Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
LSPU Self-Paced Learning Module (SLM)
Course ECE 1- Foundations of Early Childhood Education
Sem/AY First Semester/2024-2025
Module No. 3
Lesson Title The Contributions of Influential Individuals in the History of Early Childhood
Education and Philosophical Roots
Week
2-4
Duration
Date October 23-November 13,2024
This lesson will compare the definition, nature, purpose of the program and origin of
Description Early Childhood Education in different countries. Also to discuss how the history
of the diverse from other history in strengthen the characterization of programs for young
Lesson children.
Learning Outcomes
Intended Students should be able to meet the intended learning outcome:
Learning ● Apply the different contributions of the prominent early childhood educators
Outcomes
Targets/ At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
Objectives ● Distinguish the relevance of the school thoughts to Early childhood education
● Familiarize to corresponding nature and definition of Early Childhood
Education.
Student Learning Strategies
Online Activities A. Online Discussion via Google Meet
(Synchronous/ You will be directed to attend in three hours’ class discussion on the
nature, definition and history of Early Childhood education. To have
Asynchronous) access to the Online Discussion, refer to this link: ____________________.
The online discussion will happen on Tuesday from 3:00- 4:00 PM
(For further instructions, refer to your Google Classroom and see the
schedule of activities for this module)
LSPU SELF-PACED LEARNING MODULE: FOUNDATIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
PREPARED BY: JOAN MARFEL
Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
B. Learning Guide Questions:
1. Who are the contributors in early childhood educations?
2. What are the influences on early childhood educations?
3. Who is the influential figure of early childhood?
Lecture Guide
Early childhood education goes as far back as the 1500s. we explore the origin
of early childhood education and the many influences that make the field what
it is today. Once we’ve gotten a grasp of the history of early childhood
education, we will look at the different curricula available today and assess the
differences in approaches when applied to programming.
Some factors that can affect early learning include: Parents' education. Family
income. The number of parents in the home.
A history of early childhood education.
● Martin Luther
The roots of early childhood education go as far back as the early 1500s, where
the concept of educating children was attributed to Martin Luther
Offline Activities (1483-1546). Back then, very few people knew how to read and many were
(e-Learning/Self-P illiterate. Martin Luther believed that education should be universal and made
aced) it a point to emphasize that education strengthened the family as well as the
community. Luther believed that children should be educated to read
independently so that they could have access to the Bible. This meant that
teaching children how to read at an early age would be a strong benefit to
society.
● John Amos Comenius
Building on this idea, the next individual who contributed to the early
beginnings of early childhood education was John Amos Comenius (1592-
1670), who strongly believed that learning for children is rooted in sensory
exploration. Comenius wrote the first children’s picture book to promote
literacy.
● John Locke
Then there was John Locke (1632- 1704), who penned the famous term “blank
slate”, also known as tabula rasa, which postulated that is how children start
out and the environment fills their metaphorical “slate”
LSPU SELF-PACED LEARNING MODULE: FOUNDATIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
PREPARED BY: JOAN MARFEL
Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
● Friedrich Froebel
A major influencer was Friedrich Froebel (1782 – 1852), who believed that
children learn through play. He designed teacher training where he
emphasized the importance of observation and developing programs and
activities based on the child’s skill level and readiness. Froebel formalized the
early childhood setting as well as founded the first kindergarten.
● Maria Montessori
Further building from this concept, Maria Montessori (1870-1952) viewed
children as a source of knowledge and the educator as a social engineer. She
reviewed education as a means to enhance children’s lives, meaning the
learning environment is just as important as learning itself. She took the
position that children’s senses should be educated first and then the children’s
intellect afterward. The Montessori Method is an internationally recognized
model of educating children.
● Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) established a theory of learning where children’s
development is broken down into a series of stages (sensory-motor,
preoperational, concrete operation). Piaget theorized that children learn
through direct and active interaction with the environment.
● Lev Vygotsky
Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) proposed a socio-cultural position for the
development of children. He believed that social interaction provides a medium
for cognitive, social, and linguistic development in children. Vygotsky believed
that children learn through scaffolding their skills; this meant a more capable
member of the community/society would assist the child in completing tasks
that were within or just above the child’s capability, which is also known as the
zone of proximal development. Vygotsky emphasized collaboration and the
implementation of mixed-age groupings of children to support knowledge/skill
acquisition.
LSPU SELF-PACED LEARNING MODULE: FOUNDATIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
PREPARED BY: JOAN MARFEL
Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
● John Dewey
John Dewey (1859-1952) strongly believed that learning should originate from
the interests of children, which is foundational to the project’s approach.
The educator is there to promote their interests for discovery and inquiry.
Dewey saw the classroom as a place to foster social consciousness and thus the
classroom should be democratically run.
● Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), the creator of what is now known as the Waldorf
education philosophy and schools, focused on developing free and morally
responsible individuals with a high level of social competence. Steiner broke
this down into three developmental stages; preschool to age 6 (experiential
education), age 6-14 (formal education), and ages 14+ (conceptual/academic
education).
● Erik Erikson
Erik Erikson (1902-1994) developed psychosocial stages of development for
children where the parent and educator play a pivotal role in supporting the
child’s success in every stage for a positive outcome. Erikson stressed that the
ordinance of social-emotional development is a key component of the early
childhood curriculum.
● Loris Malaguzzi
Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994), the founder of the Reggio Emilia approach, based
on the original childcare center opened in the town of Reggio Emilia, was a
strong believer in documenting the children’s learning and interests which the
educators would base their programming around on for the following days.
● David Weikart
David Weikart (1931-2003), the founder of High Scope, which drew from the
theories of Piaget, Dewey, and Vygotsky, primarily focused on the child’s
intellectual maturation. The landmark study that earned High Scope validity
was the Perry Preschool Project in 1962. A randomized controlled study of 123
children of similar skill levels entered the study, split into two groups; one
receiving HighScope instruction while the control group did not receive it, but
LSPU SELF-PACED LEARNING MODULE: FOUNDATIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
PREPARED BY: JOAN MARFEL
Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
continued the traditional process. Results indicated an increase in academic
success, academic adherence, and an increase in wages.
● Albert Bandura
social learning theory suggests that observation and modeling play a primary
role in how and why people learn. Bandura's theory goes beyond the
perception of learning being the result of direct experience with the
environment.
Bandura is internationally recognized as one of the world's most influential
social psychologists for his groundbreaking research on the importance of
learning by observing others
He explored the question of what needs to happen for an observable behavior
to be learned (in addition to observation) and cited four necessary
steps: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation.
● Robert Owen
(1771-1858) was an early industrialist. He is perhaps best known for his
model textile factory and village at New Lanark in Scotland. Conditions in early
factories were extremely harsh, with very hazardous working conditions for all
employees.
He believed that people were not responsible for their actions or outcomes.
This is because he believed that human character is formed by conditions
outside of the control of the individual. He mainly believed that these character
traits were formed in early childhood.
In general, the theorists for early education all would like to see the
achievement of a common goal—to see the successful development of children
in their primary years. How that goal is achieved differs in the structure of each
curriculum.
● Judith Rich Harris
a psychologist, was writing college textbooks on child development when she
suddenly realized she didn't believe what she was telling readers about why
children turn out the way they do. She had her own theory: that children are
influenced more by their genes and peers than by their parents. researcher and
the author of The Nurture Assumption, a book criticizing the belief that parents
are the most important factor in child development, and presenting evidence
LSPU SELF-PACED LEARNING MODULE: FOUNDATIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
PREPARED BY: JOAN MARFEL
Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
which contradicts that belief. Harris was a resident of Middletown Township,
New Jersey.
Childcare Curriculum Today: A Brief Guide
Theme-based Learning
This educational method is based on certain topics that may arise from
different sources, such as seasonal/weather changes, upcoming events,
interests of the educator, and religious events. Theme-based learning can also
have direct instruction roots. Learning is not based on the qualitative interests
of the child, but rather the quantitative delivery of content by the teacher. That
means program planning can be done weeks and months ahead of time. The
advantage of this is that the educator knows exactly what they’re teaching. A
disadvantage is that what they’re teaching may not be of interest to the child at
the moment, causing them to be disengaged. Classroom learning is very
structured and contingent on the current theme. That means that all the
material in the classroom would have some relevance/connection to the theme
at hand.
● Lawrence Kohlberg
Cognitive in nature, Kohlberg's theory focuses on the thinking process that
occurs when one decides whether a behavior is right or wrong. Thus, the
theoretical emphasis is on how one decides to respond to a moral dilemma, not
what one decides or what one actually does.
He was particularly well-known for his theory of moral development which he
popularized through research studies conducted at Harvard's Center for Moral
Education. His theory of moral development was dependent on the thinking of
the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget and the American philosopher John Dewey.
Kohlberg studied moral reasoning by presenting subjects with moral dilemmas.
He would then categorize and classify the reasoning used in the responses, into
one of six distinct stages, grouped into three levels: pre-conventional,
conventional and post-conventional. Each level contains two stages.
● Philosophical Roots of Education enshrined in Early Childhood
Education
The philosophy is based on principles of respect, responsibility and community
through exploration and discovery. The approach focuses on a curriculum that
LSPU SELF-PACED LEARNING MODULE: FOUNDATIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
PREPARED BY: JOAN MARFEL
Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
is completely guided by the interests of children and their choice in a strong
community based environment.
● Naturalism- in philosophy, a theory that relates scientific method to
philosophy by affirming that all beings and events in the universe
(whatever their inherent character may be) are natural.
The function of naturalism is to present the world as it is—without
embellishment, idealization, or romance—and illustrate the dominance of
environmental conditions in human life and on individual characters. This
perspective allows the author to comment on the darker sides of human
nature.
Therefore, in naturalism work, the characters might be controlled by their
environment or fight for their survival. A great example of naturalism is John
Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. In the beginning, the Joad family are
instinctive animals just trying to survive against the powerful forces of society
and nature.
A naturalist is any person who studies the natural world. Naturalists make
observations of the relationships between organisms and their environments,
as well as how those relationships change over time. One of the most
well-known examples of a naturalist is Charles Darwin.
● Realism- in the arts, the accurate, detailed, unembellished depiction of
nature or of contemporary life. Realism rejects imaginative idealization
in favor of a close observation of outward appearances.
Realism (including neorealism) focuses on abiding patterns of
interaction in an international system lacking a centralized political
authority. That condition of anarchy means that the logic of
international politics often differs from that of domestic politics, which
is regulated by a sovereign power.
Realism is an approach to life that means dealing with the way things are. If you
see the world through the lens of realism, you accept what's in front of you and
don't pretend it's otherwise.
● Pragmatism- is a philosophical movement that includes those who
claim that an ideology or proposition is true if it works satisfactorily,
that the meaning of a proposition is to be found in the practical
consequences of accepting it, and that unpractical ideas are to be
rejected. The core idea of pragmatism, that beliefs are guides to actions
and should be judged against the outcomes rather than abstract
principles, dominated American thinking during the period of economic
and political growth from which the USA emerged as a world power.
Pragmatic means practical, especially when making decisions. The word
LSPU SELF-PACED LEARNING MODULE: FOUNDATIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
PREPARED BY: JOAN MARFEL
Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
pragmatic is often contrasted with the word idealistic, which means
based on or having high principles or ideals.
Progressivism-Progressivists believe that education should focus on the whole
child, rather than on the content or the teacher. This educational philosophy
stresses that students should test ideas by active experimentation. Learning is
rooted in the questions of learners that arise through experiencing the world.
believe that education should be a process of ongoing growth, not just a
preparation for becoming an adult. An obvious example of progressivism would
be our class. We are in groups a lot and we actively learn through discussion.
The progressive movement had four major goals:
(1) to protect social welfare,
(2) to promote moral improvement,
(3) to create economic reform, and
(4) to foster efficiency.
Reformers tried to promote social welfare by easing the problems of city life.
Characteristics of Progressivism included a favorable attitude toward
urban-industrial society, belief in mankind's ability to improve the
environment and conditions of life, belief in an obligation to intervene in
economic and social affairs, a belief in the ability of experts and in the
efficiency of government.
Engaging Activity
Activity 1: Photo essay choose 3 contributors in early childhood
education and explain about their contributions research their photo
attach it in your answer sheet.
Activity 2. Acrostics poem (Make your own meaning)
E-
A-
R-
L-
Y-
C-
H-
I-
L-
D-
H-
O-
O-
D-
LSPU SELF-PACED LEARNING MODULE: FOUNDATIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
PREPARED BY: JOAN MARFEL
Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
Performance Task
PT 1
Direction: Interview at least (2) preschool teachers ask them about the philosophy that they
believe when it comes to teaching kindergarten. Post your evidence here.
PT 2
Direction: Poster making
Make your own poster about the philosophical roots of education that we tackle choose 1
then explain .
LSPU SELF-PACED LEARNING MODULE: FOUNDATIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
PREPARED BY: JOAN MARFEL
Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
Understanding Directed Assess
Tothttps://www.researchgate.net/figure/Summary-reportrubric_tbl1_260646245#:~:text=Summary%20report%20rubric
Grading System:
LSPU SELF-PACED LEARNING MODULE: FOUNDATIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
PREPARED BY: JOAN MARFEL
Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
LSPU SELF-PACED LEARNING MODULE: FOUNDATIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
PREPARED BY: JOAN MARFEL
Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
Learning Resources
● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_childhood_education
● https://en.unesco.org/themes/early-childhood-care-and-education
● http://www.healthofchildren.com/E-F/Early-Childhood-Education.html
● https://www.unicef.org/earlychildhood/index_69850.html
● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Childhood_Care_and_Development_Council
● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_for_the_Education_of_Young_Children
● https://www.cja.ab.ca/sites/default/files/CJA%20PRESCHOOL%20Overview.pdf
● https://www.buildinitiative.org/Portals/0/Uploads/Documents/CoreQualitiesMatrix.pdf
● https://www.funderstanding.com/educators/history-of-education-2/
● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_childhood_education
●
https://www.himama.com/blog/early-childhood-education-then-and-now/#:~:text=A%20
major%20influencer%20was%20Friedrich,child's%
● https://www.staracademykids.com.au/purpose-early-childhood-education/
● https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Summaryreportrubric_tbl1_260646245#:~:text=Su
mmary%20report%20rubric
LSPU SELF-PACED LEARNING MODULE: FOUNDATIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
PREPARED BY: JOAN MARFEL
