1. Emergent Curriculum: An Introduction
Presented By: Cheryl Anderson, RECE
Training & PD Coordinator
Quality Child Care Initiative
October 23, 2014

2. Let’s Talk! What is your understanding of Emergent Curriculum?
What do you already know?
What questions do you still have?
What are the challenges with your understanding of, or your application of Emergent Curriculum in your program?

3. What is Emergent Curriculum?
Emergent Curriculum is a framework for child-centred, play-based learning.

4. Emergent Curriculum: What It Is
Play-based
Believes that children are competent, active learners
Provides routines, transitions and schedule (not a circus but flexibility is necessary)
Offers opportunities for variety of experiences (indoors/outdoors, quiet/active, group/individual)
Planning evolves from “daily life” not pre-set themes
Planning is flexible and responsive to children (constantly developing)

5. Collaborative – we co-construct knowledge together
Teacher as facilitator taking what she sees & hears and bringing opportunities to the children to construct further knowledge
Honours unique learning styles & talents in children & educators
Richly provisioned, responsive environments

6. An Invitation to Examine our Values & Practices in Relationship to Emergent Curriculum
What is your image of children?
What do you believe about them?
What do you feel they deserve?
What is the role of the teacher?
What is the role of the environment?

7. Image of Children
Emergent Curriculum believes that children are capable and competent to engage in their own learning about the world
Children are active, social learners
Children bring valuable knowledge, ideas and experiences
Children are influenced by family, culture, gender & previous experiences
Children have various learning styles and ways of understanding & constructing knowledge

8. Role of the teacher
In Emergent Curriculum both the teacher and child are researchers. We co-construct knowledge together.
Emergent curriculum is based on the idea that we all learn best in situations that have meaning for us.

9. Teachers are:
Observers
Stage managers
Facilitators
Scribes

10. Role of the environment
In emergent curriculum, the environment acts as the “third teacher”
Children need large blocks of time to play to investigate their ideas and theories
Children need ample space that is designed intentionally to engage them
Children need rich materials that engage their curiosity and competencies

11. Materials Open-ended Loose parts Natural
Creative (process not product)
Authentic
Opportunities for children to represent their ideas (words, drawing, clay, playdo, dramatic play, constructive play, art)

12. Emergent approach and How Does Learning Happen?
Does an emergent approach support the key foundations of How Does Learning Happen?

13. Cycle of Inquiry OBSERVATION LETTING GO DIALOGUE & REFLECTION PLANNING
NEXT STEPS
DECISION MAKING

14. How do we observe? Pay close attention to children!
Questioning what we see (why is this happening?, what does it mean, what are the children thinking? why am I attracted to this situation?)
Taking a photo
Videotaping
Making written notes
Audiotaping

15. What do we observe?
No magic answer!

16. We observe everything! Children’s play themes
Unexpected events (moments that arouse children’s curiosity or ours)
Children’s interests / our interests
Individual children and development
Life experiences
Relationships
Schemas

17. Things in the physical environment that children are connecting to
Daily schedule – routines & transitions
Focused observation for research question (what have we noticed about how the children have been using the outdoor environment?)

18. Things to remember about observation
We all observe different things
We bring different perspectives & values to our observations (Perspective exercise)
What do we do with our observations?
What is the next step? Sharing our observations and reflecting with others

19. From Reflection to Curriculum (Stacey, 2009)
Reflection is the magic in the middle
Without it we are missing the importance of the connections between what we see and hear and our decisions
Reflection puts the Why back into what we do...

20. What is Reflection?
Making meaning out of what we have seen and/or heard
Today I observed….; Over the last few weeks I have observed… What does this mean for the children and our program?

21. Provides a variety of perspectives
Who do we reflect with?
Dialogue with yourself
Dialogue with your team teachers
Dialogue with other colleagues in your program
Dialogue with families
Provides a variety of perspectives

22. How do we reflect? Share your written observation
Share a photo (photo exercise)
Share the videotaping
Share the conversation you had with a family
Share a conversation that you overheard or had with a child
Ask questions!

23. What are the children trying to communicate through what they are doing? What does it mean?
What are the big play ideas, intriguing ideas or interests?
What do you wonder about what you have seen or heard?

24. Consider your next steps:
How can we scaffold the learning?
How can we help the children deepen their thinking and find further learning with experiences?
How can we sustain and extend (increase the complexity) the children’s thinking?
Which ideas do we respond to?

25. Response What can we do? Make changes to the environment
Adapt your schedule
Offer new materials to increase the complexity
Make additional observations or have conversations with the children
Offer an activity to “test the waters”
Seek out an expert to visit / field trip
Include the idea within circle time / small group
Reflect with children on photos that you may have taken

26. Prepare documentation (enables children’s thinking to be made visible)