Effects of DAP learning

environment on
children’s behaviour
 The environment a child grows up in and things he sees
around him always influence his early learning. It could be
the ambiance at home, at school, in the neighborhood and
any other areas where a child spends a considerable
amount of time. One of the first and main environment, a
child will experience is the one at home. Since his birth,
the environment he sees and feels around him will shape
his personality, influence his behavior and motivation to
act. The environment can facilitate or discourage
interactions with people. It will teach him how to interact
with those who are close to him and who isn’t. A
sentimental connect with people around during the early
years help him feel confident and secure or timid and
insecure
How Environment Effects?
 Besides the influence of physical environment a
child experience, interactions with different
people nurture his personality most. The mental
capacity of a child must interact with the same in
his early ages as someone older may not influence
negatively but due to child’s mental capability,
he may adopt it in a negative way. A child’s
curious mind drags him to experience things
before he is capable of it naturally thus his
simplicity can be used against by any black sheep
or himself as the company he keeps.
 Nature of the child and the environment he experiences
are always sided by side in nourishing a child. It is believed
that the company he keeps effects his future but that’s
not the only thing that affects, even his siblings, parents,
relatives and teachers effect but sadly for every failure,
we blame only a bad company and ignore all the others.
 From History to the 20th century human minds have
changed enough. Today a kid holds a smartphone that
defines his smartness but here by age his simplicity, his
curiousness, maturity, seniority, and awareness remains
same. Before that, his environment was limited to the
society he lives in but now he holds the whole world right
inside a digital box, connected to the hidden faces, a
limitless environment that can affect him. It can do both;
flourish him or ruin him.
A Learning Environment:
 You will be your child’s first teacher, so it is crucial you create an
environment that stimulates and aids her skill development.
 A positive and relaxed environment at home will help your child concentrate
on studies and learn better.
 You and your spouse should create opportunities that allow your child to
explore, even within the home.
 Always encourage your child to ask questions and look for solutions. It will
help her gain more knowledge.
 As a parent, you have the biggest responsibility of creating the right
environment for your child as it will affect her personality, learning and
behavior. Environment and child development are correlated. It is not
possible to give your child a perfect setting, but you can surely give her the
best you can. Make sure you keep the milieu at home happy, loving and
positive. Spend quality time with your child and teach her values by example.
Setting up the physical
environment

 The physical environment in a preschool classroom
should be set up in such a way that promotes self-
learning and direction by the children.  This will
free up the teacher to have more quality one-on-
one time with the children.  Preschoolers are full of
energy, enthusiasm, and determination to explore
and learn, hence the environment that we provide
for them should be challenging, interesting, and
foster independence and creativity among the
children.  How do we do this?
1.Characteristics of the Environment:
 Before you set up your classroom you need to evaluate the environment that
you have available to work with.  The following characteristics according to
Gestwicki (1999) are essential to make an environment developmentally
appropriate.
 Softness and hardness:  
There should be a balance between the hard and soft surfaces in the
classroom.  All hard surfaces will be harmful to both the adults and children in the
classroom.  Provide a variety of tactile stimulants in your environment.
 Open and closed:  
Open environment and materials promote creativity and independence among
children (these are materials that children can manipulate however they want
to).  However too much of an open environment may promote too much
movement within the classroom which may lead to accidents.  There should also
be a limited supply of closed materials which have only one way of being
manipulated (e.g. puzzles).  Some portions of the environment should be closed to
foster focused and quiet activities.
 Intrusion and seclusion:  
The environment should have areas that promote
peer interaction and areas that foster individual work.
 Risk and safety:  
The classroom should encourage the children to
feel confident in attempting tasks that might be risky (as
perceived by them) but the teacher needs to make sure that
it safe to do so.
 Language rich environment:  
Make sure all the materials are clearly
labeled.  Don’t use just words to label the objects in your
class, glue a picture of the object by the word so that
children will get an additional clue to recognizing the word.
2. Learning Centers: 
 The learning centers are areas in classroom around which the
curriculum primarily depends on.  It is these centers that invite the
children to explore and learn.  They are known by several names ie.,
interest centers, discovery stations, learning areas, and learning
stations.  The number of learning centers that you can have depends
on the philosophy of your program, space, and number of children in
your classroom.
 Teachers can plan a variety of activities within each learning
center.  Each of the learning centers should have a clear purpose,
description and details about how it works.  Some centers have the
above information posted in each of the centers to inform parents
and visitors as to what is being done.  Interest centers need not be
limited to indoor spaces, it could also be done in the outside space.
 Some programs plan on each center accommodating between 4-6 children
in each large learning center, so if you plan to have 20 children in your
class, you should have atleast five large learning centers.  You could also
have several smaller learning centers in your class that are more or less
like permanent fixtures.  Some of the large learning centers are:
• Block building- Hollow wooden blocks of different shapes and sizes, cardboard
blocks, accessories and props to go with block construction (cars, airplanes, trains,
people figures, traffic signs, miniature household articles)
• Library- Book shelves at the children’s eye level (be sure to display the books with
the front of the book jacket facing the children), variety of books (books about other
ethnicities, diverse families)
• Dramatic play- Appropriate household equipment, and furniture,(i.e., miniature
pretend cooking range, sink, washer and dryer, cupboards etc.) selection of men’s and
women’s clothes, full length mirror, telephones, dolls of different ethnicity, sizes and
colors, pretend food, and produce, cooking and eating utensils
• Creative arts/crafts- low shelves to store child accessible art supplies, like
different sizes of papers, crayons, markers, glue, collage materials, stencils, stamps,
scissors, playdough, yarn and fabrics, and smocks.  Shelves at a higher level to store
adult accessible art supplies like paints, water colors, pastels, craypas, brushes, paint
containers, chalk, glue, material for sponge and block painting, and other types of
paint applicators
• Manipulative/math- Tables and chairs, low shelves with containers of labeled
manipulatives, puzzles, counting, sorting and classifying games, and counters.
• Large/gross motor- Try to have only one large motor equipment, either a
climbing, balancing, or lifting materials.  If you decide to have a climbing
equipment make sure you have adequate support around the equipment to prevent
injuries due to fall.
• Music- Musical instruments and appropriate storage area, record player, tape
recorder, and CD player (depending on which audio visual aids you frequently use),
headsets, records, tapes, and CDs, props to go with the music
 Some of the smaller centers are:
• Writing- Tables and chairs, stationary and writing tools, stencils, stamps, type
writer, computer
• Science- Magnifying glass, microscope, balance, magnets, pets, display area, books
related to the current theme, plants, and areas for children to display their
collection
• Cooking
Setting up of the Learning Centers:
 As mentioned earlier the number of centers in your class is dependent on the
program philosophy, available space, and number of children.  Before setting up
the learning centers take a survey of the permanent fixtures in your classroom
because you will have to work around these limitations.  Some of the permanent
fixtures to document for include: doors, window, sink, room dividers, and
closets.  Some ideas for placing the different centers are:
 The area around the door can be used for children’s cubbies.
  If there is a sink in your class, it would be convenient to place the art center by
it.  If you plan to have a cooking activity, pulling a table by sink will be helpful.
 Have your reading/library area by the window. You could also set up the science
center by the window to facilitate growth of plants.
  Place an active center by a slow/quieter center, this will prevent you from having
all quiet areas in one part of the class and all the noisy centers in the other part.
 Try to have a relatively flat and open area for your block center. 
 Use low dividers or shelves to divide centers, and store materials for the centers.
  If each of the learning centers require tables place them in the centers in such a
way that they do not black the traffic
 Avoid having large open spaces in your class, for they encourage running in the
classroom
 The traffic pathways should be clearly marked and wide enough to prevent pushing
and behavior issues
 You do not have to have all the learning centers going at the same time constantly,
you can rotate centers according to the theme.
 Remember your classroom does not have to stay the same forever, observe how the
children use the space and centers, if your arrangement is not working for this group
of children, change the layout to better meet their needs and interest.  This will
help ease a lot of stress for you and the children
 Have self-monitoring tools in each of the centers that allow the children to regulate
the number of children in each of the centers (to prevent overcrowding).  Velcro
figures, clothespins, room to hang a specified number of name tags will help
facilitate the monitoring process.
 No matter how you set up the centers, you should be able to see the children from
any spot in the class room.  Try not to create spaces in the class where children may
be unmonitored.