Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Practicum
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
EdD Program in Child and Youth Studies
Advisor
Joan M. Mignerey
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
child development, coaching techniques, developmental needs, exploratory dialogue, learning activities, outdoor play, outdoor play environments, parent workshops, parental involvement, preschool children, purposeful outdoor play, teacher interaction, teacher training, unstructured playtime
Abstract
Teachers were having great difficulty meeting the developmental needs of the children. This was evidenced by the teachers’ restriction of unstructured playtime, lack of interaction by the teachers with the children during outdoor play, and the children’s inability to engage in probing, exploratory dialogue.
The solution strategy combined a series of trainings for teachers to learn how to engage children actively in meaningful and age-appropriate learning activities to meet their developmental needs. There were two inservice trainings for the teachers. The topics of the trainings were The Use of Outdoor Space as a Learning Environment for Preschoool Children and How to Engage Preschool Children in Conversation. The education coordinators received training in coaching techniques for teachers. The parents were involved in a workshop entitled, How to Actively Engage Otherwise Busy Parents in their Child’s Learning Experiences at Home.
Analysis of the data revealed that 12 of the 21 teaching teams increased unstructured playtime by 25 minutes daily; 15 of 21 teaching teams interacted daily with the children in purposeful outdoor play; and 15 of the 21 teachers engaged children in probing, exploratory dialogue. At the time of this writing, teachers were meeting the developmental needs of the children.