Nursing Assignment help on : Curriculum in the early childhood
The curriculum in the early childhood is of much importance because it acts as the sole nurturing framework for the children. The early years of framework are such that are important for the effective development of the child. The purpose of education is always to act as the building block for the children it implies learning with effect that is not by repeating what is being taught to the children. The curriculum which is usually set for these children is meant to foster positive and critical thinking in the children. The educators believe that in the childhood the children tend to explore the world which is around them and that they should make the best of the senses which they posses, that is by touching the surroundings, by tasting, seeing, smelling and hearing. Each curriculum has a goal that it makes the children grow more enthusiastic as a learner right from the beginning. The basic aim is to make the children learn in a manner which can make them grow self-confident, probing and independent in their thought process. Understanding a child is very important and it is seen that a proper development of the children only takes place when they are appreciated for what they do like for the cognitive skills they show, for the emotional or the physical activities as undertaken by them (And Early Childhood Learning (online) 2007). There are certain socio-cultural theories as given by many writers which can be compared and contrasted in many ways. The paper would therefore discuss two of them, Bruner and Vygotsky in detail in the further sections.
Bruner is a significant contributor in the human psychology and he has coined many theories which significantly. The theorist has researched much on the education psychology and has brought in many of his works’ series by posing the importance of education when it is taught in a practical way than to be only instructive in nature. The gist which he highlights in his educational theory is that a factual study cannot be healthy and doesn’t enhance the nature of the education, and therefore it has to have to be practical and applicable. In his basic model of thought the education is a cultural process which emphasises on the environment which is necessary for the education like first noticing the remarkable human elements in the human beings, and that how the humans actually react the way they do. In the present context the central focus is on the development of the children under a designed curriculum and thus making their growth effective and disciplined (Bruner, J 1960). Bruner as an educational theorist believes that thinking is the process which should be initiated when it comes to a child. According to the philosophy of the theorist knowledge or learning in childhood do not have to be dependent always on the conceptual framework, bon the set classifications or the usually used procedures of solving the problems which a culture traditionally. In fact, in childhood only the child has to know how to invent new things and the concepts for himself and the environment he is present in.
For the cognitive development of the children it is found that Bruner proposed the three ways for representation, the first being the Enactive Representation, Iconic Representation and Symbolic Representation. These modes of the representation are the ways which according to the age of the children let them store the knowledge in their memory. It is found that Enactive Learning is found in the Infants, because all a child does is to act. This ranges from the signals which the child gives about his hunger, to feeling irritated, to be happy over something or to ask for a toy. These modes of the representation are interrelated to each other and in a way move from one level to the other thus affecting the understanding of a child. When the baby grows the understanding which the child makes is in the form of what he sees around that is by gaining knowledge from the visual concepts in the immediate environment (Bruner, J 1973).
The main implications of the Bruner’s theory are that the education should be able to instil the capacity of the symbolic thinking in the children, so that they start to think cognitively. He criticises the most general forms of the curriculums as used by the schools, because they constantly try to match the levels of the complexity of the set syllabus to the academic and the cognitive capacity of the child. In the year 1960 the theorist brought that a spiral curriculum is needed, this would be such a structure where all the possible angles of the information would be taught to the child in an open manner, the child would be made to learn the easiest ideas first and then moving on to the more complex levels gradually. If the learning is initiated with an increasing level of difficulty, that is if the spiral analogy is followed then this would initiate the problem solving skills in the child right from the beginning (Harden, R and Stamper, N 1999).
The educational philosophy by this theorist also emphasises on the cognitive development of the child and that there has to be a proper interaction between the human capabilities and the capabilities which the technology today holds, and they must be used productively in a sense that should only amplify the human capabilities. Therefore, in the curriculum the same philosophy by Bruner can be implemented for the small children, where the teachers should initiate the same by blending the technological and the human capabilities. For example, in the story telling sessions in the classrooms, the little children can be made to act upon the excerpts of the story and give their face expressions to the emotions of the characters in the story being told (Bruner 1957). This means that the story would not be only told to the children but they would even remember it for a longer period of time, at this the use of the background sounds or the music can be made which would enhance the experience for the children.
The second theorist under concentration of this essay is Vygotsky, who investigates the early childhood curriculum form his much believed Marxist Point of view, where the theorist emphasise that in the developmental process of the child there is much of the influence of the social origin of the child and also the design of his/her production in the society (Tice, T 1997). There are many significant theories which Vygotsky gave but in the present context only a few are relevant, the first being the Theory of Value, which stresses that each child has a different perspective and thus learns distinctively even when all the children are taught form one curriculum. The overall education for the education imparted in the childhood according to him should be to enhance social learning and intake of the cultural nuances in the society The second is the Theory of Transmission which implies that there are MKOs (More Knowledgeable Other’ which according to the tradition has to be fan adult or an elder person than a child, but with regard to0 his philosophy this MKO could be the learners’ peer, a sibling, could be a younger individual or the technological help too, provided they have the more knowledge than the learner. Scaffolding is the one instructional process which shall be applied in the classroom learning according to the theorist. The technique shall be used through the curriculum so as to bind the interest of the children throughout the culmination of the syllabus. This can be applied in the process of learning by breaking one bigger task into many smaller parts (Dolya, G 2009).
In both Bruner’s and the Vygotsky’s approach there are highly pedagogical implications because the theorists have been given theories about nurturing the students right from the early years of their learning. The process of education is thus seen as something necessary for the growth of the children, but according to these theorists the growth only becomes effective when the children are taught to invent and experiment with the prevailing trends in the curriculum. Though, it has been highlighted that the role of the educator is almost very important in bringing the aims of the curriculum efficiently and ensuring the quality of the learning in them. If the two are compared it can be brought that both emphasise upon the atmosphere and the immediate environment in which the child lives and that how the child gets influenced by the behaviour of the educators. Also, Scaffolding is something which is important in the theories of both these theorists as they hold the strong belief that in the understanding of the curriculum and the efficient learning of the same, there is a great need of the assistance and the guidance (Tayebeh, F and Farid, G 2011). Though both the theorists differ in their perspectives because in learning Bruner adheres to the more modern use of the education that is also adapting to the technology with experience whereas in Vygostsky it is more simple and classic because he holds a Marxist Point of view and everything is thus perceived from a social angle. To put forward a personal viewpoint I could add that in present context the Bruner’s Theory is more easily understood and seems easy to be applied than the Vygotsky’s, because the latter holds a strange perspective because Marxist point is primarily related to social struggle for material and the class and so it is a little more complex to be understood with relation you the understanding of the childhood curriculum. On the other hand, the former theory is more suitable to a learning environment as it has too many interesting agendas which can help the children and the teachers to interact and assure a positive use of the curriculum they have to follow as a part of the education.
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