Pressley 1
Rebecca M Pressley
Professor Kelly Mink
English 101
4 January 2015
Early Childhood Education
Early Childhood Education is based on two focuses, the Child-based and the family- based focus. Early Childhood Education provides children with outcomes that are positive in learning, as well as, their growth and development. When it comes to family ECE results happen when the family communicates with the instructors and educators of the children. While Early
Childhood Education (ECE) is something that seems to be intriguing, working in ECE is very challenging. Some may think that learning does not start until the child starts school, however the truth is children start learning from the time of conception. As the child is growing in the mother they are able to react to all the major senses, such as smell, taste, touch, sound, and vision. The child is surrounded by these sounds from the mother’s voice and sounds from music being played in the outside world. They experiences smells and flavors from what the mother takes in during pregnancy. The emotional state of the mother during pregnancy could even play a role in the child’s development and behavior.
There are three different views of children from early childhood practitioners; these include the empiricist lens, nativist lens, and the interactionist view. In the empiricists lens the child is seem to be empty and as needing to be filled or molded into the shape that is desired.
The child inside the nativist lens is pre-programmed to unfold in a specific direction. With the
Pressley 2 interactionist view the child is seen as partially empty and partially pre-programmed.
Within the empiricist lens the adult is viewed as needing to guide the child. The knowledge of the culture is something that needs to be taught by the adult to the child. The children are also taught in simple, small steps and can’t move on until the steps are mastered.
One example of this would be the parent/educator teaching a child how to write their names.
Start with the first letter once they have learned the first letter start working on adding the second letter. In the nativist lens the child leads their own way while the adult oversees
