This paper is a discussion of the diverse curriculum appropriate for teaching children during the early childhood years, using Hilda L. Jackman's text, Early Education Curriculum: A Child's Connection to the World, as a guide. Jackman's book is grounded in three basic philosophies: that curriculum be centered around and directed to the child at his or her level of development, that the focus of the classroom should be on process, and that the environment should encourage creativity. She explores a wide range of curricular areas, suggesting specific concepts and activities that are useful in each, for different developmental levels. This paper examines the kinds of approaches she advocates and looks at a variety of related issues that her suggestions raise.
During the earliest years of life, the brain itself is still being formed. Especially during the first three years, the child is not merely finding out how to use this critical organ to think and process the surrounding world, the organ itself is still coalescing, literally taking shape within the child's head. Researchers are discovering just how dynamic this period really is. Gail Lindsey writes, "During these first few years, brain development is more rapid and extensive than previously realized." Events occurring in the surrounding environment influence not only the number of brain cells that are produced during this time and the connections between those cells but also how those connections are "wired." The earliest years are hugely influential in determining the brain that later gets taken into the formal classroom.
Other factors are also still in the developmental stages. Lilian G. Katz observes:
The younger the children, the less they are socialized into institutional and group norms, and the more their behavior is determined by experience accrued in nonschool contexts. Thus the younger the children, the greater the burden on their teachers to interp...