Abstract
Using digital resources is an important development in the Early Childhood Education (ECE) curriculum in China. Guo and Wang (2005) report that 98% of urban ECE programs have computers with Internet connections, in addition to other technical facilities, which are used daily in ECE classrooms. However, the lack of curriculum-related digital resources and of a network to share them makes it difficult for teachers to share these resources for teaching. Further, this development of digital resources for ECE should consider Chinese cultures of learning (Jin & Cortazzi, 2006) in order to meet the needs of Chinese learners and maximize the learning effect. This paper focuses on the major features of digital resources in Chinese ECE and a framework for developing the content through examining existing digital resources and materials. Methods of inquiry and evaluation include the use of focus groups of kindergarten teachers in different provinces in China. The findings (Chen & Zhou, 2009; Zhou & Chen, 2009) indicate that an ECE digital resource should have features of individualization, interaction, sharing and sociability in networking in Chinese educational contexts, for supporting teaching design, practice, evaluation and reflection. An effective framework of ECE digital resources is recommended to contain three key parts: 1) A Teacher Planning System to support teachers’ information searches, classified according to themes, subjects or types of activities. 2) A Children’s Learning System to offer interactive learning at school or home following the classroom curriculum. 3) A Family Support System to involve parents in their children’s learning and development.
Highlights
The reform of the early childhood education (ECE) curriculum in China in the 21st century demonstrates a trend that teaching focuses on holistic education rather than on the teaching of separate subjects
The current study focuses on investigating how Chinese kindergarten e-resources have been established and used, what features are needed in the construction of eresources for the Chinese ECE curriculum and how e-resources based on Chinese cultures of learning support the development of ECE teachers
There are two main aspects of the findings: the needs analysis demonstrates the necessity of using ECE e-resources for curriculum teaching and learning in the digital era; and second the identification of key elements for the development of an effective corpus of eresources for the Chinese ECE curriculum
Summary
The reform of the early childhood education (ECE) curriculum in China in the 21st century demonstrates a trend that teaching focuses on holistic education rather than on the teaching of separate subjects. A key issue to sustain this development and enhance teaching is the construction of Chinese ECE curriculum resources. The use of digital resources for the ECE curriculum is a key aspect of this resource issue. There was little research based information available in this aspect for the Chinese ECE until the Study of Digital Resources for Chinese Kindergarten Curriculum, sponsored by the Humanity and Social Sciences Research Fund of the Chinese Ministry of Education (Zhou & Chen, 2009). This paper discusses functions, applications and needs of the digital resources for the Chinese ECE curriculum and raises issues for future development.
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