INTRODUCTION TO THE
HIGHSCOPE CURRICULUM
2
Objectives
1. Identify the elements of a high quality
program
2. Learn the ingredients of active learning
3. Identify the factors of intrinsic motivation
4. Discuss the learning cycle and how it
relates to intrinsic motivation
3
Who We Are and What We Do
1. What struck you about the work
HighScope does?
2. What was something you did not know
about HighScope?
4
HighScope Curriculum
• A set of teaching practices for adults
• Content for children’s learning in all areas
of development
• An assessment system to measure
program quality and evaluate what children
learn
• A training model to prepare teachers to use
the curriculum
5
Wheel of Learning
ASSESSMENT
ADULT-CHILD
INTERACTIONS
ACTIVE LEARNING
DAILY ROUTINE
LEARNING
ENVIRONMENT
6
Elements of Quality
• In your table groups create a list of words
or phrases that would describe a high
quality program.
7
Elements of Quality
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Child development curriculum
Low enrollment limits
Staff trained in early childhood development
Supervisory support & in-service training
Involvement of parents as partners
Sensitivity to non-educational needs of
children
Developmentally appropriate evaluation
procedures
8
LEARNING ABOUT
APPLES
9
10
CREATE A GROUP DEFINITION
FOR ACTIVE LEARNING
11
Ingredients of Active Learning
1. Materials
2. Manipulation
3. Choice
4. Child Language and Thought
5. Adult Scaffolding
Create a mnemonic device to help you remember
the 5 ingredients of active learning.
12
Looking for Active Learning
• Watch the classroom clip Making a School
Bus and look for examples of active
learning
MRS. TURNER’S
SMALL-GROUP TIME
Hobbies
• Turn to a partner and talk about something
you like to do and why.
15
Types of Motivation
1.
Extrinsic Motivation: Individuals are
motivated by the need to receive rewards or
punishments to alter their behavior. Drive
comes from outside
2.
Intrinsic Motivation: Individual’s behavior
arises from his or her own needs, not how
others will respond. Drive comes from within
16
Intrinsic Motivation
• Interest
• Enjoyment
• Control
• Probability of success
• Feelings of competence and self-confidence
17
Learning Cycle
Play
Risk taking
Enjoy
All is well
Repeat Play
Mastery
18
My Learning Cycle
Knit a scarf
Knit a sweater
See self as a
competent knitter
19
Objectives
• Identify and experience different types of
play
• Recognize characteristics unique to young
children’s thinking and reasoning
• Apply the horizontal approach to teaching
children
20
Spirit of Playfulness
1. What are your fondest memories of play
as a child?
2. Which ingredients of active learning were
present?
3. Do children today experience the same
types of play? Why or why not?
21
Types of Play
Constructive
Exploratory
Pretend
Games
22
BUILDING A BRAIN
23
Our Brain
24
Neural Pruning
• Connections that are used over and over
get stronger and faster.
• Connections that are not used, die out.
25
Group Discussion
• Based on what we experienced in the yarn
activity, what do children need to grow their
brains?
26
The Importance of Play in
Brain Development
Play allows children to:
• Explore, create, & develop imagination
• Discover their own areas of interest.
• Learn how to work together
• Build active, healthy bodies and brains.
HOW PRESCHOOLERS’
THINKING DIFFERS FROM
ADULT THINKING
28
Egocentrism
• Young children see the world only from
their own view point.
• “If I can’t see you, you can’t see me.”
• “I would like a doll for my birthday so my
mom should want one too.”
29
Animism
• If something moves (e.g., water, clothes
flapping in the breeze) or if it somehow
looks alive (e.g., headlights of a car at
night), it must be alive.
• “Look, the water is running to get in my
shoes.”
30
Concrete Definitions
• Words have concrete, literal meanings
related to things children have experienced.
• When a child hears that his birthday is “just
around the corner,” he may want to look
around the corner.
31
Judging By Appearances
• Children base judgments about number
and amount completely on appearances.
• Alicia and Monica both took the same size
cracker from the basket, but Alicia broke
hers into two pieces and Monica broke hers
into many smaller pieces. Alicia is upset
because Monica has “more crackers.”
32
Focus on Here and Now
• Children cannot see the relationship
between the way something was and how
it’s transformed – sometimes called “slide
show thinking.”
• A child watches her brother put on a scary
mask. The child is then scared of the
“monster” because she cannot make a
connection between her brother and the
“monster.”
33
Blending Intuitive and Scientific Thought
• Children incorporate newly-learned
scientific information with their own
perception.
• Melanie’s mother says, “It’s morning.”
Melanie replies, “No, it’s still dark, it’s
night.” She goes to the window and pulls
open the curtain. “Now it’s light. I made it
morning.”
34
What Characteristic is This?
35
What Characteristic is This?
36
What Characteristic is This?
37
What Characteristic is This?
38
What Characteristic is This?
39
Thinking and Reasoning
in My Classroom
• With your table group, share examples of
each characteristic you’ve experienced in
your classroom
CONSTRUCTING
KNOWLEDGE
41
Answers
42
Learning a New Task
• We have experienced cutting round or
rectangular cakes.
• We try to cut the cake based on what we already
know.
• We can’t fit these new rules and this weird cake
shape into our existing knowledge about cutting
cakes.
• We have to change what we know about cutting
cakes (learn a new way).
43
Piaget’s Concepts:
• Assimilation - trying to fit new input into an
existing mental frame-work; resistance to
change -- Trying to cut the cake
• Disequilibrium - a state of intellectual
imbalance; inner conflict (“problem”);
provides motivation to find a solution -Can’t cut the cake
44
Piaget’s Concepts cont.
• Accommodation - modifying an existing
mental framework to accept new input;
need for change -- Turn the knife to cut the
cake
• Equilibrium - a state of intellectual
balance; inner contentment; solution of
conflict/problem results in new
understanding -- New way to cut the cake
45
Approaches to Education
Vertical Approach
T
Horizontal Approach
TN
N
Can’t do
Can Do
46
Nora’s Use of Scissors
1. With a partner, read the story about Nora
2. Discuss how you would help Nora master
the use of scissors
3. Share ideas with entire group
47
Real life situations like Nora’s
1. With your group, think of a situation that
has happened or is happening in your own
program similar to Nora.
2. Brainstorm support ideas using the
horizontal approach to teaching.
48
THINKING AND REASONING
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN