Tay's Educatonal Path

EDU 652: Topics as a Learning Activity

Early Childhood Education Researcher Project:  Topics Learning Activity

Students who participate in this activity are a part of a post-secondary education class pursuing their Associate’s or Bachelor’s degrees.  The activity is meant to be self-guided with frequent feedback at checkpoints by the instructor.

A “topics” learning activity is “the lowest-level learning object in a course or other knowledge product, it is the building block of instruction that accomplishes a single learning objective” (Horton, 2012).  The learning objectives, as stated in the Needs Assessment, are to

-Create a presentation that summarizes research.

-Know basic facts about an Early Childhood Education researcher.

It is of great importance to the work of Early Childhood professionals that they are rooted in the work of the past.  “Knowledge of history of early childhood education gives early childhood educators a sense of their roots in the past and an idea of how current approaches to working with children and families have grown out of previous thought and practice” (Feeney et al., 2010).

First, read the Needs Assessment to fully understand the purpose and objectives of this activity.

Needs Assessment

Next, follow the link to view the wiki assignment created through WikiSpaces.  Notice how each step is outlined clearly and has feedback options attached to it.  Each step of the learning activity could be considered a “topics” learning activity, in that it is a basic accomplishment of the learning objective attached to the assignment.

Early Childhood Education Researcher Assignment

Once the assignment has been viewed, it is important to go back to the previous mentioned learning objectives to note if and how the assignment accomplished them.  

Some additional resources for student reflection are as follows:

• Think about ways that the history of your family, community, culture, or country has influenced your life.
• Reflect on why it might be important to know about your own history and history in general.
• How did programs that you attended as a child, or that you have observed or taught in, seem to reflect what is described in the history of Early Childhood programs?
• Which of the programs researched could you picture yourself working in, teaching in, or running the overall program of?

(Feeney et al., 2010)

Resources

Christensen, D., Feeney, S., Moravcik, E., Nolte, S.  (2010).  Who Am I in the Lives of Children? An Introduction to Early Childhood Education (8th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

Horton, W. K. (2012). e-Learning by Design (2 ed.). San Francisco: Pfeiffer.