TOPIC 2

Teacher's Role in Fostering

Children's Learning
BY THE END OF THIS TOPIC, YOU SHOULD BE
ABLE TO:

 Explain the learning process in early childhood education;

 Discuss the features of authentic learning;
 Identify elements necessary for effective early years teaching; and
 Describe the teachers’ role as facilitators of learning.
WHAT IS LEARNING?
 The process of acquiring knowledge or skills through experience, studying, training and
practice which leads to behavioural change in the learner.
AUTHENTIC LEARNING
 a pedagogical approach allowing children to explore, discuss, and meaningfully construct
concepts and relationships in contexts that involve real-world problems relevant to the pupil

 Authentic learning experiences resemble situations that people naturally encounter outside the
classroom and that make sense to them. Authentic learning experiences share the following
features
5 FEATURES OF AUTHENTIC
LEARNING
2.3 ACTIVE LEARNING IN
EARLY YEARS
Research has reported that young children learn best when they are:

 Actively interacting with others;

 Allowed to explore their environment; and
 Given the chance to apply their knowledge in a variety of ways; verbally, written, through
painting, drawing and building things
WHEN PLANNING ACTIVITIES, TEACHERS SHOULD TAKE INTO
CONSIDERATION A NUMBER OF IMPORTANT ASPECTS SUCH AS:

 Balance between discovery activities with structured activities;

 Connections between the classroom and pupilsÊ everyday experiences;
 Hands-on activities; and
 Practical life activities such as sweeping floors, wiping tables, peeling potatoes and planting
vegetables.
 THREE ELEMENTS NECESSARY FOR EFFECTIVE
EARLY YEARS TEACHING:

 Creating the learning environment. This includes organising materials and resources,
providing relevant, interesting and novel experiences and providing opportunities for active
exploration and questioning, including a lot of pupil- pupil and pupil-adult talk to allow
linguistic competency to develop;
 Direct instruction, including demonstration, description, answering questions, directing the
childs attention and constructive criticism and reinforcement; and
 Scaffolding, including directing childrenÊs attention to new aspects of a situation, helping the
children to sequence activities and managing complex tasks by breaking them down into
smaller, more manageable parts.
TWO APPROACHES TO
TEACHING
 some teachers nurture childrens thinking skills by asking them open-ended questions,
 while others just encourage children to memorise facts by asking them close-ended questions.
 Quality teachers facilitate learning by providing children with appropriate materials that help
children to learn independently.
ciple Description
rs What teachers believe about how children learn guides their interactions with children, their daily schedule and
room arrangement. In early childhood setting, teachers and caregivers interact with children in different ways.
Some use open-ended questions that focus on factual information to probe childrenÊs thinking; others use closed-
g ended questions that centre on factual information. These interactions reflect not only certain theoretical
perspectives, but also reflect teachersÊ beliefs of how children learn.
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g

rs As a partner in learning, teachers must be skilled at selecting the appropriate learning materials that will help
children move from learning with assistance to learning independently.
uni

rs Social interaction is central to learning. Pupils need many opportunities to share and compare their thinking with
age that of others. The others can be peers or adults who provide the opportunity to refine and develop thinking.
Teachers as facilitators can increase learning with some of the following strategies that rely on social interaction:
tion cooperative learning, peer tutoring, cross-age tutoring, group investigations, socio-dramatic play and socio-dramatic
ared play centres. Each of these strategies respects pupils as resources in constructing their own learning.
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QUESTIONS
 You are planning activities for young children. What are the important aspects that you should
consider?
 Describe the five features of authentic learning experiences.
 Give two examples of how teachers model and teach lifelong learning skills to young children.