Becoming a professional in the field of early childhood education requires you to become familiar with the various developmental theories, as well as research that studies the effectiveness of various learning approaches. Throughout the last two weeks, you have learned about these different theories and approaches to learning. After engaging in discussions with your classmates, you now have ideas about which theories and approaches you would like to use in your work with children. Using the steps below, you will sort through these theories and approaches to shape who you are as a teacher and what you believe about how children learn best. This assignment will also help you prepare for your final assignment.
Step 1: Reflect back on your initial response in the Aspects of Theories discussion from Week 2 and the Learning Approaches discussion from this week. Using the theories and approaches that were discussed, fill in the table below by ranking each according to how you connected with them (most connected at the top and least connected at the bottom; delete the example row provided). Please note that you will need to create your own table or graphic organizer.
Theorists/Theories Most connected to least connected
Learning Approaches Most connected to least connected
Ex: 1. Piaget Theory of Cognitive Development
Ex: 1. High Scope
1.
1.
2.
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3.
3.
4.
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5.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Step 2: Using the table as a guide, research your top two theories and top two learning approaches. You will create a Word document or a PowerPoint presentation that contains your responses to the points below as they are applied to each of your top two theories and top two learning approaches.
Summarize the underlying principles or ideas for each of your two theories and for each of your top two approaches.
Explain why your top two theories and your top two approaches are important to understand and how each will benefit your work with children.
Discuss how your top two theories and your top two approaches will help you to be an effective teacher.
Summarize the similarities you see between the theory and model of those you ranked first. For example, if Piagets theory of cognitive development was your top theory and the Reggio Emilia approach was your top learning approach, share how these two ideas support one another.
Step 3: Submit your assignment to your instructor as a Word document or as a PowerPoint that contains your table from Step 1 and your responses to the questions from Step 2. Whichever option you choose, you will also need to follow APA style and include title and references pages. In addition, the information in your assignment needs to be supported by the textbook and at least one additional scholarly source (see the Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table).
