Chapter Overview

This chapter introduced five distinct program models in early childhood education. In Montessori education, children engage in self-selected work experiences in an environment that is carefully prepared by the classroom teacher. Montessori materials are designed to be used by students in specific ways that are first demonstrated by the teacher. The high/Scope program is based on Piaget's theory and emphasizes the importance of learning through direct experiences with people and objects. Teachers help students develop deeper cognitive understandings through the plan-do-review sequence. The behaviorist approach is seen in limited numbers of prekindergarten classrooms and many primary classrooms. Based on the writings of people such as B.F. Skinner, it emphasizes that virtually all learning is externally motivated. Most people suggest that behaviorism does not support the basic tenets of developmentally appropriate practice. The Bank Street approach stresses the interrelatedness of all aspects of the child's development and the importance of enhancing the development of the whole child. This approach emphasizes the use of an integrated curriculum that is created by the teacher based on the needs and the interest of individual children. In the Reggio Emilia program, students engage in extensive project work that allows them to study topics of interest in great depth. Students document the results of their studies through detailed artwork or another form of media to summarize what was learned so that they can share this knowledge with others. Each of these programs has had and continues to have a significant influence on the practices seen in early childhood programs throughout the United States.