
Progress App so students and instructors always have
ing platform with an integrated eportfolio, MindTap helps
access to current standings in the class.
students to elevate thinking by guiding them to: ●● Using the Outcome Library to embed national
●● Know, remember, and understand concepts critical to education standards and align them to student
becoming a great teacher. learning activities, and also allowing instructors to add
●● Apply concepts, create curriculum and tools, and their state’s standards or any other desired outcome.
demonstrate performance and competency in key ●● Allowing instructors to generate reports on students’
areas in the course, including national and state performance with the click of a mouse against any
education standards. standards or outcomes that are in their MindTap course.
●● Prepare artifacts for the portfolio and eventual state ●● Giving instructors the ability to assess students on
licensure, to launch a successful teaching career. state standards or other local outcomes by editing
●● Develop the habits to become a reflective practitioner. existing or creating their own MindTap activities,
xviii P refac e
and then by aligning those activities to any state or With deep appreciation and many thanks to professors,
other outcomes that the instructor has added to the students, and colleagues who continue to use Early Education
MindTap Outcome Library. Curriculum in their classes.
To Cheri-Ann Nakamaru, product manager, and Lin
MindTap for Early Education Curriculum: A Child’s
Gaylord, senior content developer extraordinaire, for en-
Connection to the Word, 7e, helps instructors easily set
couragement and guidance and to Andy Miller, Timothy
their course since it integrates into the existing Learning
Kappler, Rita Jaramillo, and the rest of the team at Cengage
Management System and saves instructors time by allow-
Learning, and Lynn Lustberg of MPS, a huge THANK YOU.
ing them to fully customize any aspect of the learning path.
And finally, we appreciate the time, effort, and contri-
Instructors can change the order of the student learning ac-
butions that the following reviewers have given us:
tivities, hide activities they don’t want for the course, and—
most importantly—create custom assessments and add any Ann Barbour, Brandman University
standards, outcomes, or content they do want (e.g., You- Katy Basch, Kennesaw State University
Tube videos, Google docs). Learn more at www.cengage. Teresa Borchardt, Bates Technical College
com/mindtap. Beverlyn Cain, Fayetteville State University
Lisa Cook, Navarro College
Renae Ekstrand, University of Wisconsin-Stout
Acknowledgments Kristin Hommel-Miller, Rose State College
Our sincere and heartfelt appreciation is extended to the Sarah Huisman, Fontbonne University
special friends and colleagues who, throughout the years, Debra Johnston-Malden, Massasoit Community College
have inspired us through friendship, devotion to children, Dawn Kolakoski, Hudson Valley Community College
and commitment to students and the community. These Sharon Little, South Piedmont Community College
generous friends, who have spent their professional lives Jane Loxtercamp, Eastern Maine Community College
pursuing all that is best for children and who are most will- Kerri Mahlum, Casper College
ing to share their expertise. Specifically we want to thank T Vail Shoultz McCole, Colorado Mesa University-
Janet Galantay, Jo Eklof, Bea Wolf, and the students, faculty WCCC Campus
and staff of Eastfield College’s Center for Child and Family Kerry Belknap Morris, River Valley Community
Studies. THANK YOU! College
Special recognition must go to Hilda Jackman’s son, Lynette Pannell, Anderson University
Laurent Linn, for his illustrations throughout all seven edi- Ashley Simpson, Community College of Aurora
tions, which demonstrate his love and understanding of chil- Cyndi Syskowski, Community College of Allegheny
dren and give depth and meaning to what we have tried to County
communicate in words. Sapna Thapa, University of Wisconsin-Stout
Special thanks go to our husbands and families for their Loraine Woods, Mississippi Valley State University
support, patience, and encouragement. Elaine Zweig, Collin College
About
Brief
theContents
Authors
Nancy H. Beaver, M.Ed., has worked 40 years in Child Care and Early Childhood Education.
She holds a B.S. in Education from the University of Texas, and a M.Ed. in Early Childhood
Education from University of North Texas. Currently, she is the program administrator of
the Center for Child and Family Studies at Eastfield College, where she also teaches as an
Adjunct Faculty in Child Development and Teacher Education. In addition, she teaches
Early Childhood Education classes as an Adjunct Faculty for the University of North Texas
at Dallas.
In her career, she has held a variety of early childhood roles from a consultant, provid-
ing training and technical assistance to Air Force Family Member Services program staff, to
a Licensing Representative and Child Development Specialist for the state of Texas. She has
also been the executive director of a nonprofit agency and has raised more than $5,000,000
for early childhood projects at nonprofit agencies and community colleges. She successfully
led the Eastfield College Children’s Laboratory School staff to earn NAEYC Accreditation
in both 2008 and 2013. She worked on a faculty team to successfully earn NAEYC’s Early
Childhood Associate Degree Accreditation (ECADA).
She has a long history of involvement with the Dallas Association for the Education Nancy Beaver, M.Ed.
for Young Children (DAEYC) as president and many other board offices, Texas AEYC as vice
president and secretary of the board and NAEYC as Academy validator, commissioner, and
assessor. She is most proud of two awards: TAEYC Trainer of the Year (2005) and DAEYC Pat
Kennedy Teacher Educator of the Year (2006).
Nancy has also served as president of the Associate Degree Early Childhood Teacher
Educators, better known as ACCESS, in 2013 and 2014.
She is married to her college sweetheart, Dom, and has one daughter, Stephanie.
Dr. Susan Skinner Wyatt brings more than 40 years of experience in the field of early care and
education to this book. She holds a master’s degree in Child Development and Family Living
and a doctor of philosophy in Child Development with an emphasis on Adult Education and
Educational Administration, both from Texas Woman’s University.
Her experiences include director of a child-care center, child-care teacher, public
school teacher from elementary through high school, community college professor, and au-
thor. She currently serves as the chair of the Child Development/Early Childhood Education
and Teacher Education departments at Eastfield College in the Dallas, Texas, area.
Susan has served on the boards of the Dallas Association for the Education (past pres-
ident and treasurer), Texas Association for the Education of Young Children (Treasurer),
Dallas Association for Parent Education (president), and Child Development Educator’s
Association of the Texas Community College Teachers Association (past president and
secretary).
Susan has received the Innovator of the Year for the Dallas County Community Col-
lege District, Teacher Educator of the Year for the Texas Association for the Education of
Young Children, and the Piper Professor Award for Texas. She has served as a validator for Dr. Susan Skinner Wyatt
the NAEYC Center-based Accreditation and is currently a peer reviewer for the NAEYC
Early Childhood Associate Degree Accreditation.
Susan is married and the mother of three adult sons.
Welcome to the world of early education. We are glad you are here. Our profession needs
caring, committed individuals to encourage and support children through their early years.
xix
xx A b out t he Aut hor s
Hilda L. Jackman brings to her authorship a background rich in experience and achievement
as it relates to the education of young children. Long before she became professor emerita
with the Dallas County Community College District and professor-coordinator of the
Brookhaven Child Development/Early Childhood program, she pioneered children’s televi-
sion programming in the Dallas–Fort Worth area as a writer, producer, and puppeteer. She
went on to earn a master of science degree in Early Childhood Education at the University of
North Texas and for many years was a teacher of young children (infants through kindergar-
ten) and director of several child development programs. During her 20 years at Brookhaven,
besides writing curriculum and teaching, she helped establish the first certificate program in
Texas to train nannies, developed multicultural/anti-bias curriculum courses, and consulted
with business and industry on child care. Since retiring from college teaching, Hilda contin-
ues to act as a mentor, presents workshops and staff development seminars, consults, and
stays active in professional organizations. She is also the author of Sing Me a Story! Tell Me
a Song! Creative Thematic Activities for Teachers of Young Children (2005), also published by
Cengage Learning.
Hilda is the proud mother of two adult sons and the very proud
grandmother of twin granddaughters, shown with her in this photo.
To
Brief
theContents
Student
Each of you has a different reason for wanting to be in an early childhood classroom. Some
of you are just beginning. Others are experienced teachers. No matter what type of program
or what age group you work with, it is important that you understand the development of
young children, help them connect with the changing world of their families, and promote
developmentally appropriate practices in early education environments and curriculum.
This text is designed to be a practical guide to help you develop a curriculum appropri-
ate for young children. By learning about theory, underlying research, and developmentally
appropriate activities found in this text, you can develop your own curriculum.
Use the resources that accompany this text to get started creating curriculum webs.
Write lesson and activity plans using the digital forms as well. We hope these resources will
help you develop appropriate curriculum for young children. Your experiences with young
children are most important to your academic and professional development. We encourage
you to use this curriculum text to stimulate your own creativity and knowledge of children.
Mix and match, add to, and redesign the ideas and activities presented. Take the time to enjoy
the uniqueness of each individual child, as well as the group of children, as they explore and
interact with the curriculum.
It is also important to remember that professional ethics and confidentiality are con-
cerns that are inseparable from all observation, assessment, and participation activities. It is
crucial that you deal with each child or adult without prejudice or partiality and refrain from
imposing your own views or values upon children or adults.
We hope this text will prove helpful to you as you strive to make a difference in the
lives of young children and their families. We are all in this profession together, and, like the
children, we too are growing and developing.
— Nancy H. Beaver
— Susan Skinner Wyatt
— Hilda L. Jackman
xxi
Part 1
Preparing for Learning through
Assessment, Curriculum,
and the Environment
“ AtI stand outside the classroom, teacher,

the doorstep to the world.
I want to see it all,
To hear and feel and taste it all.
I stand here, teacher,
With eager eyes and heart and mind.
Will you open the door?
”
Janet Galantay
Reprinted with permission
1 Starting the Process
Putting it All Together:
Evaluation and Documentation
Standards Covered Student Learning Outcomes

in This Chapters
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
NAEYC 1a, 1b, 1c,
●● Analyze the importance of historical information and theories to the field of
2b, 2c, 4b, 4c, 5c, 6b, 6d
early childhood education.
DAP 2, 3, 5 ●● Identify developmentally appropriate practices as they relate to child develop-
INTASC 1, 2, 7, 8
ment and learning; individual strengths, interests, and needs; and social and
cultural contexts.
HEAD START
Domain: Approaches to Learning,
●● Discuss the importance of play in the lives of young children, describe the
Domain: Perceptual, developmental stages of play, and identify ways teachers foster play.
Motor and Physical Development
●● Explain the value of the techniques for communicating with families.
CEC DCC C12,
C14, C15
Ch a p te r 1 Sta r ti n g th e P r o c e s s 3
Please think of the children first. If you ever have anything

to do with their entertainment, their food, their toys, their
custody, their day or night care, their health care, their
education—listen to the children, learn about them, learn
from them. Think of the children first.
These words of Fred Rogers (2003) are meaningful to us as students and teachers. Children
must be at the center of all we do. As adults who genuinely care about them, we should honor
the uniqueness of each child and the child’s family. Give them teachers with commitment,
training, experience, and knowledge about child development and how children learn. “Chil-
dren come into the world eager to learn. . . . There can be no question that the environment in
which a child grows up has a powerful impact on how the child develops and what the child
learns” (Bowman, Donovan, and Burns, 2000, p. 1).
Research is showing in early and elementary education that “all children can and will
learn when educational communities are ready for them . . . This requires a commitment that
makes explicit the responsibility of education professionals to broaden their repertoires and
hone their skills to create classrooms in which all children maximize their potential” (New,
Palsha, and Ritchie, 2009, p. 3).
As you read this chapter, its focus on making the environment and the curriculum
child centered will be apparent. This chapter extends this philosophy by studying historical
aspects of early education, learning and developmental theories, developmentally appropri-
ate practices (DAP), social and cultural contexts, importance of play for young children, cur-
riculum planning, early childhood schedules and routines, and communicating with parents.
Also included are ideas to enhance instruction and activities that respect a child’s culture,
language, and learning style. Additionally, in-depth attention should be paid to language de-
velopment, cognition, physical development, and social and emotional competence.
Early Childhood Education
“ The field of early care and education has changed profoundly in the last decade. In
some ways, many long-time early childhood educators find it nearly unrecognizable.
Standards and guidelines abound. Increasing numbers of early childhood programs are
required to address state early learning standards (or guidelines) that will soon include
three-year-olds and next, perhaps, even infants and toddlers (Freeman and Feeney, 2006,
pp. 10–16).
”
With this in mind, it is important to look back at our profession to see how changes produced
new ways to help children and families. Historical information gives us an opportunity to
see how past generations viewed children and their acquisition of knowledge, based on reli-
gious, ethnic, political, and economic pressures of the times. Almy (cited in Greenberg, 2000,
pp. 6–10) believes that “it’s most important not to leave behind everything we already know
about children as we go on learning new things. . . . New knowledge should build on prior
knowledge, not erase and replace it.”
Exploring the storied history and philosophy of early childhood education presents
us with significant individuals and far-reaching developments that have impacted and in-
fluenced our thinking. “The history of early childhood education is like a tapestry—woven
of many influences. . . . The ingredients that early-childhood educators consider essential
today—that care and education are inseparable, that teaching practices are developmentally
appropriate, and that adequate funding is critical for success—all stem from historical events
and people” (Gordon and Browne, 2011, p. 3).
4 Par t 1 P r ep ar ing for L ear ning th ro u g h A sse ssm e n t, Cu r ri c u l u m , a n d th e E nv i ro n m e n t
The professional organizations mentioned in the timeline are all striving to improve
the field of early childhood education. Their efforts emphasize the importance of advocacy,
an attitude that encourages professionals, parents, and other caring adults to work together
on behalf of young children.
Anyone who cares about children can be an advocate. Classroom teachers who work
with school boards to change conditions for children and teachers are advocates. Caregivers
who contact their elected officials to ask them to vote for child and family friendly policies
are advocates. Professional associations who create opportunities to educate policy makers
about problems that children face are advocates. Families that ban together to ask that the
arts and music programs be returned to their school are advocates. Business leaders who
form coalitions with early care and education caregivers are advocates. College students who
support high educational standards so that they can be better teachers are advocates. Advo-
cacy has many forms, and any person or group that is willing to stand on behalf of children
is an advocate. (See Table 1-1.)
It is also essential for teachers to use every resource available to them, such as hav-
ing membership in local, state, and national professional organizations. Attending meetings,
workshops, and conferences offers opportunities for networking with other teachers. Read-
ing professional journals keeps one up to date with current information as well. (See Appen-
dix G for a comprehensive listing of professional organizations and their websites.)
Learning and Developmental Theories of Early

Childhood Education
As we continue to consider the influences that have contributed to the field of early childhood
education, it is beneficial to review the developmental theories that examine children’s growth,
behavior, and process of learning. A theory refers to a systematic statement of principles and
beliefs created to explain a phenomenon or group of facts that have been repeatedly tested or
are widely accepted. All curricula should be based on our beliefs about how children develop
and learn. These beliefs guide how we see teaching and supporting children as learners.
Following are a few of the most influential theories and information about the individ-
uals who developed them.
Psychosocial Theory
Erik Erikson (1902–1994) made significant contributions to psychoanalysis, personality
theory, education practice, and social anthropology over five decades.
Erikson recognized growth and development to be continuous throughout an indi-
vidual’s life. His eight psychosocial stages describe the interaction between an individual’s
social-emotional condition and the interpersonal environment. His stages of development
help us understand the importance of allowing children to play out their feelings in an envi-
ronment of acceptance. The first four stages are relevant to early childhood educators:
1. Basic trust versus mistrust (birth to one year). This developmental stage is important
theory: A systematic statement to an infant’s learning that people can be depended on and that the child can depend
of principles and beliefs created to on himself or herself. Love and acceptance are important for the child to learn that
explain a phenomenon or group of the world is a safe place in which to live. This foundation of trust will be developed if
facts that have been repeatedly the infant’s needs are met. This is observable when the infant babbles, coos, laughs,
tested or are widely accepted. crawls, pulls up, and is comfortable with the environment.
psychosocial: Erikson’s eight 2. Autonomy versus shame and doubt (second year). This stage helps a child develop
stages that describe the interaction a basic sense of self-control and independence. The child is growing rapidly. It is
between an individual’s social- significant during this stage that the toddler has opportunities to do things for himself
emotional condition and the or herself. This is observable when a toddler feeds and dresses himself or herself, and
interpersonal environment. generally has an “I can do it myself ” attitude that is accepted and reinforced by the
adults in his or her life.
TABLE 1-1: Timeline of Early Education Historical Highlights
3. Initiative versus guilt (3 to 5 years). During this stage of life, children are
becoming interested in exploring and are ready to learn. Children need to express
their natural curiosity and creativity through opportunities in the environment.
This stage of development is observable by watching how children demonstrate
body control and motor skills while riding a tricycle and running. Initiative
is reinforced when children are given freedom to engage in fantasy and other
dramatic play activities. Social roles in dramatic play continue to show children
identifying with adult roles. They enjoy making adult situations conform to
their notion of the ways things are. Roles can be reversed and new roles can be
tried out.
4. Industry versus inferiority (6 to 11 years). At this stage of life, the child is ready
for challenges of new and exciting ideas. The child needs opportunities for
accomplishment in physical, intellectual, and social development. This is observable
by watching older children during creative dramatics activities. They improvise
their own dialogue, play the scenes, and evaluate the results. This is informal and
demonstrates individual and group imagination, problem solving, critical thinking,
and cooperation with others.
The last four of Erikson’s (1963) psychosocial stages follow the individual from the
teenage years through the rest of the life span:
5. Identity versus role diffusion (12 to 18 years).
6. Intimacy versus isolation (young adulthood).
cognitive development: The 7. Generative versus stagnation (adult middle years).
mental process that focuses on how 8. Ego integrity versus despair (older years).
“ Erik
children’s intelligence, thinking
Erikson’s work and wisdom have profoundly shaped the field of child
abilities, and language acquisition
development. What comes through most strongly in Erikson’s work is his empathy
emerge through distinct ages.
and respect for children—and for their parents and the societies in which they
Piaget’s study of children’s thinking,
live. . . . Erikson’s work has more than withstood the test of time; it continues to
involving creating their own mental
inform and inspire the fields of child development, life-span studies, anthropology,
”
images of the world, based on
history, sociology, and others (Stott, 1994, p. 43).
encounters with the environment.
learning: Change in behavior or
cognition that occurs as children Cognitive Development Theory
construct knowledge through active Cognitive development is described as the intellectual acquisition of information, facts,
exploration and discovery in their or data and includes reasoning, understanding, problem solving, and language acquisition.
physical and social environments. Much of what is known about cognitive development has come from the work of Jean Piaget
(1896–1980). He introduced the study of children’s thinking and was the first to describe
assimilation: Piaget’s process
how each child creates his own mental image of the world, based on his encounters with the
of cognitive development, which
environment. Piaget describes the system of thought that develops through common stages
occurs when a child handles, sees,
of all cultures goes through all children.
or otherwise experiences something.
A careful consideration of Piaget’s concepts, along with close observation of children,
schema: An integrated way of helps teachers provide appropriate environments and experiences. Piaget believed that
thinking or of forming mental learning, or change in behavior, occurs as children construct knowledge through active
images. exploration and discovery in their physical and social environments. He also asserted that
accommodation: Piaget’s learning happens through the dual process of assimilation and accommodation.
theory of modification of existing Assimilation is a process that occurs when a child handles, sees, or otherwise experi-
cognitive information. Cognitive ences something, see Figure 1-1. He or she adds this information to existing schemata.
schemes are changed to A schema (plural, schemata) is an integrated way of thinking or of forming mental im-
accommodate new experiences or ages. “We constantly create, refine, change, modify, organize, and reorganize our schemata”
information. (Essa, 2013, p. 116).
equilibrium: A balance of one’s Accommodation occurs when a schema is modified as a result of experience. (See
cognitive schemes and information Figure 1-2.)
gathered from the environment; Equilibrium happens when there is a balance between assimilation and accommoda-
assimilation and accommodation. tion. According to Piaget, this continues until new information causes the process to begin
again (Piaget, 1926).
Ch a p te r 1 Sta r ti n g th e P ro c e ss 7
A child has a concept for “ball” that fits all the

balls the child has seen so far.
This child sees a football for the first time.
The football matches the “ball” concept, so the

child adds it to the concept of ball.
Figure 1-1 Example of Piaget’s concept of assimilation.
A child has a concept for “dog” that includes all animals

with four legs.
This child sees a cat for the first time and calls it a
“dog.” When the child realizes the cat does not fit
“dog,” he may create a new category for “cat.”
As the child matures, the process of accommodation

will enable him to create a super-concept, or a broader
category, which would include both the cat and the
dog—such as “animal.”
Figure 1-2 Example of Piaget’s concept of accommodation.
Piaget divided cognitive development into four stages:

1. Sensorimotor stage (birth to about 2 years). During this time, children grow from
helpless newborns to children who are able to walk and talk. Infants begin learning
through the use of their sensory system and reflexes. Gradually, these reflex behaviors
are changed and new behaviors develop. Babies enjoy repeating behaviors. Often,
something unexpected happens during repetitions and a new behavior is discovered.
They then try to repeat the new behavior. Throughout the sensorimotor stage, infants
are developing the concept of object permanence. According to Piaget’s theory, a
baby thinks that objects, including people, cease to exist the moment he or she stops
seeing them. For example, if an object that has left returns, the infant considers it a
new, though identical, object. As he or she develops, however, he or she begins to
search for the missing object or person.
2. Preoperational stage (about 2 to 7 years). Piaget believed that children’s thinking
during this stage is egocentric—that is, they think about the world only in relation
to themselves. Along with this, the preoperational period is characterized by
symbolic thinking. Symbols or mental representations are formed, allowing
children to solve problems by thinking before acting. They begin to enjoy pretend
play. As thinking emerges as verbal expression, language acquisition proceeds
rapidly. Intellectual and language development blend together. The more a child
uses all the senses and broadens his or her experiences, the more he or she has to
think and talk about.
3. Concrete operations stage (about 7 to 12 years). During this stage, children are
developing concepts of numbers, relationships, and processes, as well as thinking
problems through mentally. Logical thought requires actual physical objects or events.
Piaget explains:
“ Manipulation of materials is crucial. In order to think, children in the concrete stage

need to have objects in front of them that are easy to handle, or else be able to visualize
objects that have been handled and that are easily imagined without any real effort.
”
“ ability to allow the child to become conscious of a problem and seek ways he/she can
Children learn through the use of materials. They should be selected based on their
solve the problem. If the child generalizes too broadly, the teacher should provide
additional materials to allow the child to refine his/her solution.
”
4. Formal operations stage (12 years through adulthood). The individual reasons logically
and moves from concrete manipulations to abstract thinking. The ability to hypothesize
and think about what might be rather than what is usually occurs during this stage.
object permanence: A mature Each of these stages involves a period of formation and a period of attainment. Each
state of perceptual development. builds on the development of the preceding stage. Teachers and parents should provide ap-
According to Piaget’s theory, a baby propriate environments and ask appropriate questions, moving from simple to complex and
thinks that objects, including from concrete to abstract.
people, cease to exist the moment For exploration of other Piagetian concepts, see the section on play in this chapter and
he or she stops seeing them. An Chapter 10, “Math.”
older child starts to search for the
missing object or person. Sociocultural Theory
egocentric: A stage when Over the past two decades, the educational theories of Russian developmental psychologist
individuals think about the world Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) have been translated and made available in the United States.
only in relation to themselves. Vygotsky asserted that a child’s learning development is affected by his culture, including
symbolic thinking: The the culture of family environment. He focused on the whole child and incorporated ideas
formation of symbols or mental of culture and values into child development, particularly the development of language and
representations, allowing children to self-identity. “Because Vygotsky regarded language as a critical bridge between the sociocul-
solve problems by thinking before tural world and individual mental functioning, he viewed the acquisition of language as the
acting. most significant milestone in children’s cognitive development” (Berk and Winsler, 1995,
p. 20). It is from language that the child constructs reality.
Much of what a child learns comes from the culture around him. In addition, interac-
tions with teachers, parents, and more experienced peers contribute significantly to a child’s
intellectual development. Vygotsky believed that a difference exists between what a child
can do on his own and what he can do with help. Vygotsky called this difference the zone of
proximal development. In other words, the “zone” is the range of potential each child has for
learning, with that learning being shaped by the social environment in which it takes place.
This potential ability is greater than the actual ability of the individual when the learning is
facilitated by someone with greater expertise (Wertsch, 1991).
Vygotsky felt that children develop lower mental functions such as associative learning,
simple perceptions, and involuntary attention through social interactions with people who
possess more knowledge. Higher mental functions will eventually develop including prob-
lem-solving, moral reasoning, language, memory schemas, and logic.
For teachers of young children, the zone of proximal development may be used to
provide a theoretical base from which to understand cooperative learning. In the culture
of the classroom, this can translate into small-group instruction in which students work
together to solve problems. This approach encourages children to construct their own
knowledge while engaging in activities that build and rebuild, or construct, ideas based
on previous experiences. In addition, the role of the teacher includes both designing an
educative environment and collaborating with children by scaffolding their efforts to
master new skills. Vygotsky-based teaching is activity-centered and encourages teacher
to create opportunities for children to engage in culturally meaningful opportunities with
the teacher’s guidance. This kind of teaching emphasizes scaffolding, which occurs as the
teacher (adult) continually adjusts the level of help offered in response to the child’s level
of performance. Scaffolding can help instill the skills necessary for independent problem
solving in the future, and teachers must become experts in this experience. To do that,
teachers must effectively utilize observation skills to learn each and every child’s level
of learning. Only then can they make a determination of the steps to take to meet each
child’s unique needs.
For exploration of another major Vygotskian concept, see the section on play in
this chapter.
Multiple Intelligences Theory

Howard Gardner (1943–), a psychologist and professor at Harvard Graduate School of
Education, is also a researcher who has studied the mind and brain with particular reference
to learning and education. He has challenged the view that something called “intelligence”
can be objectively measured and reduced to a single number or “IQ” score. In fact, Gardner’s
definition of intelligence is multifaceted. His ongoing research, Project Zero, at Harvard sug-
gests that an individual is not born with all of the intelligence he or she will ever have. Rather,
intelligence can be learned and improved on throughout a lifetime. zone of proximal
Gardner identifies his cross-cultural exploration of the ways individuals are intelligent development: The range of
as multiple intelligences. His philosophy also proposes that one form of intelligence is not potential each child has for
better than another; all are equally valuable and viable. Gardner’s theory also suggests that learning, with that learning being
teachers should take seriously the child’s individual differences. An understanding of each shaped by the social environment
child’s intelligence is critical in the development of curriculum to prepare children to learn in which it takes place.
in new situations.
scaffolding: The adjustable
The following explanations of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences are adapted from Gardner
support the teacher offers in
(1997), Hine (1996), and Nicholson-Nelson (1999):
response to the child’s level of
1. Verbal-linguistic intelligence: From the babbling of infancy to the toddler’s simple performance.
sentences, the ability to use language and words continues to grow throughout early multiple intelligences: Gardner’s
childhood. Whether written or spoken, it develops with sensitivity to the order and theory, which proposes that one form
rhythm of words. The learning environment should include a language- and print- of intelligence is not better than
rich classroom with opportunities for reading, writing, speaking, and creative writing. another; all nine are equally valuable
Children who are accomplished in verbal-linguistic abilities enjoy reading, writing, and viable.
telling stories, playing word games, and communicating effectively.
2. Logical-mathematical intelligence: Starting with babies inspecting their world and

continuing on to toddlers recognizing similar characteristics of objects, the ability
to categorize and to use numbers, patterns, sequencing, and cause and effect to
solve problems develops and grows throughout early childhood. The learning
environment should offer opportunities to relate math and science to real-life
situations while providing activities that make math and problem solving fun,
relevant, and challenging. Children who are adept in logical-mathematical abilities
learn through asking questions in a logical manner, making connections between
pieces of information, exploring, and developing strong problem-solving and
reasoning skills.
3. Musical-rhythmic intelligence: Starting with the prenatal awareness of noises and
rhythms and, later, imitations of sounds and pitches, a child soon develops the ability
to produce and recognize simple and then complex songs and to perceive pitch,
tone, and rhythmic pattern. He becomes immersed in the music and sounds of the
world. The learning environment should provide opportunities for singing, listening,
movement activities, sound awareness, and musical instrument appreciation and
practice, while emphasizing cultural awareness through music. Children who are
strong in musical-rhythmic abilities think in rhythms and melodies; enjoy listening
to music, singing, dancing, humming, and playing musical instruments; and exhibit a
sensitivity to environmental sounds.
4. Visual-spatial intelligence: From the infant’s ability to discriminate among the faces
around him or her to the toddler’s first steps, the facility to perceive the visual world
with a great deal of understanding continues throughout early childhood. Creating
visual images with shape, color, and form opens up new understanding. The learning
environment should be a graphic-rich classroom that encourages opportunities for
visual processing as well as thinking and planning in three dimensions. Children who
are highly capable in visual-spatial abilities think in images and pictures; like to draw,
design, and create things; and often see things from different points of view. (See
Figure 1-3.)
Figure 1-3 Creating visual images with shape, color, and form opens up new
understanding for young children.
5. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence: From an infant’s looking for and grasping different

objects to the strength and coordination of an older child, the ability to use the body
for self-expression develops through information gained from muscles, sensations,
reflexes, coordination, and movement. The learning environment should reflect
opportunities for physical challenges throughout the day, not just outdoors but
indoors as well. The classroom should facilitate tactile experiences and the use of
manipulatives in math, science, and language arts. Children who are resourceful in
bodily-kinesthetic abilities learn through moving, doing, and touching. They enjoy
physical activities, such as those involving hand-eye coordination and hands-on
experiments.
6. Interpersonal intelligence: From an infant’s bonding with parents to the meaningful
relationships with others outside the family, the ability to understand other people
and their actions, moods, and feelings develops as young children deal with person-
to-person relationships and communication. The learning environment should
provide opportunities for children to relate to others by cooperatively participating,
sharing, negotiating, and communicating in groups or with individuals. Children who
show interpersonal abilities learn through listening, cooperating in shared projects,
demonstrating leadership skills, seeing things from other perspectives, and organizing
and negotiating group activities.
7. Intrapersonal intelligence: Starting with a baby’s realization that he or she is
a separate person from the mother, the child’s ability to understand himself
or herself grows throughout early childhood and at the same time helps in
the identification of feelings, moods, strengths, and weaknesses. The learning
environment provides plenty of space and time for self-reflection and working
alone in a safe environment that encourages appropriate risk taking. Children
who are accomplished in intrapersonal abilities learn through understanding
their role in relationship to others, have a strong sense of self, and enjoy setting
goals, planning, and working on self-paced projects, all of which involve having
choices.
8. Naturalist intelligence: A child’s interest in seeing, smelling, and touching
a flower, reacting to the sound of a bird, or playing with the family pet
demonstrates his or her ability to recognize important distinctions in the natural
world. The learning environment should offer opportunities for exploring
outdoors and bringing the outdoors inside by providing field trips, books,
visuals, objects, and materials relating to the natural world. Children who show
naturalist abilities learn through observing nature, being sensitive to all features
of the natural world, and enjoying books, visuals, and objects related to the world
around them. (See Figure 1-4.)
9. Existential: This ninth intelligence can be defined as the ability to be sensitive to, or
have the capacity for, conceptualizing or tackling deeper or larger questions about
human existence, such as the meaning of life, why are we born, why do we die,
what is consciousness, or how did we get here. Children pose, and sometimes even
answer, life’s larger questions. Like: Why am I here? Why are we here? Can animals
understand us, or do animals go to heaven? Where do we go when we die? These
may be those children who can be described as “fully aware” of the cosmos—of its
diversity, complexity, and wonder. Frequently, these are the children who persist in
asking those “big” questions that adults cannot answer.
The Multiple Intelligences theory is a useful model for developing a systematic

approach to nurturing and teaching children and honoring their individual needs and Figure 1-4 A child’s
strengths within a classroom setting. interest in seeing, smelling, and
The concept of multiple intelligences does not require discarding previous ideas. touching a flower demonstrates
Teachers can supplement current appropriate activities with new ideas that will reach even the ability to recognize important
more of their students. In fact, Gardner contends that teachers need to guide students into distinctions in the natural world.
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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI
Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)
The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.
NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA
I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.
MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]
MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY
With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
“We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
BRAZIER
Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT
SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB
CUTTING THE EDGE

FINISHING THE BOTTOM
LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING
FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE
TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL
NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK
DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG
REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

BEATING THE BARK
WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT
MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN

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Early Education Curriculum: A

Childu2019s Connection to the World

To register or access your online learning solution or purchase materials

Preface ix Box 2-1: Observing Young Children Guidelines 33

4 The Learning Environment 71 Puppets 113

Art Environment Checklist 144 Types of Play 174

Guidance in Social Studies and Dramatic 9 Science 230

Philosophies of This Book

provides a collection of forms that can be used to

inside covers of this edition. The chart identifies how

As students move through each chapter’s Learning Path,

“ AtI stand outside the classroom, teacher,

Standards Covered Student Learning Outcomes

Please think of the children first. If you ever have anything

Early Childhood Education

Learning and Developmental Theories of Early

TABLE 1-1: Timeline of Early Education Historical Highlights

A child has a concept for “ball” that fits all the

This child sees a football for the first time.

The football matches the “ball” concept, so the

Figure 1-1 Example of Piaget’s concept of assimilation.

A child has a concept for “dog” that includes all animals

As the child matures, the process of accommodation

Figure 1-2 Example of Piaget’s concept of accommodation.

Piaget divided cognitive development into four stages:

“ Manipulation of materials is crucial. In order to think, children in the concrete stage

Multiple Intelligences Theory

2. Logical-mathematical intelligence: Starting with babies inspecting their world and

5. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence: From an infant’s looking for and grasping different

The Multiple Intelligences theory is a useful model for developing a systematic

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

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