Early Childhood Education: Raising Children the Right Way Essay

In early Childhood Education; teaching a child to read and write at early ages can have positive results when showing them educational videos and programs. Early Childhood Education is a field that will never lose significance. It sheds light on the best parenting styles and other significant issues related to raising children. It also gives us a glimpse of how young children perceive the world and how we can put this new knowledge to use for the benefits of children, parents and society. Young children slowly develop a concept of gender through interaction with their environment. Children perception of gender and how they define differences between male and female gender roles would offer an excellent research topic in early childhood education. Particularly during the first three years are critical and influence the child for life. Learning is not confined to children of a certain age or to a formal school environment. Encouraging children to play and explore with other children helps them learn and develop socially, emotionally, physically and intellectually. Play is central to children’s learning, regardless of the actual content. The process play helps children get involved with exploration, language experimentation, cognition, and also the development of social skills. Being interactive with other children teaches them about who they are and about the people around them. Early Childhood education affects a child’s learning somewhat in a good way in somewhat not. When a child goes to a pre-school with teachers that will teach them what they will need to know for the upcoming year those students will have a better chance when they get to kindergarten, but if a child goes to a pre-school with little learning material or teaching style those students might have a hard time keeping up with the students that had a better learning experience. Recent study | Published in the Journal of Early Childhood Research | this study found the quality of a pre-school significantly predicts a child’s educational success. Not all early childhood education is created equal. Not only is it important for parents to do their research when choosing a pre-school for their child, but it’s also important for our child care professionals and teachers to be well trained. A teacher’s educational experience greatly affects the overall delivery of a child’s learning in many ways. According to the | National Association for the Education of Young Children’s | (NAEYC) Position statement on standards for programs to prepare early childhood professionals, the level of a teacher’s education directly affects any benefits the child may receive from the program. This includes early learning and development in cognitive, social, emotional and physical domains. High quality college courses will give the teacher specialized knowledge that will help to inform his decisions, teaching methods and curriculum creation. For example a teacher with extensive knowledge in child development will be able to assess each child’s abilities and identify potential developmental delays and/ or adapt curriculum to fit the child’s needs. It is important to understand child development and to recognize each child’s individual characteristics and cultural background when planning learning activities that enable children to â€Å"make sense of their world†. Children develop the skills necessary to solve real life problems and become better prepared to think for themselves when they are exposed to experiences that: 1) spark interest and curiosity, 2) integrate learning experiences, and 3) structure their thinking. These are some skills that are used in the process of childhood education: Symbolization- Students use symbols to represent an idea, Observation- students use senses to learn about something in detail, description- students verbally portray attributes of an object, person, scene, or event and it’s so many more skills that help a child in their childhood development. (www. uen. org) Benefits of early childhood education provide children with the skills that will help increase their vocabulary development and cognitive abilities. Children start learning from birth, early childhood education, whether it is in a local head-start program, a pre-school or at home, can help a child increase vocabulary development by familiarizing them with words and their meanings. According to | Rand Corporation Research | early education has lasting benefits, showing increases in IQ levels and cognitive abilities such as the ability to understand both concepts and abstract thoughts. Children exposed to early childhood education can be more prepared for social environments. A child becomes competent in learning to socially interact with adults and other children. With parental support, the child can learn not only what is socially appropriate in the classroom, but also in public places and in their home. Social competency is a key skill for a child to learn, as it will benefit them throughout their life time. Like clay, children are highly moldable in their preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary years. Between the ages of five and eight, children are actively engaged in making sense of the large, confusing world around them. In this stage, it is important that children receive the educational guidance that urges them to explore and enthusiastically interact with their setting as they develop socially, physically, intellectually, creatively and emotionally. In this early stage of development, much learning is cultivated by play or playful learning. With the world advancing technologically by the day, new and innovative methods to engage young children and accelerate their development are emerging. It is up to the early childhood educator to seize on these developments as they work to cultivate a life-long sense of curiosity and exploration in the future leaders of tomorrow. (Early Childhood Education. com) Conducting learning activities by applying the concepts of contemplative education is what to emphasize the personal transformation of first year students majoring in Early Childhood Education to meet the national standard on the required characteristics of citizens. The objectives of this research were to compare students’ mean score in each aspect of E. Q. with the norm of the Department of Mental Health; to compare students’ mean score of E. Q. before and after conducting the activities; and to study students’ opinions on the learning activities. (University Library) Although the number of children enrolled in early childhood education and care has risen dramatically over past decades, low-income children are less likely than their more affluent counterparts to participate. Public funding for early education can play an important role in increasing enrollment levels among low-income children. This study utilizes National Household Education Survey data for a 14-year period to examine the effects of public funding on the enrollment of low-income children in early childhood education and care. It also considers the effects of funding on the type of care they use. Results suggest that public funding, particularly child-care subsidies and prekindergarten funding, increases the likelihood that low-income children, even those under 3 years of age, will attend non-parental care, including center-based care. These findings indicate that public funding can help close the gap in enrollment between low- and higher-income children. (University Library) Early education can increase cognitive skills in children, according to |Katherine A. Magnuson and her colleagues who report in the February 2007 issue of â€Å"Economics of Education Review†| that children from under-served communities who attended preschool showed more cognitive improvement than their peers. Columbia University researchers confirm this connection through their study published in the July 2003 issue of â€Å"Developmental Psychology. † They found that prematurely born 8 year olds who attended 400 or more days of preschool at ages 2 and 3 years old scored higher on IQ tests than prematurely born 8 year olds of similar backgrounds who attended preschool less often. Children going through early education has great out comes like, improved cognitive skills can lead to improved academic results. Magnuson’s study indicated that children enrolled in prekindergarten performed better in reading and mathematics when they entered grade school. Children enrolled in early childhood education programs are less likely to be held back a grade in school, according to the Public Policy Forum. These children also have a decreased likelihood of being enrolled in special education remedial programs. The future of early childhood education school programs is bright. As more children are born in the United States and other developing countries, educational programs for children will always be needed to prepare them for careers that will help sustain our global society. There will always be a need for an early childhood education program in fields such as bilingual education, literacy, mathematics and science. According to the statistics provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor, employment demand for careers in secondary, middle and elementary schools are expected to show a significant increase. These positions will be available because of the increase in the population, but the demand will also increase due the retirement of teachers within urban areas of the United States. Therefore, there will be more than 244,000 additional jobs available by 2018 for those that have acquired an ECE degree. Additionally, teaching assistant positions are expected to have an increased demand by as much as 10 percent, while administrative positions in early childhood education school setting will have a demand growth by as much as 8 percent. Educational providers of ECE degree programs will need to prepare for these significant increases by training new educators now. Reference Page Table of Contents Early childhood Education- Authors: Ogletree Quinita, Larke, Patrica J Plarked National forum of Multicultural Issues Journal; Dec 2011, vol. 9 Issue, P1-9, 9P University of phoenix library1 Education and families: Authors: Greenberg, Joy Pastan Sep 2010, volume 84 issue 3, P490, 30 P,6 charts, 1 Graph University of phoenix libraby2 Author: M. Lavora Perry June 16, 2010 www.. livestrong. com Google lookup3 www. unicef. org Google lookup4