The early years of a child's life are critical years that play a major role in determining the child's developmental trajectory throughout life. A significant body of research literature has documented the importance of early childhood education and the difference that quality early childhood education makes in these early formative years. The Faculty of Education at UBC is Early Childhood Education - Education Specialist (Grades P-3) (Non-Thesis) TROY Online; Dothan Campus; Phenix City Campus Education with EC Special Education and EC-6 Core Subjects Teacher Certification – BS Teaching with Teacher Certification (early childhood, middle and secondary levels) – MEdT Curriculum & Instruction – MEd
An introduction to the visual arts in early childhood education - THE EDUCATION HUB
The visual arts encompass an extensive range of visual modes that children utilise for expressing, communicating, phd thesis in early childhood education, mediating their thinking, engaging in aesthetic exploration and research. What is defined as visual arts is shaped by cultural and social values. Some common examples include painting, clay work, sculpture, collage, weaving, construction, photography, wearable art, carving, printing and ephemera, although there are many more modes of visual expression and exploration.
Thinking of the visual arts in early childhood education can initially evoke an image of a child standing at an easel, thick stubby paintbrush in hand with bright acrylic poster paint spreading quickly across the page. However, research has shown the visual arts to be a rich domain through which young children can explore and represent their experiences, think through and deepen their working theoriesand develop their creative thinking.
It is through the visual arts that children learn about the symbolic systems of representation and communication valued by their communities. For pre-literate children, the visual arts are a primary means through which they can explore and share their perceptions of their world. The visual arts can help children to communicate ideas that cannot be expressed verbally ,which is particularly important for children with English as a second language.
The visual arts also support children to communicate with each other, particularly when teachers create opportunities for them to work on shared projects or to explore common interests together. Such opportunities encourage children to exchange ideas, consider solutions and develop shared meanings through collaboration.
These experiences may also encourage children to develop their verbal language [ii]. When children create visual arts in groups, the act of representing thinking visually allows them to share their ideas with others.
This supports them to transform their understandings through co-construction. In such an environment, children can try out new ideas as well as strategies for working with visual media, inspired by their peers, which they internalise and then draw upon later in different contexts.
In this way, the visual arts support children to develop their metacognitive capacities. A phd thesis in early childhood education aspect of the visual arts is that there is never one right answer. The visual arts offer multiple solutions to a problem or ways that an idea can be expressed. Researchers also assert that the visual arts, alongside other arts domains, are a primary means through which cultural identity and associated values are shared with young children [iv]and argue that it is important that teachers develop understanding of how the visual arts are valued by families and communities as a basis for creating culturally responsive visual arts curriculum [v].
For children, experiencing the visual arts valued phd thesis in early childhood education their cultures within their early childhood settings can transmit powerful messages about how they and their families are valued. It phd thesis in early childhood education also vital that children are exposed to many different examples of the visual arts so that they can develop an appreciation of a range of culturally diverse art forms within their early years.
This can be achieved by connecting with local community organisations such as galleries, artist studios and important cultural sites like the local marae. The visual arts allow children to enter imaginative worlds, to be creative and to engage in playful thinking. Creativity is the capacity to develop unique ideas and solutions that are of value. Fostering possibility thinking develops key dispositions of learning such as problem solving, perseverance, collaboration and seeking support from others [vii].
For some children, visual arts are a means to explore colour, texture and the possibilities of visual media. These children relish opportunities to develop skills and techniques. Research has highlighted how important it is that children have opportunities phd thesis in early childhood education conceptualise their own art making in addition to opportunities to create in group contexts [viii].
This allows them the space to immerse themselves in aesthetic exploration should they wish. Multimodal texts are those that include two or more ways of conveying messages, such as combining text and image.
Some researchers argue that it is crucial that teachers talk with children about the images they encounter in their everyday environment, discussing how meanings have been conveyed by the artist or illustrator [x].
This helps children to understand that images, like stories, are constructed and that they communicate messages. This is the first step in developing the ability to critically analyse visual texts, a vital skill in a world saturated by images. Talking with children about images also allows them to understand that they too, have the capacity to create images, to communicate ideas to others, or to explore ideas for themselves.
For some children, artmaking is their primary means of processing their experiences. For these children, engagement in visual arts can impact their emotional wellbeing, allowing them transition into the day, or into a new centre environment. Research has also found that art making has the potential to significantly reduce stress levels [xi] : it is important for children to have access to tools for phd thesis in early childhood education making throughout the day and particularly in phd thesis in early childhood education morning as a means to support these children to settle into the day.
Teachers play pivotal roles in how children experience the visual arts in early childhood. This is because it is teachers who create the classroom environment, who decide what visual arts materials are available and when, and who choose where and when children will engage in the visual arts. In New Zealand, teachers often have widely different views about how visual arts should be taught in the early years.
This can make phd thesis in early childhood education hard to understand what is appropriate and when. Some teachers believe in a hands-off approach. Teachers who advocate for this approach can be informed by the belief that the child is innately creative. They believe their role is to provide the materials and a supportive environment but that the children can do it themselves, phd thesis in early childhood education.
Critique of this approach argues that sociocultural theories have helped us to understand that children are in fact influenced by everything, their relationships, their environment, their culture and the materials with which they interact. These theories highlight that learning is a social experience: therefore, to create in isolation without feedback, discussion and interaction hinders artist development [xii].
In fact, children crave interaction, feedback and discussion about their ideas, phd thesis in early childhood education, creations and interests. In contrast, a teacher-directed approach is becoming increasingly adopted by some early childhood teachers [xiii]. In these cases, teachers plan prefabricated activities for children that are often inspired by websites such as Pinterest. A lack of personal confidence in visual arts may be one factor that prompts teachers to adopt a teacher-directed approach.
Many teachers, when prompted, phd thesis in early childhood education, can trace back to the moment in their lives when a teacher or important role model criticised, over-directed or controlled their artmaking [xvi]. The result of such negative experiences can mean that teachers can avoid any further learning in the visual arts and can experience anxiety when thinking about planning for the visual arts as part of their own teaching. These two approaches offer either too little or too much guidance from teachers.
There are several ways that teachers can build their personal confidence and pedagogical knowledge to teach the visual arts in the early years. An important starting point is self-reflection. This could be a personal journey or part of a shared centre-wide inquiry.
Reflecting about personal history with the visual arts can enable teachers to identify when and how their confidence was lost in the first place. There is real value in sharing the memories of these experiences within teaching teams. This can be an effective strategy for building a shared philosophy of the phd thesis in early childhood education arts by deciding together how the visual arts could be valued and woven into the curriculum.
It is also important to have these discussions with families. It is vital that teachers have both practical and pedagogical knowledge of the visual arts. There is great value in playing with visual arts materials before offering them to children. Teachers could sign up to an evening class or organise a professional learning event in order to develop new techniques or understandings of different art genres.
Teachers can then engage in authentic conversations with children about art making, which many children relish [xvii]. The same can be said for pedagogical knowledge. Professional development that develops theoretical understanding of the impacts of different teaching approaches is another vehicle through which teachers can examine and perhaps reframe how they view children as learners. This in turn fundamentally impacts how they respond as teachers. Australian Journal of Early Education, 32 4 Early childhood visual arts curriculum: Freeing spaces to express developmental and cultural palettes of mind, phd thesis in early childhood education.
Childhood Education, 86 2 Drawing to learn. Narey Ed. Phd thesis in early childhood education, Switzerland: Springer. Positioning the arts in early childhood education: Fostering the creative spirit. Clark, A. Terreni Eds. Auckland, New Zealand: Pearson. Narratives from Aotearoa New Zealand: Building communities in early childhood through the visual arts. Teaching Artist Journal7 1 Thinking Skills and Creativity7 1 Conceptualising arts-based learning in the early years.
Research Papers in Education, 28 2phd thesis in early childhood education, Creating a critical multi-literacies curriculum: Repositioning art in the early childhood classroom.
Pittsburgh, USA: Springer. New maps for learning for quality art education: What pre-service teachers should learn and be able to do. Australian Educational Researcher, 39 1 Art Therapy, 33 2 Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 32 4 Art is experience: An exploration of the visual arts beliefs and pedagogy of Australian early childhood educators. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia. The visual arts as a tool for learning within an early childhood setting.
The arts, young children and learning. Boston, USA: Pearson. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand. Sarah Probine is a senior lecturer at Manukau Institute of Technology. She teaches on the Bachelor of Education Early childhood teaching predominantly in the areas of the arts, creativity and inquiry-based learning.
She is currently completing her PhD research. Her study has explored the contextual influences that shape how young children phd thesis in early childhood education to value and use the visual arts in their learning both in their early childhood centres and their home environments.
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Pursuing A Doctorate Degree In Early Childhood Education
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Early childhood visual arts curriculum: Freeing spaces to express developmental and cultural palettes of mind. Childhood Education, 86(2), Brooks, M. (). Drawing to learn. In M. Narey (Ed.), Multimodal perspectives of language, literacy, and learning in early childhood (pp. ). Cham, Switzerland: Springer Sep 27, · The thesis programs engage you in research and advanced scholarly study with the goal of pursuing a PhD or a career in research. The non-thesis programs provide advanced training in a specialized area with a focus on real-world application. (Early Childhood Education) PhD in Educational Theory and Practice (Elementary Education) PhD in A Collection Of Dissertation Ideas On Early Childhood Studies. Deciding on a topic for your dissertation on early childhood studies can be a challenge. This subject is vast, so you have plenty of choices. Be sure to remember three most important rules of choosing a good topic for any academic project: Be original
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