ECE Child Growth and Development: Sharing Developmental Theory Research

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

  Standards and Benchmarks:

  Focus

  6.05 Identify and describe theories of human development including cognitive psychosocial, socio-cultural, psychoanalytical, and behaviorist.

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

  Supporting

  6.02 Describe the principles and stages of development.

• 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 lessons to develop background knowledge around the topic of developmental principles and then introduce the concepts of, and vocabulary related to developmental principles and theories of development. Students can research various developmental theories and related theorists and create a presentation using their research. In this lesson, the focus is on presenting and showcasing the research.

• Career Connection

  
  

  This lesson encourages the skills of planning, organizing information, computer literacy and effective communication skills such as listening and speaking. In addition, understanding child developmental theories is essential for early childhood and education related careers.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Present information to their peers that describes the stages of a developmental theory related to early childhood education.
  • Summarize the relevant factors of at least two developmental theories related to early childhood education.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with:

  • Developmental domains in early childhood.
  • Effective note taking.
  • Active listening skills.
  • Presentation software.

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • What are some of the prevailing theories of child development?
  • How have different theories of child development influenced the study and teaching of child growth and development?

• Procedure

  
  
  1. Before beginning this lesson, ensure that students have completed a timed, 5-minute presentation on a developmental theory related to early childhood education.
     • See Teacher Notes for additional CPALMS resources and grouping suggestion.
  2. To introduce the lesson, ask students to share what they believe an effective presentation will look like. Answers might include, engaging visuals, change of voice and tone, easy to view slides, appropriate speed of speech, different ways information is presented, and so forth.
  3. Provide students about ten minutes of time for students to return to their presentations, make changes, and prepare to begin their presentations.
  4. Divide students into pre-assigned groups of three, with each student in the group having researched a different child developmental theory.
     • Each group will need a computer or tablet for presenting.
     • See Teacher Notes for additional pacing suggestions.
  5. Explain to students that they will each take notes on the two other child development theories being presented.
  6. First, provide students with the Developmental Theory Notes handout (see attachments). Explain that students should focus on listening during the presentations (each presentation is limited to 5 minutes) and then they will be given time after the presentation to add information to the notes page. Students should be prepared to help their peers with any information or questions afterwards.
  7. Start the presentations. After each presentation, allow 3-4 minutes for brief note taking or asking questions.
  8. To close the lesson, have students complete a journal entry to answer the question using information from at least 2 theories, “How have different theories of child development influenced the teaching of young children?"

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • CPALMS Resource IDs # 206490, 206627, include lessons to build prior knowledge about developmental principles. CPALMS Resource IDs # 206736 and 207248 include lessons for collecting developmental theory research and creating the presentations. Teachers may choose to begin a unit with these lessons.
  • Teachers should decide on pre-assigned groups of three based on the developmental theories that students researched.
  • Teachers may choose to provide more time for this lesson and allow it to span two class periods. Additional options include having each student present to the class, creating larger groups for students to see presentations of more theories, or having students share their presentation with a partner, and then switching partners multiple times (thus, presenting multiple times and being able to refine their presentations).
  • Suggested pacing for the lesson is as follows:
    • 5 Minutes: Introduction
    • 10 Minutes: Preparation
    • 5 Minutes: Transition
    • 30 Minutes: Presentations
    • 10 Minutes: Journal Entry

• Optional

  
  

  Accommodation Ideas:

  • Students can pre-record their speech and embed in the presentation.
  • Students can be provided with printed notes pages for their peer’s presentations.

  Formative Assessment Idea:

  • Student journal responses can be used as a formative assessment for understanding the implications of various developmental theories.

  Extension Ideas:

  • Students can provide each other with presentation feedback using the Peer Review Checklist (see attachments).