Kindergarten Curriculum Research Articles

Difficulties Of Kindergarten Teachers In The Blocks Of Time

Teaching kindergarten comes with its fair share of challenges, but it can also be an incredibly rewarding experience watching your learners grow and learn during their time in school. In this context, this study aimed to determine the difficulties kindergarten teachers face in the blocks of time regarding learning domains, transition activities, and musical instruments. The study targeted 65 kindergarten teachers using a self-made questionnaire that passed stringent tests of validity and reliability to collect information from the respondents. The results revealed that kindergarten teachers’ level of difficulty in learning domain and transition activities was low, while musical instruments were high. In addition, there was no significant difference in the level of difficulties of kindergarten teachers in the blocks of time in terms of learning domains, transition activities, and musical instruments when compared according to age, civil status, number of training attended, and family income. The result provides evidence that kindergarten teachers need to improve themselves in the delivery of instruction in the kindergarten program and calls for conducting an enrichment plan focusing on learning domains, transition activities, and musical instruments in the kindergarten curriculum throughout the region. Keywords: Blocks of time, difficulties, kindergarten teachers, Bindoy, Negros Oriental.

유치원 교육과정 예술관련 영역의 구성, 목표, 내용의 변화 탐색

The purpose of this study is to examine the evolution of the structure, goals, and content in the area of aesthetic art in the kindergarten curriculum by analyzing the respective curricula and guidebooks from the 1st Kindergarten Curriculum (1969) to the 2019 revised Nuri Curriculum. The names and characteristics of the area of aesthetic art have evolved with the demands of the times and educational contexts, transitioning from ‘Art and Music’ to ‘Social and Emotional Development,’ ‘Emotional Development,’ ‘Expressive Life,’ and ‘Art Experience.’ The primary goals of art education have consistently emphasized ‘aesthetic sensibility’ and ‘creativity’ across all curricula, with additional goals such as emotional development, basic skills, and the exploration of artistic elements being incorporated over time. In terms of content, ‘exploration’ was included in the content categories starting from the 6th curriculum. ‘Expression,’ initially focused on music, art, and movement, gradually expanded to encompass literature and dramatic play, eventually emphasizing ‘integrated’ expression from the 6th curriculum onwards. ‘Appreciation’ similarly broadened from traditional art fields to include nature and objects, with a recent focus on fostering an appreciation attitude as a key content area.

A Review of Changes and Issues in ‘Special Education Kindergarten Curriculum’ Documents through Diachronic Analysis: Focusing on the「2022 Revised Special Education Curriculum」

A Review of Changes and Issues in ‘Special Education Kindergarten Curriculum’ Documents through Diachronic Analysis: Focusing on the「2022 Revised Special Education Curriculum」

Definitions of Creativity by Kindergarten Stakeholders: An Interview Study Based on Rhodes’ 4P Model

Abstract In 2017, Hong Kong included the notion of creativity in its official kindergarten curriculum framework. However, the curriculum did not define what creativity means in relation to 3- to 6-year-old children. Stakeholders such as teacher educators, kindergarten principals, and teachers may have different understandings of creativity, possibly leading to difficulties in implementing this notion into practice. We adopted Rhodes’ 4P model to examine Hong Kong kindergarten stakeholders’ definitions of creativity in relation to young children. We posed two research questions: (1) What are the themes and elements that Hong Kong kindergarten stakeholders refer to in their responses when defining the notion of creativity? (2) How do these stakeholders differ in their responses when defining this notion? We asked 50 kindergarten stakeholders (20 teacher educators, 10 principals, and 20 teachers) to define the notion of creativity using their own words. Content analysis, descriptive statistics, and multiple Fisher’s exact tests (2 × 2) were used to analyze their responses. We found that all stakeholders possessed a partial understanding of creativity, especially teachers. Stakeholders’ definitions mainly focused on the importance of creative processes. Other components such as the learning environment, the traits of a person, and the creation of products were rarely alluded to in their definitions. We conclude that there is an urgent need to explicitly articulate and conceptualize the notion of creativity in kindergarten curriculum frameworks, such as Hong Kong’s curriculum Guide. This would allow stakeholders to find common ground in the teaching and learning of creativity. Implications for the enhancement of creativity education are discussed.

The School Readiness of the Kindergarten Pupils in Wesleyan School in Ilagan as Basis for the Enhancement of Kindergarten Curriculum

The School Readiness of the Kindergarten Pupils in Wesleyan School in Ilagan as Basis for the Enhancement of Kindergarten Curriculum

Promuovere lo sviluppo della competenza geometrica: una ricerca nella scuola dell’infanzia

PROMOTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF GEOMETRIC COMPETENCE: A RESEARCH IN KINDERGARTENS Abstract Conducting a research in kindergartens, whose intended impact on the development of children’s geometric competence is to facilitate their learning in later educational stages, involved the collaboration between a pedagogical researcher and a disciplinarian teacher. This collaboration between different areas of expertise represents a key strength of the research presented in this article, which aims at contributing to the reorganisation of curriculum in kindergartens. Through an empirical approach, the research wants to demonstrate the impact that a laboratory teaching path, involving the transition from solid to plane geometry and CAD modelling with 3D printing, can have on classification, representation and sectioning skills of geometric shapes by children at the age of 5.

텍스트 마이닝을 활용한 국가수준 유치원 교육과정 분석

This study aims to examine the changes in the national kindergarten curriculum text through text mining. Semantic network analysis using R was employed for this purpose, yielding the following results. Firstly, consistently High-centrality keywords from the 1st kindergarten curriculum of the 2019 revised Nuri Curriculum were ‘child’ and ‘curriculum,’ with ‘kindergarten,’ ‘operation,’ and ‘development’ also showing general centrality. Secondly, keywords reflecting differences in centrality emphasized in each curriculum period included ‘community,’ ‘play,’ ‘welfare,’ ‘construction,’ and ‘parents.’ The keyword ‘community’ showed High-Centrality in the 1st, 5th, and 6th kindergarten curricula and the 2007 revised kindergarten curriculum. The keywords ‘welfare’ and ‘construction’ displayed High-Centrality in the 3rd kindergarten curriculum. Additionally, the keyword ‘play’ showed High-Centrality in the 2019 revised Nuri Curriculum, and the keyword ‘parents’ showed High-Centrality in the 6th and 2007 revised kindergarten curricula. This study offers implications for future revisions of the early childhood curriculum as a theoretical reference.

Experiences of School Administrators and Teachers in Kindergarten Program for Children with Visual Impairment

The Department of Education, adhering to the Kindergarten Education Act and other laws declaring the provision of education to children with disabilities, provides education to every Filipino child including those with visual impairment. The said program envisions students to acquire learning skills that will enable a Filipino child with visual impairment to function effectively and independently for inclusion in the community as a productive citizen while being aligned and anchored on the Department of Education’s Kindergarten Curriculum Framework. The study identified the positive and negative experiences of teachers and administrators along with the factors that contributed to the experiences by exploring the experiences of five (5) teachers and five (5) school administrators in their program delivery employing the use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). From these experiences and considering the previous study related four emergent themes were presented: 1) Journey Towards Progress, 2.) Filling the Education Gap, 3.) collective efforts, and 4.) Support Issues. The study showed the interwoven experiences influenced by several factors leading to what they considered as the success of the program. Recommendations for school administrators and teachers were also drawn from the study along with the recommendation for future studies.

Teacher Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Implementing the Merdeka Curriculum in Kindergarten

Teacher Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Implementing the Merdeka Curriculum in Kindergarten

Lekens lange linjer: En historisk analyse av lekbegrepet i læreplandokumenter for norske barnehager og skoler fra 1996 til 2020

This article is based on a content analysis of the concept of play in the national curriculum for Norwegian kindergartens and schools from 1996 until 2020. The results show how play’s place in the curriculum has changed in a period characterized by changing knowledge discourses. The results also illuminate how perspectives on play, either as a goal in itself or a means for other purposes, have been written and have developed within and between the documents in line with these discourses. The study contributes knowledge on how national curricula frame the conditions for play in children’s institutional lives.

Using action research to infuse nature-based loose parts play into the Kindergarten Program

ABSTRACT This research explores how nature-based loose part play helps unfold young children’s learning connected with the natural world in the Kindergarten Program. It uses action research to investigate nature-based loose parts play in connection with the Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum to provide unique insights into identifying and addressing action research questions in practice and enhancing educational discourses. Nature-based loose parts play is an approach for learning to reconnect young children with nature and environment through hands-on experiential experiences, to build a foundation that enhances their learning indoors and outdoors and to develop deeper understanding of the relationships of all living things. The findings reveal that, through nature-based loose parts play, creating invitations for environmental learning is the first step to intrigue Kindergarten children towards further exploration and investigation. Nature-based loose parts play is viewed as a methodology and a pedagogy to fully integrate outside and inside learning environments to enrich children’s learning.

Early Childhood Visual Arts Education: Teachers’ Content Knowledge, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, and Challenges

AbstractIn the past, visual arts education in Hong Kong was not considered an important area of early childhood education. While the Hong Kong kindergarten curriculum has recently been updated to encourage creativity, there remains a lack of adequate visual arts education for young children. This deficiency stems from the fact that the visual arts receive minimal attention within Hong Kong teacher education programs. Little research has been conducted on how visual arts education is actually delivered in local kindergarten classrooms in Hong Kong and what kinds of artistic knowledge and skills kindergarten teachers need. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate kindergarten teachers’ content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in early visual arts education (EVAE) and to identify the challenges they faced in teaching visual arts to children. The study surveyed 342 in-service kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong and conducted individual interviews with 12 participants. The findings revealed that Hong Kong kindergarten teachers generally performed well in terms of their pedagogical content knowledge, but they lacked content knowledge in various forms of early visual arts (EVA) and faced challenges in teaching visual arts effectively. This study has the potential to change how early childhood visual arts teaching is conceptualized and taught in Hong Kong and other Asian regions.

Implementation of Character Education Based on Total Quality Management: Strengthening the Profile of Pancasila Students in Kindergarten

This research is applied research that aims to develop and implement a character education action plan based on Total Quality Management (TQM) in the Pancasila student profile in Independent Curriculum in Kindergarten. This research is a qualitative descriptive study, data was collected through Focus Group Discussion (FGD), interviews, observation, and documentation. The results of the research show that TQM-based character education in Tunas Bangsa Kindergarten through the implementation of action plans in Pancasila student profile in the independent curriculum, implemented in learning projects and children's habits, has achieved guaranteed quality of learning. The results of the implementation show that children have achieved guaranteed quality graduates through learning project activities and familiarization with the supporting capacity of skilled teacher human resources, adequate facilities, and infrastructure as well as religious and moral development for adult children. Learning projects and habits are implemented for children to achieve the guaranteed quality of graduates, carrying out daily prayers, carrying out religious ritual practices, praying before and after studying, praying for parents and family, putting on and taking off your shoes, wearing uniform according to schedule, and complete tasks according to the deadline. For further research, it is necessary to carry out research that examines various implementations of character education based on culture or other learning models that attract children's interest and are more comprehensive. Keywords: action plan, early childhood, character education, total quality management

Discussion on the Construction and Application of Virtual Reality-Based Curriculum Resources for Kindergarten Education

The construction of early childhood curriculum resources serves as a vital vehicle and precondition for the implementation of collective teaching activities in kindergartens. However, traditional curriculum resources based on graphic language or the linguistic descriptions of early childhood educators often fail to provide children with an immersive experience during collective teaching activities, leading to a lack of initiative and interest in learning. This paper discusses the methods for building a kindergarten curriculum resource library and, based on this foundation, employs virtual reality technology for three-dimensional modeling of the library to enrich the curriculum resources in kindergartens. Furthermore, this paper proposes to train early childhood educators in virtual reality technology to enhance their abilities to operate and utilize virtual reality equipment, which can emphasize the children’s central role in the learning process, better achieve educational goals, and improve teaching outcomes.

Future Kindergarten Educators' Views Regarding the Role of Language as One of the Core Kindergarten Curriculum Areas

<p style="text-align:justify">Kindergarten educators represent the first contact of children with the institutional environment. In this article we assume that kindergarten educators have a significant impact on children's perception of their first/mother tongue and their language development. Language is one of the core kindergarten curriculum areas in which the educator needs to be adequately empowered to set an example for the children, while at the same time developing their communicative competence which is the basis for (later) efficient communication. We carried out a questionnaire-based survey involving 236 students pursuing early childhood education in all three public universities in the Republic of Slovenia which prepares students for the role of kindergarten educators in order to study their perceptions of the language. The questionnaire-based survey was answered by students in their first and third years i.e., when starting and finishing their studies. A large majority of future kindergarten educators consider their positive attitude towards language in general to be extremely important for kindergarten children as language forms the basis for all other curriculum areas. Also, when surveyed, almost all future kindergarten educators considered it essential to be proficient in the language and to encourage language development in children by following their own example. Furthermore, they believe it is important to have a well-developed linguistic capability (language knowledge), to have the capability of crafting linguistically accurate written content and to master a suitable literary expression.</p>

Arts education in Hong Kong kindergartens: provision of activities and impact of teachers’ demographics

Arts and Creativity is one learning area of Hong Kong’s official kindergarten curriculum framework. Kindergarten teachers are expected to foster children’s creativity via four art forms: music, visual arts, dance, and drama. However, prior studies have investigated the provision of activities for each of the art forms in isolation and have not explored the demographic variables that predict teachers’ provision of arts education activities. Investigating the provision of the four art forms and its relationship with teachers’ demographics could provide an overview of the status of arts education in Hong Kong kindergartens. We had two research goals: (1) investigate the frequency with which kindergarten teachers conduct arts education activities focusing on music, visual arts, dance, and drama; (2) identify subgroups of teachers who differ regarding the provision of arts education activities and analyze how key demographic variables predict their memberships to these subgroups. We surveyed 477 teachers. Descriptive statistics, latent profile analysis, and multinomial logistic regression analysis were performed. We found that the presence of the four art forms was unbalanced. Participants reported conducting music and visual arts activities frequently, while dance and drama activities were occasionally or rarely conducted. Moreover, we identified three subgroups of teachers who provided arts education activities with different frequencies. Participants with a master’s degree and those who worked in government-funded kindergartens were more likely to be in the highest arts provision group. Findings suggest that the curriculum is not being implemented accurately, as teachers do not equally expose children to the four art forms. We interpret these findings as a reflection of teachers’ uneven preparation in the various art forms. Implications for educational policy regarding professional development are discussed.

Factors influencing teachers' sustained implementation of a kindergarten curriculum within the United States: A qualitative analysis

AbstractTeachers play a critical role in deciding what curricula are used in their classrooms. We examine the factors that teachers describe as influencing their sustainment or discontinuation of a literacy curriculum, Zoology One, following their participation in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) examining the curriculum's efficacy. This study was conducted in a large urban district in the United States and the curriculum was implemented in kindergarten classrooms with children who are typically 5 and 6 years old. One year after their participation in the RCT, teachers who had been randomised to implement Zoology One during the efficacy study (N = 19) participated in interviews about their ongoing use of the curriculum. We analysed the interview data using a staged coding approach to understand the factors that teachers described influencing their sustainment or discontinuation of the curriculum. We used a multilevel framework to organise results across three levels: individual‐level, school‐level and macro‐level. Results indicate that teacher perceptions of the curriculum, including those related to its effectiveness and age‐appropriateness, contributed to sustained use. At the same time, some teachers' perceptions that the curriculum approaches were not sufficient for their students led them to discontinue some curriculum components. The implementation climate at their school, as well as the widespread adoption of a particular phonics programme within the school district, also influenced teachers' sustainment or discontinuation. Taken together, these results highlight the importance of teachers' perceptions of a curriculum as well as the critical role that the school and district context play in curricular sustainment.

G도 유치원 교사 인식을 통해 본 코로나19 이후 유아 발달 실태

Objectives This study investigated the status of early childhood development after COVID-19 based on teacher perception.
 Methods To this end, 173 public and private Gindergarten teachers located in G-do were surveyed, and the collected data were analyzed through frequency analysis, multiple response analysis, independent sample T-test, variance analysis, and mean difference test using SPSS 21.0.
 Results 81% of public and private Kindergarten teachers working in G Province recognized that COVID-19 had a significant impact on early childhood development, and the main factors affecting early childhood development were “wearing masks” and “social distancing.” Specifically, mask-wearing has caused direct difficulties in communication, social distancing, non-face-to-face distance learning, and the reduction in the number of Kindergarten attendance days. As a result, among the five Kindergarten curriculum areas, the areas that were most affected can be seen as the ‘communication domain’ and the ‘social relations domain’.
 Conclusions The measures to support early childhood development suggested by this study include the operation of various programs in each area, strengthening early childhood-connected integrated education, and administrative support in terms of personnel, budget, and structure. In addition, it was suggested that longitudinal studies for preemptive and preventive policy support, community cultural studies to strengthen communication and cooperation among early childhood education officials, and basic research to secure policy independence of early childhood education institutions need to be activated.

Smart System on Two-dimensional Shapes Recognition Application for Kindergarten Students

Abstract. Kindergarten-aged children are going through an important period of cognitive development, such as the ability to think concretely, including recognizing simple geometric shapes such as circles, triangles, and squares. However, many children find it difficult to understand the basic concepts of two-dimensional shapes.Purpose: It is necessary to develop prototype learning aids in the form of intelligent systems in two-dimensional shapes applications for kindergarten students, which utilize information technology and object visualization directly through cameras on smartphones. This is expected to increase children's learning motivation and help strengthen their understanding of two-dimensional shapes.Methods: The research combines Waterfall and Agile methodologies, tailoring them to four stages: plan and discovery, analysis and design, application development, and testing. Testing gathers accuracy with 120 smartphone-collected data points for square, triangle, circle, and pentagon shapes. Also, usability testing based on learnability, efficiency, memorability, error handling, and satisfaction, was obtained from six kindergarten teacher questionnaires and quantitatively processed.Results: The application achieves an accuracy rate of approximately 79%. Notably, accuracy decreases with fewer corners, mainly due to low resolution or lack of focus, resulting in simplified detected shapes. Regarding usability, it is evident that the application has received positive feedback from users, particularly kindergarten teachers, who have given it an average score of 78.83.Novelty: Distinguished from previous research, the novelty of this study resides in its ability to capture objects through a camera, eliminating the need for predefined shapes within the application, and innovating by creating an educational tool aligned with the kindergarten curriculum to recognize two-dimensional shapes. The research contribution is the creation of an innovative learning tool for kindergarteners, merging smartphone technology with real-world objects to teach two-dimensional shapes, thus integrating technology into early childhood education effectively, which has urgency in efforts to improve the quality of learning.

An Effective and Playful Way of Practicing Online Motor Proficiency in Preschool Children.

The children's fairytale is a playful educational tool that can be modified in such a way to enhance motor proficiency. This study investigated the effect of an online exercise program with modified fairytales on children's motor proficiency during the kindergarten curriculum. Forty preschool children (20 girls and 20 boys; 5.13 ± 0.24 years old) were divided into two equal groups: an intervention (IG) group and a control group (CG). The IG followed a 3-month (3 times/week) online exercise intervention program (supervised by the class's kindergarten teacher) with modified children's fairytales, during the COVID-19 pandemic, with an aim to improve their motor proficiency. The CG did not attend any exercise intervention program. The Democritos Movement Screening Tool for Preschool Children (DEMOST-PRE), consisting of ten tests, was used to assess the children's motor proficiency. Τhe IG, after the end of the intervention program, significantly improved in the DEMOST-PRE total score (p < 0.001; mean change: 40.7%), while the CG did not significantly improve in the total score (p > 0.05). Furthermore, in the IG, a significant negative correlation between the pre-training DEMOST-PRE total score and the percentage change following the intervention (r = -0.64; p = 0.002) was observed. A modified exercise program using children's fairytales may be incorporated into the kindergarten curriculum as an effective educational tool for the improvement of motor proficiency.