TCHR20003 Curriculum Studies in Early Childhood Education Report Sample

Task Instructions

Write a critical response to the following three points to demonstrate a good working knowledge and understanding of early childhood education curriculum, frameworks, theory, and concepts.

1. Define what curriculum means in early childhood education and provide a rationale for your statement using the unit content and readings to support your discussion (100 words).

2. Discuss how educators use children’s play to plan and implement curriculum in early childhood education settings. Justify your response by using theory, EYLF, NQS QA, using the unit content and readings to support your discussion (500 words).

3. Observe the teacher and children;s interactions during an early childhood activity in the video provided in the Assessment 1 folder.
a) Identify and discuss relevant EYLF Principles and Practices the educator is using to promote children’s learning and make relevant links to the NQS Quality Areas (300 words).

b) Identify 2 relevant EYLF Learning Outcomes the children are learning during the activity. Describe a relevant example of what you see in the video that demonstrates the EYLF Learning Outcomes (300 words).

c) Identify 2 relevant Learning Areas (Australian Curriculum, Foundation Year, English, Humanities and Social Sciences, Health and Physical Education, Languages, Mathematics, Science, Technologies, and The Arts) this activity may be covering and describe an example from the video, for each of your selected Learning Areas (300 words).

• Use APA 7 referencing throughout and double-lined spacing, Times Roman 12-point Font.

Solution

1. Meaning of Curriculum in Early Childhood

A curriculum in early childhood is defined as a systematic plan of learning through which “specific educational philosophies” are maintained to improve children's learning process. Deciding the process in which the teaching and learning process of students can be improved comes under the early childhood curriculum. The interaction between educators, children and their families also create a positive environment for learning. As per the words of Blewitt et al. (2020), the standard-based sequences that provide planned experiences and practices to the learners to improve applied learning skills come under the curriculum in early childhood. Curriculum in early childhood for The Assignment Helpline improves interaction, students' routines, activities, and completion of planned, or unplanned activities. The unplanned activities that occur in environmental design provide more significant learning and developmental adaptation to the children.

2. Play Plans in Early Childhood Education Settings

In early childhood education, play is a fundamental tool that improves children's learning and development process. Play-based learning fosters cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development for children. Early childhood educators plan and implement the curriculum in a way that fulfils both intentional and responsive learning requirements. Educators carefully observe children for intentional teaching to create meaningful learning experiences that support children's growth and development in the early years. Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development emphasizes active exploration in learning to construct knowledge through interaction (Cahyaningsih & Santosa, 2024). Play is the natural medium for cognitive growth as it allows children to experiment and solve problems. Educators design learning experiences to promote inquiry and discovery to set up a problem-solving environment to stimulate curiosity and creativity. Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory also sheds light on the significance of social interaction in learning. Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) guides educators to provide platforms for children to learn in a play-based curriculum (Daramola et al. 2024). In Australia, educators provide guiding documents for children. EYLF outlines several learning outcomes, which include developing a sense of identity, building a connection with the world and becoming confident and involved. The outcomes align with play to allow children to explore their identity and foster relationships with others in a meaningful way. Educators implement activities to support children to build confidence and involve learners.

Additionally, educators encourage children to ask questions and make predictions to improve scientific thinking. The flexible, child-centred, and responsive concept of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) guides educator roles to engage in play to introduce new scenarios that help to develop language and social skills that link with play to broader tearing objectives and social development (acecqa.gov.au, 2022). National Quality Standards (NQS) also support the use of play in early childhood education to enhance child learning and development (Harrison et al. 2024). Educators observe and understand the needs of the child through the primary mode of curriculum delivery. They encourage children to form strong and respectful relationships with children through play to create a safe and secure learning environment.

With meaningful interaction with the children, educators can develop emotional resilience and a sense of belonging. “Australian Curriculum Foundation Year” outlines learning areas, general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities to encourage children to develop the essential skills of the 21st century (acara.edu.au, 2024). Play-based environment enables collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking among the children to solve problems and engage in cooperative play. Additionally, block-building activities encourage children to achieve the common goal where educators reflect on children’s experiences to assess and inform future planning. The play-based curriculum allows educators to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies as well as to make adjustments according to the requirements of children.

3. Teacher-Child Interactions during Activity

a. Identifying and Discussing Relevant EYLF Principles and Practices

In early childhood education, the "early years learning framework (EYLF)" and the "National quality standard (NQS)" are vital to providing effective guidelines to promote children's learning and development.

EYLF principles

Secure, reciprocal relationships and respectful factors:

The EYLF enhances the significant approach of creating respectful, secure, and reciprocal relationships (acecqa.gov.au, a 2024). Educators establish these connections to engage in responsive and meaningful interactions with children.

Figure 1: EYLF Framework
(Source: acecqa.gov.au, a 2024)

Respect for Diversity

Educators integrate cultural competence into their practices to ensure that all children's backgrounds and identities are respected and valued (acecqa.gov.au, c 2022).

Partnerships

The EYLF stresses the significance of partnerships with communities and families. Educators collaborate with families to support the children's learning (Togher, & Fenech 2020). This partnership helps to understand each child's unique background and basic needs to ensure that their learning experiences are a relevant factor.

EYLF Practices

Holistic approaches: The EYLF advocates for holistic approaches to teaching and learning that consider children's development in multiple domains, such as social, emotional, and cognitive (acecqa.gov.au, 2024). Educators use this practice to ensure that learning experiences are interconnected and navigate to set the development of the children.

Play-based Learning

Educators use play-based approaches to engage children in meaningful experiences that support their cognitive, social, and emotional development (Togher, & Fenech 2020). This practice aligns with the basic NQS quality area 3, which focuses on creating an inclusive environment that supports play-based learning.

Table 1: Links to NQS Quality Areas
(Source: Self-created)

The present study showcases that educators engage with children through play-based learning, discussion regarding family and animals, and responsive interactions that reflect EYLF principles to respect diverse backgrounds and support emotional well-being. This approach aligns with NQS's main focus of creating a supportive learning environment.

b. Identification of 2 relevant EYLF Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcome 2: “Children Are Connected with and Contribute to Their World”
In the activity, children are learning to explore nature and build interaction with the natural environment. The small activity builds a sense of belonging in the broader community. This process is relevant because discussion about the seeds and their origin provides significant evidence. The origin of sunflower seeds and bird seeds is discussed among the students to improve individual understanding. Along with the learners, the teacher is also engaging her in the communication process by asking “Maybe we can plant some of those later” and “I wonder what these little, tiny ones are”. These little activities create environmental awareness in the children and develop natural world contribution (acecqa.gov.au, 2022). The growing interest in different seeds and their connection with animals and plants provides a sense of respect with responsibility for nature.

Learning Outcome 5: “Children Are Effective Communicators”

Besides connection throughout the activity, both verbal and non-verbal communication are encouraged. Communicating with classmates and teachers delivers different aspects they are eager to know. Teachers prompt communication with the students by asking “Jake wanted to ask you, can he just have a few of your seeds, please?”. This process reflects learning about respectful communication in a social setting. The observation power and sharing the information with others are reflected by conversations such as “I've got some” and “Tiny ones”. Prompting inquiries, reinforcing polite communication and building vocabulary is managed through the learning activity. Expressing curiosity about surroundings and communicating about the elements create deeper understanding (acecqa.gov.au, 2022). Learning with an understanding of communication importance, and feeling a sense of connection within an educational and collaborative environment is significantly analysed by the activity.

c. The Identification of Two Appropriate Learning Areas

In consideration of the significant interaction between the children and the teacher throughout the early childhood activity which has been observed in the given YouTube video named “Discovering: Sustained, Shared Conversation with Children”, an attempt has been made to recognise two relevant learning areas covered in this activity. The given video mainly focuses on demonstrating the inner cavity between the teacher and a group of children engaged in critically assessing the natural materials in an open environment (Gibson & Ewing, 2020). Although the video showcases the role of a teacher in supporting shared and sustained conversation with the children, the conversation between the children and teacher has assisted in recognising two vital learning areas are “Australian Curriculum” and “Humanities and Social Science”. The activity exhibited in the video covered the Australian curriculum which is an important national framework which needs to be learnt at the foundation level.

There are different categories involved in the Australian curriculum which are science, English, humanities, mathematics and arts which are important for improving the intelligence quotient of the children at the foundation level (ACECQA, 2015). For example, in the video, the teacher helps the children to learn about different seeds, their shapes, colours, and sizes, improving the interaction and engagement between children and care for nature and society which altogether symbolizes the different subjects involved in the Australian curriculum like science, English, humanities and arts. On the other hand, another important learning area that has been found in the “Humanities and Social Science” where environment, human behaviour and society are taught to the children (ACECQA, 2015). For example, in the video, the teacher in order to introduce teamwork, collaboration and shared work, taught a child how to ask for seeds from other polite children and taught other children how to help others working in a team which is part of humanities and social science.

References

Activity video:

EDU30064 Teaching Science Report 2 Sample

Assignment Details

In this assignment, you will have the opportunity to apply the knowledge and experiences you have gained over the course of this unit about learning and teaching science in primary schools, by developing a folio. The folio will consist of two artefacts: a unit of work and a rationale. These artefacts can also assist you in demonstrating evidence of your proficiency with regard to the relevant professional standards for teachers at the graduate level.

Part 1: Unit of work (1500 words)

You will develop a unit of work comprising usable tools and materials to support teaching at a primary school level, drawing on various curriculum documents and resources to create relevant and authentic science learning experiences within the bounds of a particular topic for a specific year level. The use of topics to guide learning and teaching is quite specific to the work of primary school teachers.

A topic is selected because it provides a rich context for student learning, meeting both curriculum requirements and student learning needs. Key understandings and skills are identified and these provide clear learning intentions for students and a focus for all teaching.

Choose topic from this

Biological sciences ,Earth and space sciences, Chemical science, Biological sciences, Physical sciences Once you have selected your topic, you are required to create a unit of work, which should cover 4–6 lessons for your class.

Your unit of work will include the following items:

1. Unit overview

2. Resource list

3. Lesson outlines

4. Assessment plan

Part 2: Rationale (1000 words)

In this section, you will draw on your learning over the unit, your experience in schools, as well as relevant literature to provide a rationale for the pedagogies and activities incorporated within the unit of work. Ensure you clearly explain why you have chosen the specific strategies and approaches you have selected.

You should use the following subheadings:

- Justification

- Implications

- Issues and future directions

You should use a variety of relevant existing literature to support your argument, some of which should be scholarly sources such as peer-reviewed academic journals and books. You must use APA 7th style referencing in-text and include a reference list (which is not included in the word count and must start on a separate page) with your final submission.

Solution

Part 1: Unit of work

- Unit overview- Year 1 Earth and Space Sciences – Daily and Seasonal Changes in the Environment.

- Unit Title: Investigating the Changes in Our World: Daily and Seasonal Changes in the Environment.

- Year layers: Year 1

- Subject: Earth and Space Sciences

- Time Bound: 6 weeks (1 lesson per week)

Australian Curriculum Links

- Context overview: Evaluate daily and seasonal environmental changes and identify how these impactful changes impact our everyday life.

- Science as a human venture: Most of the students observe that people implement and utilise science in their everyday lives especially when they are serving their living things and the environment.

- General abilities: Crucial and innovative thinking, ethical understanding, social and personal ability.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this unit, students will be capable to:

1. Express how daily changes like day or night and seasonal changes like winter and summer appear in the environment.

2. Recognise how these quick changes can impact everyday life like clothing options, food availability and outdoor activities.

3. Identify several seasons in various levels of Australia and how domestic Australians identify, understand and respond to these effective changes.

4. Making fast predictions depends on observed behaviours of environmental changes.

Teaching processes

In order to foster proactive involvement and meaningful learning which is a variation of teaching processes that can be employed for the assignment helpline.

- Hands-on Learning: Students will be more active in participating in various practical activities such as recording weather information and making daily observation graphs tables.

- Outdoor survey: Learning can be conducted outdoors and allows students to observe the environment with fewer changes like temperature or shadow changes.

- Visual Aids: The efficient utilisation of impactful videos, books and charts by representing various seasons and how animals and plants consume these changes.

- Perspectives: Collaborating with local domestic knowledge on seasons, weather, and environmental changes.

- Collaborative Learning: Many students can work in numerous groups to gather and share informative information on daily changes and seasonal changes which can also foster effective collaboration and enhance communication skills.

Assessment and Evaluation

- Formative Assessment: Regularly observing checklists, class debates, and individualised participation in well-known activities that can be used to assess the students' understanding levels of daily and seasonal changes.

- Summative Assessment: At the end of this unit students can complete a "My Seasons Booklet" in which they can draw and write about the several seasons they have observed, the changes that appear, and how these changes affect their everyday life.

Lesson Breakdown

Week 1: Introduction about Daily Changes

- Lesson Focused: Recognise and understand the content of everyday seasonal changes, including day and night changes, shadows, and how the sun shifts from one direction to another direction in the sky.

- Activity: Make a shadow observation graph chart so that students can observe and design the changes in their shadows throughout their school day.

Week 2: Seasonal Changes

- Lesson Focused: Overview of the four seasons summer, winter, autumn and spring and also discuss the changes in weather patterns and animal behaviour.

- Activity: Students can create a class season wheel and how the environment looks during every season.

Week 3: Effects of Seasonal Changes on their Everyday Life

- Lesson Focused: Examine how seasonal changes can have an impact on human activities like clothing choices, food availability, outdoor activities and many more.

- Activity: This week students can bring photos or drawings of what they wear and do during various seasons and create a class display during the school day.

Week 4: Investigating Weather Patterns

- Lesson Focused: In this week most of the students see and record daily weather patterns.

- Activity: Students can set up a weather station in the classroom where they measure temperature, wind, and precipitation and also Discuss how these key factors can influence the environment.

2. Resource List

During this unit work, various types of innovative learning methods such as pictures, geographical maps, and YouTube videos have been utilised by the students to understand the significance of the topic more efficiently. While providing the lesson regarding routine-wise season changes in Australia the teachers have given different pictorial resources and videos such as on the topic of Earth’s tilt, axis and rotation (Korsavi & Montazami, 2020). Therefore, the students have gathered basic knowledge about the occurrence of day and night. On the other hand, the students have the allowance to access high-quality videos to understand the four main seasons in Australia. Last but not least, Discovery Channel's videos have given the students enough ideas about geographical diversity in the Australian context.

3. Lesson outlines

Lesson 1: Understanding daily and seasonal changes in the environment

Aim

- The students will be introduced to daily and seasonal changes in the environment and their impact on daily life.

Activity

- Introduction: Students will be given a brief introduction of day and night and will be asked how they know it is day or night

- Activity: Relevant videos and picture cards will be shown to them to enhance their understanding of Earth's rotation on its axis and around the sun which leads to day, night and different seasons.

- Discussion: Peer discussion will be encouraged where students will share different activities that they do throughout the day and in different seasons.

- Outdoor activity: Students will be taken outside to observe animals, trees and temperature and will be asked about the current season.

Resources

- High-quality video to show Earth’s tilt, axis and rotation to demonstrate the occurrence of day and night

- High-quality video for primary level students that demonstrates occurrences of four seasons.

- Picture cards

Diversity/ inclusivity

- Simplified instruction and symbols for each season will be incorporated for students with learning difficulties.

- Peer discussion will be encouraged to enhance collaboration

ICT strategies

- National Geographic Kids and other interactive websites will be considered so that the understanding of students regarding different seasons can be improved.

Safety practices

- Students will be continuously monitored in an outdoor setting

- Safe handling of digital devices will be ensured.

Lesson 2: Adaptation of seasonal changes by humans

Aim

- The main aim of this lesson is to enhance the knowledge of students about how seasonal changes impact humans and how they adapt to such situations.

Activity

- Brief explanation: A brief introduction will be provided to students about how humans change their clothing and activities according to changes in seasons

- Activity: Videos regarding seasonal activities will be shown and they will be asked what are their favourite activities to do in summer or winter.

- Interactive discussion: PowerPoint slides will be shown to students where they have to identify and explain in brief about suitable activities for each season.

Resources

- High-quality videos that show changes of activity in different seasons

- PowerPoint presentation with Q&A at the end

Diversity/ inclusivity

- Instructions will be presented as per the learning needs of each student

- Students will be asked about their cultural and seasonal celebrations to ensure cultural diversity

ICT strategies

- They will be asked to make an interactive presentation that shows different seasonal activities.

Safety practices

- Safe handling of digital tools will be ensured

Lesson 3: Impact of seasonal changes on clothing

Aim

- Exploring clothing patterns of humans in different weather and seasonal conditions

Activity

- Introduction: Students will be asked to describe the weather outside and explain what they are wearing.

- Activity: Some flashcards will be provided to students that include different clothing items such as sweaters, cotton clothes, hats and pictures of different weather such as sunny, rainy and winter. Students will be asked to match each season with their suitable clothes.

- Discussion: Students will be asked to discuss in groups why a particular cloth is suitable to wear in a particular season

Resources

- Flashcards

Diversity/ inclusivity

- Picture cards will be simple to ensure everyone can understand it

- They will be provided with the opportunity to choose their group to ensure high collaboration

ICT strategies

- Current weather in different locations across the world will be shown through an interactive app.

Safety practices

- It will be ensured that digital tools are handled safely

Lesson 4: Seasonal foods

Aim

- This lesson plan aims at improving the knowledge of the students about the different fruits and vegetables that are found in different seasons.

Activity

- Introduction: A brief description of various seasonal foods will be provided

- Interactive session: Images of different vegetables and fruits will be shown along with asking them about the current season and what foods they are having. A YouTube video will also be shown to them that shows different seasonal foods.

- Activity: Students will be provided with a task to sort flashcards of fruits and vegetables according to different seasons in groups.

Resources

- Picture cards

- Flashcards

- Images

- YouTube video

Diversity/ inclusivity

- Visuals as well as pictures will be shown to cater to different learning pace

ICT strategies

- YouTube video will be shown using a projector to ensure engagement

Safety practices

- Safety will be maintained while handling digital tools and doing group activities.

4. Assessment plan

The certain assessment plan for the specific topic “describing seasonal and daily changes in the environment, also analysing how these kinds of changes impact everyday life” is developed to analyse learners’ knowledge via a combination of summative and formative assessments. Apart from this, the primary aim is to assess their knowledge of the specific content as well as their capability to implement scientific inquiry, utilise various ICT tools, as well as engage in several kinds of collaborative learning. Moreover, formative assessment will mainly occur via class discussions, peer feedback and many more (Morris, Perry & Wardle, 2021). On the other hand, summative assessment will also involve reflective journals and group projects.

Part 2: Rationale

Justification

In selecting a specific direction for educating about seasonal and regular changes in the certain environment, the integration of STEAM and ICT was also prioritised to confirm engaging, hands-on experiences of learning for primary school learners (Samoylenko, Zharko & Glotova, 2022). This specific approach was mainly chosen over a traditional technique of lecture, as it also fosters active inquiry and exploration, significant for all young students to grasp intellectual concepts such as environmental changes, and their effect on regular life.

The tasks developed, such as the interactive effect of weather trends utilising STEAM projects and ICT tools such as making simple weather stations. These strategies permit learners to predict, observe, and recognise patterns in their isolated environment appropriately. For instance, learners can also track regional weather information utilising online applications and platforms, fostering them to relate these individual patterns to their regular experiences. These tools also encourage curiosity, as well as critical thinking as learners create connections between all scientific concepts, also their lives. In addition, these kinds of activities support authentic and relevant science learning by contributing to the real-world context.

Learners are not learning about all seasonal changes theoretically; they also actively appeal to their whole surroundings. Apart from this, reinforces the precise notion that also science is isolated, as well as integrated into regular life (Raja & Lakshmi Priya, 2022). In addition, this specific approach nurtures environmental awareness and scientific literacy from a young age, which is mainly important in shaping further attitudes or behaviours towards sustainability. However, through STEAM and ICT, as a consequence of experiential learning, learners are empowered to also explore all kinds of experiments, as well as take ownership.

Incorporation of ICT tools will help the students to monitor topics more easily. Regardless, the education sector must provide these kinds of scientific topic-related resources to students from the very primary level. To do that successfully, ICT tools-centric learning and teaching will surely play a vital role significantly. For example, traditional learning will create a certain type of boredom among the learners, particularly among the primary level students. On the other hand, geographical maps, Pictorial cards and other YouTube videos have supported the VARK learning theory in a significant way. Activities such as introduction to seasonal foods have certainly provided the basic idea about the name and profile of the summer fruits and winter fruits. In this way, the students have gathered enough confidence to distinguish the summer fruits from winter fruits. On the other hand, some lessons such as giving knowledge on seasonal clothes were also very essential for effective learning context.

Through this particular lesson, the primary students have gained knowledge about what types of clothes they should wear based on the current weather and atmosphere (Korsavi, Montazami & Mumovic, 2021). Moreover, with the help of these activities, the students also have gained basic ideas and knowledge regarding how the people of Australia change their lifestyles from season to season. Apart from these, through the unit, the students also have successfully gone through all the seasons of Australia. The learning activities also motivated the young students to drive their collaborations to the atmosphere and to understand the significance of the Australian geographical system and its impact on daily lifestyle.

Implications

The teachers should generate some modern learning techniques rather than rely on traditional teaching methods only. The teachers will provide their lectures to the students of the primary level. So, it will be more effective to show the students topic-related pictures, diagrams and videos. In this way, they will find it easier to understand the significance of the topic. It will certainly promote quality learning in the context of the topic.
The different resources such as picture cards, geographical images, and maps will surely increase the range of encouragement among the students (Brink et al., 2021). On the other hand, the teachers also can give instructions to the students to follow some of the YouTube channels where the particular topic is covered properly. Moreover, television programs such as Discovery and National Geographic will surely drive extra motivation within the learners while assessing the significance of the topic. In this way, the students can get a basic idea of the impact of seasonal changes in the context of Australia and its environment (Vouriot et al., 2021). For example, the students can understand and learn about the seasonal fruits. Moreover, the topic will also provide the students with enough resources and knowledge about the reasons for changes in seasons in Australia. Most importantly, the students can gain knowledge regarding different types of environments and graphical atmospheres in Australia. For example, they will understand the great geographical diversity of Australia such as deserts, mountains, Tropical forests and many more.

Issues and future directions

One possible problem in applying this isolated work unit is the different levels of specific Information and Communication literacy among teachers and learners. For learners, differ to also engage with information and communication technology-based tasks, while others excel. In addition, educators may face issues in balancing the integrations of STEAM and ICT, specifically if they mainly lack familiarity with the resources and technology included. In order to identify this, specific professional improvement for educators could also be important, equipping them with the confidence and skills to smoothly integrate technology into various science lessons. Apart from this, differentiated support and instruction could be contributed to accommodate learners’ differing capabilities, confirming inclusivity in information and communication technology activities.

Another problem could also be the reliance on digital materials and resources. On the other hand, schools with particularly limited budget constraints and technology infrastructure may also find it challenging to apply certain STEAM and ICT projects efficiently (Salim et al., 2023). In order to reduce this, educators could follow offline tasks, also low-cost that still also engage learners in experiential learning. As an example, learners can also manually analyse and record weather information, and also make simple methods of environmental changes.

In order to extend and enhance the learning potential of the discrete unit, a further direction could also include incorporating cross-curricular and collaborative activities. On the other hand, learners could also work in teams to conduct studies on seasonal changes that impact diverse cultures around the world, mainly through social studies and geography. In addition, extending the utilisation of outdoor learning experiences could increase learners' connections.

References