The main focus of this curriculum is to incorporate elements of children’s developmental domains which contribute to the holistic being. Our activities are designed by taking into consideration the children we have observed for our child study. Although we recognize the concept of play in the curriculum, we feel that it is also important to provide pupils with a structured curriculum that would supplement their developmental needs. The curriculum aims to develop the children’s socio-emotional development, cognitive – language development and physical development through the integration of play as well as the inquiry, project and thematic approach.
In doing so we have ensured that children are provided with an avenue for aesthetic and creative expression, language and literacy development, practice for numeracy skills, motor skills development along with creating an awareness of the self, the environment and the social sphere.
As part of our design objective, we aim to ensure continuity from what children have learnt in preschool to the primary school curricula. We feel that this would ease pupils into making the transition from an environment which they have developed a sense of familiarity (i.e. the kindergarten setting) and the one which they are being initiated into. Partnered with the other key approaches, our team firmly belief that by encompassing our curriculum around play, it would supplement children’s developmental needs which in our view have been neglected in the current school curricula.
Our Curriculum
Having observed the children at the various kindergarten settings, our group have decided to build our curriculum around the concept of “learning through play”. We recognize that play is an integral part of a child’s holistic development and it should not be omitted as the child progresses into the primary education system. From our child study we observed that each of these children displayed varying interests and abilities which can be extended through a curriculum centered on the concept of play. Play, as we know it, has been defined in many ways by various theorists. One of the many definitions is by Van Hoorn (2007) who affirms that “[p]lay plays a big part of young children’s development and expression of the child’s developing personality, sense of reflect, intellect, social capacity and physicality.” (p. 4). The activities that surround our curriculum are aimed to address these vital domains of the developing child. Van Hoorn (2007) also theorizes that the concept of play exists in a continuum which ranges from “spontaneous” to “guided” to “teacher-directed play”. We have adopted this concept throughout the entire design of this curriculum. Through the integration of both individual and group activities, we are taking into consideration each child’s learning needs as we acknowledge their different learning styles.
In our planning, we aim to invigorate this concept of play into our curriculum by integrating other key approaches used in the current school curricula. The curriculum is designed such that it is centered on the concept of “learning through play” while at the same time utilizing the thematic approach, inquiry approach and the project approach. We have developed the following tripartite diagram to illustrate how we have incorporated the various approaches in our curriculum.
Thematic Approach
We have chosen to implement the thematic approach as it keeps our curriculum design focused. In view of what has been stated by Wortham (2006), we agree that since the “thematic curriculum is completed over a period of time, there is opportunity for exploration, investigation, and representation of learning in an unhurried environment” (p.299). Ideally, the curriculum should be executed through a span of eight weeks, within a term. This is to ensure that children would be given ample time to develop skills and knowledge surrounding the adopted theme. We felt that the thematic approach would also aid in children’s learning as they build up experiences based on an ongoing theme which stimulates children into meaning-making as they acquire skills and develop in the different domains.
Inquiry Approach
The inquiry approach has also been interwoven into this curriculum because we believe that pupils should be given the opportunity to explore for themselves the learning possibilities through inquisitive questions. Much of the activities designed in this curriculum has been targeted at children in honing their inquiry skills. Pupils are encouraged to seek solutions using the open resources made available to them.
Project Approach
The project approach was also adopted in this curriculum as a way of assessing pupils’ learning. Through this mode of assessment, where pupils are given free reign of the project that they could work on, pupils would be exposed to a variety of activities that taps on their various abilities. Both Vygotsky and Piaget believed that it is through personal manipulation and discoveries that children are able construct an understanding of their learning experiences. Additionally with this project approach pupils will be able to work in a social context where they can learn through a partnership with the teacher.
Suggested Activities
As an illustration the suggested activities in the framework we have included is based on the theme of Occupation. We planned these activities with the assumption that it is theme which the children have collaboratively decided on as a whole class. The activities incorporated in this curriculum development takes into account the interests and strengths of the children we have observed during our child study. For instance, we have given pupils the choice of their mode of presentation for the role play which can be done through dramatization or a musical performance. Moreover this would encourage pupils to form a self awareness of their personal strengths and interests.
The Career Day is essentially a whole day event where children will be given an opportunity to exhibit the product of the projects in which they have undertaken within their groups. We have implemented this concept of a career day as we feel that this would encourage children to take responsibility and pride of their achievements and what they are capable of creating.
课程的目的 本课程的主要焦点是将儿童发展领域，这有助于整体性的元素。我们的活动的目的是考虑到我们所观察到的孩子，为我们的孩子学习。虽然我们认识到在课程中发挥的概念，我们觉得同样重要的是为学生提供一个结构化的课程，他们的发展需要补充。该课程旨在培养儿童的社会情感的发展，认知 - 语言的发展和身体发育，以及通过整合发挥的查询，项目和专题的方式。 在这样做，所以我们已确保儿童美学和创造性的表达，语言和读写能力的发展，实践算术技能，运动技能一起创造自我的意识，环境和社会领域的发展提供了一个途径。 作为我们的设计目标的一部分，我们的目标是确保连续性的孩子已经学会了在幼儿园到小学的课程。我们认为，这将缓解学生从一个环境，他们已经开发出一种熟悉的感觉，（即幼儿园设置），他们正在开始进入一个过渡。伙拍其他关键的方法，我们的团队坚定地相信，包括我们的课程围绕发挥，这将补充儿童的成长需要，我们认为在当前学校课程被忽视。 我们的课程 观察孩子的各种幼儿园设置，本集团已决定建立围绕“通过游戏学习”的概念，我们的课程。我们认识到，玩的就是一个孩子的全面发展的一个组成部分，它不应该被省略，因为孩子到了小学教育系统进步。从我们的孩子的研究中，我们发现，这些儿童显示不同的兴趣和能力，通过一门课程的概念发挥中心可以延长。播放，因为我们知道它已被定义在许多方面，通过各种理论家。许多的定义之一是由范·霍伦（2007年），“[P]裁员起着大幼儿的发展和表达孩子的发展个性，反映的意识，智力，社会能力和肉体的一部分。”（p肯定谁4）。活动围绕着我们的课程旨在解决这些重要领域的发展中国家的孩子。范·霍伦（2007）的理论，存在一个连续范围从“自发”到“引导”，“教师指导的戏剧”的概念发挥。我们已经采用了这个概念，在整个设计这门课程。通过整合个人和团体活动，我们考虑到每个孩子的学习需求，我们承认他们不同的学习风格。 我们的目标是在我们的规划中，，搞活这个概念发挥到我们的课程整合等关键在目前的学校课程中使用的方法。该课程的目的是这样，它是围绕“通过游戏学习”，而在同一时间利用专题的方式，探究方法和项目实施方式的概念。我们已经开发了以下三方图来说明如何在我们的课程中，我们已经将各种方法。 主题教学法 我们选择实施专题的做法，因为它使我们的课程设计重点。在观点已经指出由沃瑟姆（2006），我们同意“专题课程，因为过了一段时间，完成勘探，调查，并表示在一个宽松的环境中学习，就有机会获得”（p.299 ）。理想的情况下，应执行课程通过短短八周的期限内。这是为了确保将给予孩子充足的时间来开发技能和知识，周围采用主题。我们认为，专题的方法也可以帮助孩子的学习，他们建立了经验的基础上刺激意义的决策，因为他们获得了在不同领域的技能和发展的孩子培养成一个持续的主题。 探究方法 查询方法也被交织成这门课程，因为我们认为学生应该有机会探索自己的学习的可能性，通过好奇的问题。在这个课程设计的活动已针对孩子在磨练自己的探究技能。学校鼓励学生寻求解决方案，提供给他们使用的开放资源。 项目教学法 本课程作为评估学生的学习方式，还通过了该项目的方法。通过这种模式的评估，学生自由支配的项目，他们可以工作，学生将接触到各种各样的活动，他们的各种能力上的水龙头。维果茨基和皮亚杰认为，它是通过个人操纵和发现，孩子们能够构建一个了解他们的学习经验。此外，这个项目的做法学生就能在社会环境中工作，在那里他们可以通过与教师合作的学习。 建议活动 作为一个例子，我们已经包含在框架的建议的活动是基于职业的主题。我们在策划这些活动的假设，它是主题，孩子们作为一个整体类合作决定。在本课程开发的活动纳入了考虑的孩子，我们已经观察到，在我们的孩子学习的兴趣和长处。例如，我们已经给学生演示模式的选择，可以通过戏剧或音乐表现剧中的角色。此外，这将鼓励学生形成自我意识，他们的个人优势和利益。 职业日基本上是一整天的活动，让孩子将给予机会展示的项目中，他们已经在他们的群体进行的产品。这个概念我们已经实现了职业生涯的一天，因为我们认为这将鼓励孩子们以他们的成就和他们能够创建的责任感和自豪感。
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