Editor's Note
Should the young children learn in advance? This is a problem that plagues many parents of preschoolers. Do not learn, afraid that their children will lose at the starting line. Learn early, and I don't know if the child has enough receptivity. Recently, the "Talk Box" program of Oriental Radio interviewed Professor Hua Aihua, an expert in the field of preschool education in China. Let's listen to Professor Hua Aihua's answers to the questions related to "early childhood articulation".
Radio Oriental's "Talk box" program
With the increasingly fierce social competition, many parents lead their children to various tutoring classes during winter and summer vacations and weekends. Rushing to school, rushing to run, some families have started from the kindergarten stage. Hua Aihua, a professor in the Department of Preschool Education of the Faculty of Education of East China Normal University, said in an interview that the thinking development of children in the kindergarten stage is in the stage of action thinking and image representation thinking. In kindergartens, children should be allowed to play fully, to experience, to perceive, and to lay the foundation for children's subsequent learning and lifelong development. It's a process of preparation, not a process of learning ahead of time.
Play is the nature of children, what is the important role of play for children's development?
Hua Aihua: Preschool children should take play as the basic activity at this stage, and teachers and parents should pay attention to the unique value of life and games for children's learning and development. Children in this age group, individual differences are still very large, the earlier, the more individual growth rules. Just like opening the mouth morning and evening, different children are very different. Some children walk independently early, and some children walk independently late. But that doesn't mean they'll still be that different later on. Therefore, the younger the age and the greater the individual differences, the more emphasis is placed on their all-round development in life and application. Because through perception, hands-on operation, and personal experience, children can understand something. Children at this age do not yet have the ability to think abstractly. Therefore, it is now more and more emphasized that the teacher's ability to work is no longer just to look at the ability to go to class, but the teacher can understand the child, can diagnose the child's development level in life, in the game, in the natural state, and then can propose strategies to support his development, which is a valuable preschool education activity.
In the process of children's play, how to reflect the professionalism of kindergarten teachers?
Hua Aihua: The professionalism of kindergarten teachers lies in being able to understand children's behavior. The child's behavior in the game and life can be understood by the teacher, and after reading it, it can also effectively support the child's development.
In fact, there's something in the game that we're going to teach. For example, build blocks. In the process of building blocks, he can learn symmetry. Can the shape be built symmetrically, can the color be symmetrical, and can the child distinguish the symmetry of the quantity? Can the child pick up the items by number? Can he arrange it regularly? These reflect the child's mathematical ability in the game, and at what level. At what level should teachers and parents support their children's development? Actually this is our professionalism. We should be able to judge the development of a child's abilities from his behavior and then make educational recommendations. If he can't still build the blocks symmetrically, then you should be able to see his current condition and level.
The professionalism of the teacher lets them know whether the children of this age have reached a level that can recognize symmetry. If a child of his age can't reach this level, you can't teach it anymore. Before the age of three, you must teach him symmetry, structure, quantity... It seems too early. So the teacher's professionalism lets them know the corresponding age development characteristics of a child of a certain age, and what level he should be at. Then, through his games, the teacher can judge the child's development level.
Why is the game more important? Because the level of development of each child is not the same. Even for children of the same age, the state he shows in the game is different. For example, some children are already able to score consistent points, say totals, and even add in the form of consecutive numbers. But at the same time, this age group can't even take things by number. For the teacher, if you want to teach, it must be the whole class to teach together, the whole class a kind of goal. But the support provided by the teacher in the game is different. You see some children, it is not enough to take things according to the number, so usually give him a few more things and let him take things according to the number. Wait for the other children to be able to count in unison, and then start the group teaching activities. The level of children is not the same, which means that some have not understood the teaching, and others feel that they are "not enough to eat". So, the teacher needs to see this.
Another example is rolling dice. A child rolls dice, plays a game of rules, picks things by number, the dice are 123456, he rolls a few, he takes a few small wooden sticks and inserts them into the hedgehog's hole. The teacher found that a small class of children of small age, one child can abide by the rules, get a few is a few, another child 123, he can abide by the rules, but as soon as he gets to 5 or 6, he will be skinny, heavy throwing, because he will not, the concept of large numbers he is not clear. 1234 is very clear, and you will find that his 5 and 6 are not clear. Therefore, in the game, it is possible to evaluate the child's development. In this process, to support the child, in life, in the game, in the application to support the child, such a learning effect is the best.
Play activities are not only for children to develop, but also for many kindergartens to better guide parents.
Hua Aihua: Kindergarten teachers observe children every day, take some cases to teach and research, and can also interpret the development of children from the cases. What stage is the child's level at. How we should support him, how to support him. Professionally find the particularity of each child, the teacher has some practical basis to persuade the parents. Sometimes, parents look at it better than our teachers. In this game, there is a principle of leverage; what children are playing, may be buoyancy, may be friction, children do not need to know these concepts, but in the practice of these principles, but also accumulated a lot of perceptual experience.
Children are getting smarter and smarter in the process of playing, and they are more and more likely to find ways to solve problems. But in class, the children sit there, the teacher talks about this thing, and at most the teacher presets some materials, but they are all preset goals. But in the game, there will be uncertainty. Children often encounter many problems and difficulties. For example, if this track is always not rolling well, the child will build here and there. If there is a missing piece here, the child will make up for it. The kids are constantly solving problems. This slope is too small, it should be adjusted and so on. How many blocks do you need? Constantly solving problems, children become smarter and smarter. Through play, children gain wisdom. The creativity that children gain in play is the most significant manifestation.
In kindergarten, do you want to learn subject knowledge in advance?
Hua Aihua: Because children do not have enough comprehension. There are many things that are not in the scene, and he can only rely on rote memorization. Therefore, the effective time of learning is very short, it is impossible to reach the fourth and fifth grades, and the method of the third and fourth grades has been used. But what the child gains in the game is a kind of wisdom, and he has enough staying power.