80186 THE PLAY BASED CURRICULUM

Year	No.	Offer	Mode	Description			Cred. Pts
98	80186 	S3  	X 	THE PLAY BASED CURRICULUM 	1.00

Contents

• Staffing
• Rationale
• Synopsis
• Objectives
• Topics
• Texts
• Recommended References
• Student Workload
• Assessment Details

STAFFING:

RATIONALE:

The  value  of play is seen as central to contemporary early childhood
programs  for children 0-8 in years. The International Early Childhood
Association Code of Ethics states that "we have a duty to  honour  the
child's  right to play in acknowledgment of the major contribution  of
play  to development". Children's emergent literacy, numeracy, social,
physical  and  creative skills can all be enhanced in  creative  early
childhood  settings  which provide rich and varied  opportunities  for
play.

SYNOPSIS:

This  unit  will  consider an number of theories  about  play  in  the
curriculum  including learning theory and will introduce  students  to
ways of enhancing children's play, especially in the areas of emergent
literacy,  numeracy, in science, social science, art and music.  These
will  all  be seen as integral to the social and language elements  of
early  childhood  settings. Students will be  asked  to  consider  the
nature of a variety of early childhood programs and their relationship
to play.

OBJECTIVES:

On successful completion of this unit students will be able
to:

1. relate theories about play to programming in early childhood
   settings;
   
2. consider a variety of early childhood curriculum models based
   on play;
   
3. review the role of symbolic play in emergent literacy,
   numeracy, computer skills, social and physical development;
   
4. develop programs which nurture creativity through play.
   

TOPICS:

 Description                                                    Weighting(%)

Theories of play and implications of curriculum design                20.00

Adults role                                                           20.00

Program models in early childhood                                     40.00

Evaluating programs                                                   20.00

TEXT and MATERIALS to be PURCHASED:

RECOMMENDED REFERENCE MATERIALS:

Abbott, L. & Rodger, R. 1994, Quality Education in the Early Years,
Open University Press, Buckingham.

Bennett, N., Wood, L. & Rogers, S. 1997, Teaching Through Play, Open
University Press, Buckingham.

Briggs, F. & Potter, G. 1995, Teaching Children in the First Three
Years of School, 2nd edn, Longman, Australia.

Catron, C. & Allen, J. 1993, Early Childhood Curriculum, Macmillan
Publishing Company, USA.

Education Department of South Australia, Learning in Early
Childhood, 1989.

Feeney, C.M. 1991, Who am I in the Lives of Children?, Maxwell
Macmillan Publishing, Australia.

Fortson, L. & Reiff, J. 1995, Early Childhood Curriculum: Open
Structures for Integrative Learning, Allyn and Bacon, USA.

Goffin, S. 1994, Curriculum Models and Early Childhood Education,
Macmillan College Press, New York.

Hendrick, J. 1994, The Whole Child, 7th edn, Macmillan
International, New York.

Hughes, P.F. 1991, Children Play and Development, Allyn and Bacon,
Sydney, Tokyo.

Isenberg, J.P. & Jalongo, M.R. 1993, Creative Expression and Play in
the Early Childhood Curriculum, Macmillan Publishing Company.

Mortin, E. 1992, Children at Play, Random House, Millennium Books
Australia, Canada.

Reynolds, E. 1996, Guiding Young Children, Mayfield Publishing.

Total Learning Development Curriculum for the Young Child

van Hoorn, J., Nourot, P., Scales, B. & Alward, K. 1993, Play at the
Centre of the Curriculum, Merril Publishing, New York.

Worthan, S. 1994, Early Childhood Curriculum, Macmillan College
Press.

STUDENT WORKLOAD REQUIREMENTS:

	ACTIVITY				HOURS
Directed Study                                	65
Private Study                                 	95

ASSESSMENT DETAILS:

No  *F/S Marks     Due        Description                              Wtg(%)    LBL WWW
1   F              WK 9      WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1                      40.00     Y   N
2   S              WK 16     ASSIGNMENT 2                              60.00     Y   N