Chapter17 allen7e

©2012 Cengage Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Chapter 17Facilitating Pre-Academic and Cognitive

Learning


Cognitive Development and Emerging Literacy

• Involves reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

• Functionally illiterate are those who cannot perform well in one of those areas.

• Large numbers of children are coming to school without the experiences needed to learn literacy skills.


Cognitive Development and Emerging Literacy (continued)

• Defining Pre-Academics– This includes the whole child: physical

activities, social interactions, and creative and affective development.

– More than just paper-and-pencil activities are included.

– Children are active explorers of their world.– Child-initiated activities are key to cognitive

growth and development.



• What brain research tells us– Infants’ brains are extremely active and busy.– Synapses are being formed.– The brain functions on a use-it or lose-it

principle.– Nature and nurture play a role in the

development of the brain.– Early care has decisive and long-lasting

impact on children’s brain development.



– There are sensitive periods for learning that only come around once.

– Negative experiences or lack of stimulation have serious, sustained effects on the brain.

– Intensive intervention is necessary to lessen the effects of disabilities.


Banning Academics: ILL Advised?

• Academic skills are appropriate for preschoolers.

• They should be a part of the play experience.

• Preschoolers thrive on absorbing these new experiences.

• Paper-and-pencil tasks and workbooks should be avoided.


Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences

• Direct teaching– The teacher directly teaches a concept.– The teacher also blends direct teaching with

an indirect and facilitative approach.


Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued)

• Embedded Learning– Children practice new skills and learn

individualized goals within the regular classroom activities.

– Clarify objective.– Determine current level of performance.– Determine times and places during the

classroom day.



– Design instructional interaction.– Implement instruction.– Establish data collection.



• Computers and assistive technology– Computers allow children to develop

independent skills that they cannot do otherwise.

– Computer software needs to be developmentally appropriate.

– Evaluate software for inappropriate content and violence.

– Computers enable a child to develop eye-hand coordination.



• Fostering eagerness to learn– Children need to be encouraged to explore

the environment, ask questions, and problem solve.

– They need to involve all their senses.– Teachers need to support this eagerness.



• Engaging children’s minds– Teachers show children how to record their

thoughts.– Teachers write down what a child says and

then teach the child to read.– It is then a recording of a child’s experiences

for the future.



• Valuing today’s learning– Make learning real.– Match children to activities that are

developmentally appropriate and encourage their eagerness to learn.



• Readiness skills– Readiness as maturation– Readiness as learning– Teacher needs to identify readiness skills that

may be missing based upon developmental sequences

– Language readiness



• Attention span– The length of time an individual is able to

concentrate on an activity is critical to all learning.

– Classrooms that are organized and inviting help children attend to a task and extend their attention span.



• Imitation and modeling– Imitation is the key to learning new skills.– A child imitates the model to see how a skill is

performed.– If a child is having difficulty imitating:

• Imitate them• Provide models at their developmental level• Provide assistance and be directive• Make it fun and give encouraging feedback



• Perceptual motor skills– Understanding sensory messages and

translating them– Sensory integration—involving more than one

sense in a response– Activities need to be planned to support the

use of senses for learning



• Fine motor skills– Eye-hand coordination and the use of fingers,

wrists, and hands– Essential for self-care skills– Goes together with perceptual motor skills



• Concept formation– Internal images or ideas that organize thinking– Help us to make sense of our world– Discrimination—likenesses and differences– Classification—imposing order – Seriation—arranging objects in order– Spatial and temporal relationships—how

things go together in space and time



• Memory– Long-term memory refers to events that

happened a while ago.– Short-term memory refers to events in the

recent past.– Memory is essential to learning and building

upon skills.



• Following directions– Children do best when directions are clear.– One direction at a time is more likely to be

completed than multiple-step directions.– Teachers should get down on the child’s level

to give the directions.


• Emergent Literacy– Rich teacher talk– Storybook reading– Phonological Awareness Activities– Alphabet Activities– Support for Emergent Reading– Support for Emergent Writing– Shared Book Experience– Integrate Content Focused Activities



Planning and Presenting Pre-Academics

• Pre-reading, pre-writing, and pre-math skills– Skills are presented in small group settings.– Children should be grouped by ability.– Materials are carefully chosen to enhance skill

development.


Planning and Presenting Pre-Academics (continued)

• Grouping children– Group by age.– Group by ability.– Groups should change as the skill levels

change.– The number is set by the number of children

and adults in the room.



• Arranging Pre-Academic group activities– Advance preparation– Familiar and preferred materials and activities– Individual workspace with name cards– Individual setups– Short periods– Moving about– Changing tasks– Transition activities



• Enjoying teacher-directed activities– If children are engaged and learning, teachers

are happy.– Teachers spend more time planning and

creating lessons.– The lessons are more fun.– Children continue to learn.

Education

Chapter17 allen7e