ECE Child Growth and Development: Investigating Principles

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Course Title: Early Childhood Education 1

  Course Number: 8405110

  Career Cluster: Education and Training

  CIP Number: 0419070913

  Course Type: Career Preparatory

  Standard(s) or benchmarks:

  Focus:

  6.02 Describe the principles and stages of development.

  Supporting:

  6.03 Describe the characteristics of children ages birth to either in the following domains: physical development; approaches to learning; social and emotional; language and communication; and cognitive development and general knowledge.

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson can be used within a unit focused on child growth and development, including principles of development, developmental theories and theorists, and the developmental domains. The unit can begin with this lesson, using inquiry to introduce the concepts of developmental principles. Additional lessons in the unit can feature foundational vocabulary on child growth and development, research on developmental theorists, and production of a digital artifact reflecting student research, and a presentation showcasing the research.

• Career Connection

  
  

  This lesson includes the skills of research, metacognition, and decision-making through the evaluation and vetting of online sources. In addition, knowledge of child growth and development is essential for early childhood and education related careers.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Investigate a principle or universal truth related to child growth and development.
  • Describe characteristics of development and developmental domains.
  • Research developmental principles.
  • Evaluate research sources for credibility and reliability.
  • Paraphrase information on developmental principles.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with:

  • Developmental domains in early childhood.
  • Conducting internet research to answer a question.
  • Paraphrasing information from texts.

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • What are some universal truths that help describe how children grow and learn?
  • What are the characteristics of the developmental domains for learning?
  • What aspects of development or learning can be generalized across populations of children?

• Procedure

  
  
  1. To introduce the lesson, frame the discussion by asking students to first connect the topic of child growth and development to their own growth and development as a child. Ask students to journal their reflections. Use questions such as those below to ensure that students are reflecting on growth and development and not simply reflecting on the memories of their childhood.
     • What do you remember learning? Why does that stick out to you?
     • What skills did you struggle with as a child? Did these struggles change as you grew? How did you overcome the challenges?
     • How did your family life or culture influence your development and learning?
     • How do you think your developmental compared to others? What stages of your development are like others development?
     • Have you been told any stories about your growth as an infant or young toddler that you were too young remember?
  2. End the discussion by starting a web on the white board or chart paper and ask students, “What do we already know about child growth and development?” Write ‘child development’ in the middle and write student ideas around the topic.
     • As the web is created, reference the developmental domains to encourage the connections being made between what the students already know and the characteristics of development in each domain.
     • Likewise, the teacher may choose to sort the students’ ideas into sections for the developmental domains.
  3. Set the purpose for the lesson by explaining that students will be investigating some theories and principles of child growth and development. Explain that a principle of development is a truth or idea based on extensive research that helps practitioners understand children’s growth and development, and that has implications (or influences) on how we interact with and teach young children.
     • See the attached Investigating Principles Power Point slides to display the term for students to refer to as they investigate.
  4. Introduce the guiding question, “What is a universal truth that helps describe how children grow and learn?” Provide students with the attached Investigating Principles Research handout and explain each section.
     • Students will decide on a universal truth and place that in the statement box.
     • Students will research (using at least two-three different sources) their stance and paraphrase the information in the justification box. Remind students that paraphrasing is writing the information in their own words. Discourage them from copying and pasting text directly from the sources.
     • Students will provide evidence or real-life examples to support the justifications.
  5. Review with students the qualities of valid and reliable sources. Use the following questions to guide the review.
     • Does the information come from reputable or qualified organizations within the field? For example, is this a research college (.edu) or an educational organization (.org) that is reputable?
     • Is this a credible author? For example, is this an individual sharing their opinions from outside the field?
     • Does this information align with other sources? For example, after reading through multiple sources, does the information from this site stand out as drastically different from the other sources?
  6. Provide time for students to investigate and complete their Investigating Principles handout (see attachments). Students should practice selecting valid and reliable sources.
  7. As students work, focus feedback on the process of investigation. Stress to students that the purpose of the investigation is to seek understanding about child growth and development. Students may begin with one universal truth in mind and find through research that their ideas and understanding changes. As this occurs, encourage students to keep their initial statements so that they can reflect on how their thinking evolved.
  8. To close the lesson, have students share their investigation with a peer. Peers should respond with a statement of agreement or disagreement, including a short justification explaining why. Students should ask themselves questions such as, “Does the statement make sense?” “Is the statement thoroughly justified?” and “Do the evidence and examples align?” Stress to students that it is most important to evaluate the justifications and evidence.
     • Students can write their positions on the back of their peer’s handout.

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • Teachers may choose to use the Investigating Principles PowerPoint slides to facilitate questions and discussion.
  • Teachers can use the completed student handouts to facilitate and guide discussion during subsequent lessons, to clarify any misconceptions or reinforce ideas.

• Optional

  
  

  Accommodation Ideas:

  • Ensure that students have access to narration on websites as needed.
  • Provide a few examples for statements to get students started on their research and suggest specific questions for them to investigate and narrow their research.

  Extension Ideas:

  • When students share their statements with a peer, direct the students to make a disagreement or pose an additional question that requires justification. Then, have students return to their original statement and investigation to address the disagreement or answer the question posed.