Content Orientations of Early Childhood Education (10 ECTS)

Learning outcomes

Students will know how to plan, implement and evaluate the principal methods and content orientations of early childhood education in their work. Students will identify special features of children’s culture and community and use them in their professional activities. They will be capable of connecting children’s activities to their immediate environment and a sustainable lifestyle. They will know how to evaluate and develop pedagogical and goal-oriented activity.

Content

Content orientation of early childhood education. Aesthetical and ethical orientation, music, physical education, arts, handcrafts, children’s literature, drama education. Natural science and mathematics orientation. Exploration. Language and interaction orientation. Media education. Children’s projects. Principles of sustainable development in day care centres. Optional pedagogies.

Teaching methods

lectures
training
workshops
independent study
learning assignments
project with children

Location and time

The schedule - see the Finnish sector

Learning materials and recommended literature

material is annouced later

Alternative completion methods of implementation

In spring 2020 there will be another implementation of this course Content Orientation in Early Childhood Education 10 cr..
That implementation is mainly for groups SXG17S1 and SXH17S1
That implementation 3009 is based on independent work, where tasks are located on the Moodle working place, where they are also stored.
In implementation 3009 the task instructions are in both Finnish and English. You can write assignments in either language.

Internship and working life connections

The child project -assignment is a implemented in working life, in a kindergarten.

Exam dates and retake possibilities

no exam

International connections

-

Student workload

10 x 27 h = 270 h
84 h lectures and workshops, 186 h independent and pair work
Students are required to have 75% attendance in compulsory classroom teaching.

Content scheduling

The course will be implemented from the beginning of the first period of the spring semester from week 2
Pre -assignment during week 1-2
Orientation lecture on week 2
weeks 2-10 lectures, trainings and worshops
- music / physical education / Satu Hakanen MSc Education, ECE -teacher, mus.therapist (AMK)
- drama, Jouni Piekkari, FM, art -based and functional meth methods
- children´s art education, Seija Mäenpää, MSc Art,
- the Fith Dimension Model, Design oriented education etc. Anna-Riitta Mäkitalo, MSc Education, ECE -teacher, special teacher

Weeks 7 -10 , doing project with children in a Kindergarten (planning, implementig and evaluating) / allow time enough to put in practice the project

Week 11 presenting the project descrictions (feedback from teachers and peer students)
A more detailed schedule is in OMA workspace, page "Documents".

The assignments and presentation can be done in English

Further information for students

Responsible teacher Anna-Riitta Mäkitalo (anna-riitta.makitalo@metropolia.fi)
- Implementation is for groups SXH17S1 (SXG16S1)
- studentsd, who had already courses Basics in ECEC and Learning in Early Childhood. In this course you´ll combine and apply contents from previous studies.

Any AHOT application related to the course should be made before enrollment in the course. For questions contact the AHOT Lecturer Anna-Riitta Mäkitalo
If the student has a special support decision that affects the course, the student must contact the course supervisor immediately after the end of the registration period.
Teachers have the right to give the student additional duties, for example, due to absenteeism, on pedagogical grounds.

Assessment methods and criteria

feedback from teachers during lectures, trainings and workshops
feedback from the peer group and staff in Kindergartens
self-evaluation
Accepted course progress requires 3/4 attendance during the classroomworking
Evaluation of project with children (0-5, the teacher evaluates numerically, the students give feedback verbally and written)
A complete explanation about the assessment criteria during the orientation lecture (see below).
Abandoned:
The student has not participated adequately to the lectures (at least 75%) and did not do the learning assignments according to the given instructions.
The student did not in his or her learning assignments
- consider and justify the basic needs of children and the methods to support development, learning and well-being
- justify the chosen objectives and methods and did not link them to the practical activities and the theoretical material remains weak.
- demonstrate the identification of children's cultural and community elements and those did not appear in his or her learning assignment.
- demonstrate his / her pedagogical activities in the immediate learning environment of children and did not promote sustainable lifestyles.
- reflect the chosen objectives, pedagogical methods and the experience gained from the implementation of the activities.
1-2
The student has participated in at least 75% of the classroom and has done the related tasks.
The student has in his / her learning assignments
- justified moderately the objectives, the pedagogical method and content set for the chosen activity, and their appropriateness a from both the point of view of practical situations and theoretically
- considered and justified the basic needs of children as well as the means to support development, learning and well-being
- demonstrated the recognition of children's culture and community elements and uses these elements when designing activities for children and their learning environment.
- attached the pedagogical activities they have designed to children in the immediate environment and sustainable lifestyles, but has not reasonably justified it with theoretical sources
- reflected the chosen objectives, pedagogical methods and the experience gained from the implementation of the activities and provides children with positive learning experiences.
- demonstrated their ability to present their pedagogical activities both in writing and verbally (according to the instructions given in the orientation)
3-4
The student has participated in at least 75% of the classroom and has done the related tasks.
The student has in his / her learning assignments
- justified well the goals, pedagogical methods and contents and the appropriateness of their chosen activities for the group of children, both from the point of view of practical situations and theoretically
- noticed and justified the basic needs of children, and the means of supporting development, learning and prosperity, and linked their theoretical source literature into their arguments.
- demonstrated the recognition of children's cultural and community elements and uses these elements when designing activities for children and their learning environment, justifying them both from a practical point of view and theoretically.
- linked their pedagogical activities to children's immediate environments and sustainable lifestyles, but their theoretical justifications are limited.
- reflected the chosen objectives, pedagogical methods and the experience gained from the implementation of the activities and linked them to some theoretical sources.
- demonstrated the ability to present their pedagogical activities both in writing and verbally (in accordance with the instructions given in the thesis). The demonstrations reflect the ability to carry out activities that shows many learning perspectives and provides children with positive learning experiences.
4-5
The student has participated in at least 75% of the classroom and has done the related tasks.
The student has in his / her learning assignments
- justified the objectives, pedagogical methodology and content of their chosen activities, and their relevance deeply, from both the point of view of practical situations and the versatility of the theoretical sources
- noticed and justified the basic needs of children, nor the means of supporting development, learning and prosperity, and incorporated their theoretical source literature into their arguments.
- demonstrated the recognition of children's culture and community elements and uses these elements in a diverse way when designing activities for children and their learning environment, justifying them both from a practical point of view and broad theoretical sources
- linked the pedagogical activities they have designed to children's immediate environment and sustainable lifestyles and has reasonably justified their decisions, both theoretically and from the perspective of everyday life.
- reflected critically their choices in relation to the set of objectives, pedagogical methods and implementation experience, and links their reflection on theoretical sources versatile.
- demonstrate their ability to present their pedagogical activities both in writing and verbally presentation task (in accordance with given instructions). The demonstrations reflect the ability to carry out activities that elects a wide range of pedagogical activities based on play, mobility, artistic and cultural heritage, which provides children with positive learning experiences.

Evaluation scale

0-5

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

Assessment:
Assessment criteria as the attachment of the curriculum.
The teacher of the study unit informs the assessment criterias in the beginning of the study unit.

Assessment criteria, approved/failed

Assessment:
Assessment criterias see the attachment.
The teacher of the study unit informs the assessment criterias in the beginning of the study unit.