This piece of writing addresses the "boundless" garden created through the web of foresight and patience combined with the spontaneous activity necessary for growing food and harvesting the bounty. Most will be familiar with this unique writing by Montessori who suggests that it is not the work and actual produce of the garden but the…

Kindergarten has changed significantly in the last two decades: children now spend more time being taught and tested on literacy and math skills than they do learning through play and exploration, exercising their bodies, and using their imaginations. Many kindergartens use highly prescriptive curricula geared to new state standards and linked to…

Presents the view that the play environment provides the necessary outlets that stimulate the development of the whole child. (SS)

In this article, the author discusses playdough. Playdough is a staple play material in the early childhood classroom which provides enjoyable and satisfying experiences for young children. But, it is not merely a "fun" activity, it also provides valuable hands-on, active-learning experiences and supports children's growth and learning in many…

This paper draws together briefly theories and knowledge from research in morphology and cognitive psychology, as well as some hypothetical information from traditional psychiatry, to show the ramifications of play in children's development. Play is defined as any of a wide variety of behaviors through which an individual attempts to discover what…

Premature academic instruction may undermine a child's learning tendencies or dispositions. Informal small-group interaction can strengthen dispositions and set the context for acquisition of knowledge, skills, and feelings. Teachers should focus on learning goals rather than performance goals. (SH)

Advocates hands-on activities for preschool children that develop the skills that form the foundation for abstract thinking. Concrete experiences in reading, writing, math and science will develop motor skills and concept formation, and make the move into higher level academics a comfortable and natural process. (SH)

At camp, children learn values and skills that are seldom included in school curricula. The community-based environment of camps is conducive to learning self-assurance, community respect, and healthy competition, and to understanding diversity. Exposure to Nature promotes an infectious enthusiasm for the wilderness and for learning outdoor…

A focus on narrative as representation shows how individuals understand and make meaning of their actions. In this critical perspective on narrative approaches to moral development, it is argued that a focus on narrative as action is necessary to grasp what really happens in individuals' everyday moral lives. (LB)

Discusses developmental philosophy and psychology as they relate to the education of children, to teacher development, and to the training of counselors. The article emphasizes John Dewey's developmental perspective, his idea of human development as the aim of education, his expanded view of the scientific method, and his belief that direct…

Examines the role of children's play as part of developmentally appropriate practices for young children. Suggests that schoolchildren's play is creative, and more complex than that of younger children. As work and play intertwine throughout the layers of the classroom, the combination helps them learn to manage time responsibly. (AA)

Experiential learning has been defined as the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of the experience of the learner who is at the center of the learning process. Modern experiential learning theory begins with John Dewey and his "Experience and Education" (1938). Coleman (1976) describes traditional learning as…

The two purposes of this paper are to provide the uninitiated reader with a skeletal overview of Piaget's cognitive development theory and to identify general educational implications, especially for the development of early childhood industrial arts (ECIA) programs. The "Piaget Primer" for ECIA educators overviews such topics as (1) the…

Because Piaget's developmental stage theory indicates that many junior high students may still be functioning at the "concrete operations" level, the author suggests that middle-school teaching be changed to include more concrete, "hands on" activities. (SJL)

This Korean-language digest addresses the question of what young children should be learning that will best serve their development and learning in the long term. Two major dimensions of development--normative and dynamic--are explored, and four categories of learning goals are discussed: (1) knowledge; (2) skills; (3) dispositions; and (4)…