Introduction
Fuji Kindergarten, located 40 km west of Tokyo, is a unique learning space provided for five hundred Japanese children. Having visited the Roof House (domestic open plan house with a large usable roof), the client was interested in something similar that could stimulate a magical learning environment for his kindergarten students. Developing from this concept, the kindergarten provides a roof which is transformed in to programmatic areas that allow more space for learning and entertainment. Being the largest kindergarten in Japan, it is truly a place of significance. The kindergarten is not only unique in its shape, but the design is well thought out to enhance a different level of social experience. With priorities of the Montessori education method, the building encourages freedom and flexibility in learning while allow students to discover through their own experience at the same time.
Designing for Human Behaviour
One of the most iconic features of the kindergarten is its shape as a continuous loop. The result emerged from a series of practical ideas rather than being designed to appeal aesthetically. An interesting situation which caught the architects’ noticed was to find a situation where their children instinctively run in anti close wise circles to mark out territory while they burn off their extra energy. In responding intuitively to the solution, an idea of designing a space with an oval track came through. The spherical structure forms a
Their main objective is to create a safe educational environment for the children to learn in to help them develop in all areas. The setting offers a variety of activities for the children to take part in which will develop areas of their holistic development which will work with the children to reach the goals set for them.
In the book Preschool in Three Cultures Revisited, the authors, Joseph Tobin, Yeh Hsueh, and Mayumi Karasawa, look into preschools in three cultures: China, Japan, and the United States. Prior to writing this books, the authors did research on one preschool in each of the countries to see what the learning styles were and how they compared to one another. Then they went back some twenty years later to see if there were any changes in the preschools. The changes, or lack thereof, brought about the book Preschool in Three Cultures Revisited.
In today’s society many people recognize that our current educational system is antiquated and heavily flawed. Many do not believe the education our children routinely receive adequately prepares them to be successful in their adult lives and because of this parents are very concerned. This dissatisfaction has led to the implementation of numerous alternatives to the traditional educational system to which we have become accustomed. Each of these alternatives has their own collection of philosophies and methodologies, proponents and opponents, advantages and disadvantages, but the common thread is that they each aim to provide our children with a better, more effective education suited for today’s world. Montessori education is one of these alternative learning options that been around for many years and has been steadily gaining popularity.
I observed the preschool classroom of Ms. K. Today was a smaller group, as several children are on vacation. This is a new facility and just the host teacher was in there at this time. I came into the classroom at 8:00 and left at 9:00. I spoke with the host teacher before and after the observation for feedback, which I felt was beneficial to both her and me. I observed the children during inside for 20 minutes. I observed the children during outside play for 40 minutes.
Students spend most of their time working on the floor where they have their own individual carpets. They put them down to outline their personal workspace. Instead of there being various toys and games spread through out the classroom, there are specific sensory materials and manipulatives that are self correcting and purposeful to student’s learning. On the walls students’ work fill spaces throughout the classroom, similar to the walls of a Head Start classroom. Montessori classrooms are made up of mixed grades and ages, something that is not typical of traditional classrooms.
The interaction a preschooler has with the surrounding environment, whether it be physical or social, has a significant impact on the child’s development. Ramani (2012), had taken a look at playful environment versus a structured environment to see which one benefited children more when it came to social interaction and joint problem solving. The interaction shown in the experiment showed that a playful environment benefits children more because they are free to communicate and interact with other children, they were more observant of their environment, would imitate more to get their point across, and were overall more positive. Denham, Bassett, Zisser, and Wyatt (2014) evaluated the child’s engagement with the surrounding physical and social environment, along with taking a look at the ways social-emotional learning can predict how academically ready the children are.
Explain how the range of early years settings reflects the scope and purpose of the sector
The article is called Rethinking the Colorful Kindergarten Classroom, written by Jan Hoffman, and published on June 9, 2014. The author believes that kindergarten classrooms should be less flashy and distracting. I believe this article made teachers think about how the way they decorate their classroom affects the learning ability of their students.
Darragh starts off pointing out the issues that are taking place when providing special education and early childhood education together. She suggests that every childhood professional should be given a training and textbooks or special chapters with materials regarding special education or alert them issues related to inclusion in order to provide a proper “framework”. Darragh states that Universal Design for Early Childhood Education (UDECE) provides the best “framework” for combining special and early childhood education. UDCEC understands the concepts of inclusion and flexibility and that every child views the world differently on every growing year and also the views of the world towards the child changes as well. Therefore UDECE “designs
One must look at classroom management as a plan for what procedures students will follow throughout the day. Teachers must understand their role in making sure students have a successful experience each day. Wong H. & Wong R., state “Effective teachers teach how to responsibly follow procedures” (2009, p. 165). To have a smooth-running classroom with minimal behaviors, students must be taught classroom procedures from the very first day. In my classroom we have procedures for many things we do each day. Some of these are arrival of children, snack time, lining up and walking down the hallway, and cleaning up centers. I have been teaching these procedures for many years with much success.
In this paper is focus on the early childhood education environment design of a preschool classroom. The materials that will be in the classroom and the purpose of why the material are chosen. The location of the preschool and the climate, geographic features, landscaping, the environment impact and more. The reason for designing this preschool and the different materials that are used to create this imaginary preschool. And the inspiration of what it takes to create an environment suitable for the preschool.
Education is very important especially in this day and age. What school one attends and how they perceive school to be is a huge factor in one’s life success. There has been research done in the past few years proving that students who receive a Montessori education will prosper academically more so than those who receive a traditional education (Ryniker and Shoho, 2001). Traditional schools typically follow teacher based philosophies and the Montessori education is student centered. On average, children enjoy student based philosophy classrooms. Therefore, they are much more in tuned to what they are learning and that benefits their educational career. Having fun while learning is the key to keeping children engaged.
I observed and analyzed the design and delivery of an instructional unit in a Montessori school setting. I observed a classroom of grades 1-3 two times from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. at the Kennebec Montessori school. I was asked to sit quietly and to not interact with the children so I could get a realistic view of the class day and the children would pursue their chosen work.
“We discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words, but in virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment. The teacher 's task is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made for the child.”
Dr Montessori emphasizes the importance of the development of imagination. How do cultural activities in a Montessori prepared environment aid in the development….