Positive Early Childhood Learning Environment
Learning begins with a safe, positive and happy environment
“We are the sum total of our experiences. Those experiences – be they positive or negative – make us the person we are, at any given point in our lives. And, like a flowing river, those same experiences, and those yet to come, continue to influence and reshape the person we are, and the person we become. None of us are the same as we were yesterday, nor will be tomorrow.”― B.J. Neblett
While laying the foundation of learning for our children we must remind ourselves that what and how they learn today will make them the people they will become tomorrow. It is therefore our primary responsibility as educators to create and foster an environment where children feel safe, happy and free to express themselves through words, actions or play.
The core elements of this learning environment are the teacher, classmates and infrastructure. When we look back at our school days, what do we remember the most – the building, the desks, the swimming pool or our favorite teachers and our closest friends? I can quite certainly say that it is our favorite teachers, the special things they did, how they made us feel and then our friends who stood by us through thick and thin.
If being one of those favorite teachers is our goal and if we would like to be remembered as one of those teachers who always made each student feel special, able and successful then these are some of the things we could incorporate into our learning environment.
Make students feel cared for: Some of the ways we can do this is by greeting each child by their name every morning, caring to know something specific about each child, using this knowledge to make learning personalized and to avoid discussing or bringing up issues which may be sensitive. We must take special care to learn the pronunciations of the names of students who are from different countries and have uncommon names, learn about their country and culture and incorporate examples respectfully into academic content.
Listen to each voice: It is important to recognize that every child has a story to tell. These stories could be about their experiences, families, hardships, fears or about the fun and happy things in their lives. These stories will provide each teacher with powerful information about each child’s cultural background, values they have grown up with, their hopes, strengths and life circumstances. Sharing these stories is also a great way of building relationships among students. It is a channel that helps students identify with those that have similar circumstances.
Be conscious of the physical environment: The physical learning environment pertains to the classroom structure and set up. Classroom setup should be student centered. The decorations should reflect the diversity of the students and their acceptance into the community. Desks should be set up in a way that facilitates collaborative sharing and learning. There should be a clear and all inclusive discussion on positive classroom behavior. The list should be clearly displayed in the class.
Encourage Dialogue and Inquiry: Young minds are curious. When some students see others do things differently, they might have questions. Encourage students to ask questions respectfully without expressing bias or judgment. Have students answer these questions too. This will help them establish a dialogue.
Build a strong school community: This is becoming increasingly relevant and critical in the world today where there is so much diversity in schools. In a small international school of a 110 students, in a Central Asian country, 16 countries are represented. In such schools a strong Parent Support group that volunteers to organize events where students, teachers and other parents can learn about all these countries will help develop strong connections. In bigger schools where the diverse student community includes not just students from different countries but also LGBT students, special needs students and minority students, student clubs and support groups must be encouraged. These are the clubs and groups where students have the freedom to express their concerns or ask questions in a safe environment.
Lead by example: Finally, as an educator, we must lead by example. It is our responsibility to take the care and initiative to learn as much as we can about our students, their backgrounds and their culture. We must learn about the ways of communicating, resolving conflicts, expressing emotions, using non verbal communication and symbols in different cultures. We must also raise our voice, stop and take immediate action against any discrimination based on country, culture, race or sexual preference.
If we take all or some of the steps above, students will have a safe and happy learning environment, one they will always want to come to.
Compare and Contrast Two Schools of Thought
Education theories are behavioral and cognitive. The behavioral theories are based on the premise that development in human beings can be evaluated and understood by observing their behavior. Such observable behavior is induced by some stimuli in the environment and not by internal motivations. Such theories throw light on the fact that experience can change what we do. Behaviorism was championed by psychologists such as John B. Watson and B.F Skinner.
Cognitive theories focus on the other hand help us understand and evaluate how human beings develop intelligence at different stages of life. This intelligence is acquired, constructed and then used over time and over various stages. An eminent and influential cognitive theorist is Jean Piaget who first developed the Theory of Cognitive Development.
I have chosen to compare and contrast Albert Bandura’s Social learning Theory, later known as Social Cognitive Theory and Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development because Bandura’s theory is regarded as the bridge between behaviorist and cognitive learning theories, encompassing attention, memory, and motivational processes (Muro & Jeffrey, 2008) and Piaget’s theory is purely cognitive.
Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory(SLT)and Social Cognitive Theory(SCT) | Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development |
Albert Bandura’s theory revolves around the belief that learning occurs through a person’s interaction with the environment, people, and their own behavior. It is learning by observing. | Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was one of the first people to recognize that intelligence in children was different from that of adults. He proposed that this change in intelligence occurred over time through maturity rather than teaching. |
Observational learning, an important element of Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, suggests that children do not require a stimulus to learn but social models instead. They observe people around them, known as social models, and change their behavior accordingly. | Piaget’s theory on the other hand suggests that children learn by putting in newly acquired learning in their existing box of knowledge known as “Schema”, matching it with this existing knowledge and this process of matching is known as “Assimilation”, or increasing the realm of their knowledge by accommodating this new learning in the process known as “Accommodation”. |
Bandura’s theory suggests that the observational learning process consists of four parts: Attention, Retention, Initiation, and Motivation. | Piaget’s theory of cognitive development has four stages: sensorimotor (0-2), preoperational (2-7), concrete operational (7-11), and formal operational (11- lifelong). |
Bandura conducted an experiment with a doll, Bobo, to prove his theory that children learn through observing social models. In this experiment, one group of children observed adults aggressively interacting with the doll Bobo : punching it, kicking it, and throwing it.The second group of children watched the adult interact with other toys, displaying no aggression toward Bobo. When both groups of adults left, children in the first group behaved more aggressively with Bobo, thus leading Bandura to believe that children learn what they see. | An important experiment he conducted to prove that children in the sensorimotor stage attain object permanence. The experiment is known as the blanket experiment where a toy was hidden under a blanket. Children between the age of 18 to 24 months tried to look for the toy while children under 6 months. Children between 18 to 24 months took the hiding of the toy as a prompt to find it, which Piaget believed supported the idea of object permanence. |
Relevance in creating a positive ECE learning environment
Bandura’s theory is seen in all early childhood classrooms where so much is taught by teachers by modeling, and students learn through observing the adult. Even in homes, children learn from their parents and exhibit behaviors practiced at home in school. | Relevance in creating a positive ECE learning environment
Piaget’s theory on the other hand is useful for teachers and adults to understand how children in different age groups acquire knowledge. While this is very relevant when it comes to the way in which educators help children learn concepts or ideas, it does not necessarily help create or encourage the creation of a positive learning environment. |
Deep Dive Analysis
Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory(SLT) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) | How is it applied in the classroom? |
Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory , has a component known as observational which elicits that children learn and create responses by observing behaviors of “key others”. In the classroom this would be the teachers.
This theory states that, learning does not necessarily require reinforcement, but instead hinges on the presence of others, referred to as social models who are normally of higher status or authority compared to the observer, examples of which include parents, teachers, and police officers. Key others could also be students who already demonstrate the expected knowledge and other classmates learn by observing such students. | This theory is applied in an ECE classroom in many ways to create a positive learning environment. First, when we greet children in the morning, we ask them “A handshake, hug, or, hello?”. We then greet them the way the student chooses. This allows the student to observe and learn that people should be given choices, and a choice must be respected. This helps create a positive environment in the classroom by ensuring that students don’t feel forced to do things they do not like, especially when it comes to sensitive things like touching.
Second, modeling is followed in our classroom using the I do, We do, You do method of Transfer of Responsibility. For eg: If I want students to work on a Character Traits Maze, I first show them how to choose behaviors that represent a particular trait, then we do one together, and then the students do the rest of the exercise independently. |
Bandura’s theory has four important parts: Attention, where the learner must pay attention to what is being observed in order to learn. The second part is retention, where the learner must be able to remember what is being learnt. The third is Initiation, where one acknowledges that the learner must be able to execute the learned behavior. Finally, Motivation, where the learner must be willing to learn. | In an ECE classroom each of these stages can be appreciated and implemented in the following ways: Attention - Understand what students enjoy and what grabs their attention. It could be videos, games, movement, or humor. When we try to teach students a concept, we may find that they are more attentive while watching a video rather than listening to the teacher talk. Like in the Teach Now video about wild animals and pets, where we observed that students were least distracted when they were watching a video and sorting the animals into wild and pet animals. Retention - Teachers in an ECE classroom are always repeating and practicing recalling. This is done to help students retain information. Teachers may first use words to explain something, reinforce with pictures, and then recall with a video. For example - In my classroom, to teach addition word problems, I use the vocabulary first: altogether, in all, or sum. Then I show pictures where the items are in separate baskets or boxes and how they are brought altogether into one box or basket. I test understanding using pictures or a Kahoot video or presentation on slides. Initiation or Reproduction -This is when students solve an addition problem on their own. They recall the use of the word “altogether” or “in all” and recognize that they have to add both numbers. Motivation - Finally students must feel motivated to learn. This happens in our classroom through constant appreciation. Students are allowed to teach or show a friend and by doing so, first, I convey my appreciation of the skill acquired by the student, and second, demonstrate belief in his or her ability to teach thereby helping him or her develop more confidence. |
While Bandura believed that reinforcement may not necessarily play a role in a child’s learning, consequences definitely do. A future adaptation of the lumen : Lifespan Development chapter on Behavioral and Cognitive Theory ((Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1963) demonstrated that, in the Bobo Doll experiment, children in the aggressive group who followed the aggressive adults, showed less aggressive behavior when the observed the aggressive adults receive punishment for their behavior. | In an ECE classroom, punishment does not help create a positive environment, but positive reinforcement does. Statements such as “I like how Sheila is ready to begin her work.” or “I love how Tom is using his listening ears.” etc. are ways of helping students who do not follow expected behavior to fall in line with the others. |
Finally, Bandura’s theory addresses the interplay between the environment and the individual. He believes that individuals are not just products of our environment but we also affect or influence our environment. This is known as reciprocal determinism. He quotes the example of how parents try to be the perfect parents for their first child and how things change by the time the fourth is born. | In an ECE classroom, reciprocal determinism is very relevant. When a child misbehaves, and throws a tantrum, more often than not, a teacher throwing a tantrum in return will throw the entire environment out of gear. On the other hand if a child’s tantrum motivates a teacher to be more calm, the teacher takes steps to diffuse the situation by distracting the child, or by acknowledging the problem the child is having, the environment in the classroom becomes calm and positive again. |
References:
Sheehan, S. M. and J. (2021, February 2). Building positive learning environments for young children starts with you. ECLKC. Retrieved October 3, 2021, from https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/blog/building-positive-learning-environments-young-children-starts-you.
Lumen Learning. (n.d.). Behavioral and Cognitive Theories. Lumen Lifespan Development. Retrieved October 3, 2021, from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-lifespandevelopment/chapter/behavioral-and-cognitive-theories/
Cherry, K. (2019, December 1). How does observational learning actually work? Verywell Mind. Retrieved October 3, 2021, from https://www.verywellmind.com/social-learning-theory-2795074.
Kurt, S. (2020, August 8). Jean Piaget and his theory & stages of cognitive development. Educational Technology. Retrieved October 3, 2021, from https://educationaltechnology.net/jean-piaget-and-his-theory-stages-of-cognitive-development/.
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