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Construction of an Assessment Tool for EarlyChildhood Development in the World ofDiscoveryTM Curriculum
Divya Palaniappan
Curriculum Manager, Amelio Child Care
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Importance of Early Childhood Education
A child's potential is determined in the early years [1]
Courtesy: permanentfund.org
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Assessment of Early Childhood Curriculum
![C:\Users\Divya\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\IE\TOP4JJQZ\question_mark[1].png](data/images/img5.png)
Quality of Curriculum
Early Childhood Program
An EffectiveAssessmentTool
Need for an effective Assessment Tool
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Drawbacks of Existing Assessment Tools
1. Measures only few areas
2. Informal Techniques
3. Observer’s Bias
Quality of Curriculum
Early Childhood Program
An EffectiveAssessmentTool
Construct a quantitative Assessment Tool that evaluates the effectiveness of curriculum and theprogress of each child’s development
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“Play” as an Essential Early ChildhoodFramework
Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning – Fred Rogers
Play enhances a child’s social competence, creativity, language development and thinking capacity [2]
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Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory
What isknown?
What is notknown?
Zone of proximal development
Skills too difficult for a child to master on his/her own that can be done through guidance andencouragement from a knowledgeable person
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World of DiscoveryTM CurriculumMultiple Intelligence
Every child is unique….so is their intelligence profile – Howard Gardner
Courtesy: connectionsacademy.com
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Rhyme
Musical
Counting or Puzzles
Mathematical
Craft
Kinesthetic
A new theme is introduced to the children every week
Every activity in the World of DiscoveryTM curriculum is designed tocater to every child irrespective of their dominant intelligence
World of DiscoveryTM CurriculumHow do we focus on Multiple Intelligence
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Cognitive Development – Counting Corner
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Benefits of World of DiscoveryTM
Cognitive
Language
Social andEmotional
Physical
Activities are designed to strengthen the following developments
Circle time, Rhyme,Story
Rhyme, Story,
Pretend Play
Scarf dance, Outdoor,Rhymes, Craft
Circle time, Groupgames, Activity corners
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Development parameters measured using theAssessment Tool
Physical development
Fine-Motor skills
Gross-Motorskills
Hand-eyecoordination
Cognitivedevelopment
Memory
Attention span
Sorting
Symbolic Play
Perceptualreasoning
Comprehension
Counting
Comparison
Colors
Shapes
Languagedevelopment
Recalls – abilityto narrate
Communicates inwords
Communicates insentences
Social development
Co-operative play
Adherence torules
Interaction withpeers
ConflictResolution
Emotionaldevelopment
Empathy
Self-Control
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Construction of an Assessment Tool for theWorld of DiscoveryTM Curriculum
5 point rating scale (1-need to catch up, 2 – Just there,3- normal, 4-remarkable and 5- extraordinary)
Data were collected for a period of 3 months across 10centres in Chennai, India
Average scores of 100 children aged between 2.5 to3.5 years was collected
Norms were arrived at using Mean and S.D. of thedata (µ value, µ+1 σ and µ -1 σ )
The tool renders a convenient framework to evaluateeach child during the activity.
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Name of the child
Class
Days Present
Week Starting
Week Ending
Age
Parameters
Activity
Remarks
CircleTime
RhymeTime
StoryTime
PlayCorner 1
PlayCorner 2
PlayCorner 3
ArtandCraft
ScarfDance
GroupGames
Average
Cognitive Development
Memory
Attention Span
Sorting
Symbolic Play
Puzzles - PerceptualReasoning
Understands SimpleInstructions
Counting
Comparison
Colors
Shapes
A snapshot of the Assessment Tool
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Results – Cognitive Vs. Physical Development
A child’s physical development has positive effects on a child’s cognitive development and intellectualcapability [3]
r=0.90
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Results – Comparison of Average Scores
Based on these evaluation reports, a teacher can customize activities to a child’s ability
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Conclusion
•The Assessment Tool enables Early Childhood Educators to evaluate achild’s development and also to assess the quality of the program
•Results indicated high correlation between Physical and Cognitivedevelopment
•This result corroborated that ‘Play’ renders the basis for dynamicintellectual activity thereby establishing face validity of the tool
•The average scores across centres indicated the subjective difficulty levelof each activity
•The individual difficulty level for each child can be increased or decreasedby observing the performance of the child over time
•The activities designed as part of the curriculum can be revisited based onthe scores obtained in order to devise an efficient system that caters tothe needs of the child.
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THANK YOU !
For Further information, please contact:
Divya Palaniappan
Curriculum Manager, Amelio Child Care
Mobile: +91-9500029797 (India)
Mailto: curriculum@ameliochildcare.com
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References
[1] Simmons, T., & Sheehan, R. (1997). Brain researchmanifests importance of first years. The News &Observer
[2] Fromberg, D. P., & Gullo, D. F. (1992). Perspectives onChildren. Encyclopedia of Early Childhood Education, eds,191-194.
[3] Sibley, B. A., & Etnier, J. L. (2003). The relationshipbetween physical activity and cognition in children: ameta-analysis. Pediatric Exercise Science, 15(3), 243-256.
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