Introduction
Theories are linked to social work and early childhood education
for the purpose of increasing children's learning. The purpose of this webquest is to make a connection between early childhood education theories and show how useful these theories are in today's early childhood education settings. The Therories I've chosen are those who also made a contribution to the field of social work such as, Piaget, Erikson, and Dewey.
Task
Task are an important part of development as the concepts are put into action.
Below are three task that will help to make a correlation between Social Work and early childhood education:
1) Connecting the dots between the theorists with similar views such as, Dewey, Piaget, and Lev Vygosky who also viewed cognitive theory as an important part of children's development as is in the field of social work.
2) Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the theories of, Dewey, Erikson, Piaget, and Vygosky.
3) Creating a powerpoint of pioneers that created theories to support children's learning development.
Process
-Strengths/weaknesses of theories are found in chapter 3 powerpoint website section of the syllabus.
-Create a list of similarities between theorists.
-Design a powerpoint to support theories to enhance the educational growth of children.
There is a connection between School Social Workers and Early Childhood Educators in regards to roles, and theories developed. Of the therories, Erik Erikson Psycho-Social Theory helps both the School Social Worker and the Early Childhood Educator to identify the behavior and or psycho-social influences that may be interfering with the child's learning process. Erik Erikson (1902-1994) developed the psycho-social theory that displays different stages in which childen encounter. If the child master's the stage, then they are deemed to be successful. If the stage was not mastered, then the child may have some difficulties in the next stages. In Greoge Morrison's chapter 3, he shows in figure 3.6 the stages: Stage 1: Basic Trust vs. Mistrust (birth to 18 months in which the infant learns to trust or not trust the caregivers in charge of their basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter). In stage 2-Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (18 months to 3 years), the toddler learned either to be independent or to question their abilities to learn for instance how to walk, talk, and use the tiolet). In stage 3 (3 to 5 years old), children are experimenting to find themselves and learn new things. They either have a sense of accomplishment when creating or face a sense of failure. In stage 4 (5 to 8 years), children become aware of what they are good at and have a sense of productivity. If children do not feel a sense of accomplishment, they may begin to perceive themselves as inferior and incapable of completing task and finding out what they are good at. Of the four stages, Early Childhood Educators focus on stage 3 (3 to 5 year olds). During pre-school years, children are successful when they are given chances to initiative completion of activities whch they have created and this gives them a sences of purpose and accomplishment. Children may begin to feel guilty if they are discouraged from initiatiing activities and are overly restricted as they strive to be more independent. The teachers role during the Initiative vs. Guilt stage/3 to 5 years olds (pre-school) is to observe the children and note their interests, encourage children to participate in activities, create environments which children can explore, and promote language development, and give each child the opportunity to succeed. School Social Workers inturn also observe children's behavor in the school environment as well as in other environments to gain a more holistic approach to Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory to understand the reason's children behave and learn the way they do in the school environment. Please see the evaluation section to note the role of the School Social Worker and the Early Childhood Educator, the similarities and the differences and how both roles link to the theories created.
Conclusion
Debrief:
Social relationships are developed through learning. In both the field of social work and early childhood education, are the beginining, middle and end processes that help either a patient or a child to grow and learn. There is a parallel process in that change is occuring through growth that occurs through trial and error. Theories were created in order to help educators to see the holistic experience. Moreover, the theories prove ther is a strong connection between social work and early childhood education. We learned how theories connects to both Social Work and Early Childhood Education and the roles of School Social Workers and Early Childhood Educators that share similar roles and differences.
Please refer to the links below for more information the School Social Worker and the Early Childhood Educator roles:
The role of a School Social Worker: www.sswaa.org
The role of an Early Childhood Educator: www.work.chron.com
Other sites to assist with webquest creation: www.createwebquest.com/webquest/15296
-Deepen insight challenge: Pick one theory that will be useful in both a School Social Worker and a Early Childhood Educator setting.
To discuss the link between Social Work and Early Childhood Education has been rewarding as well as a challenge. As I reflect on this webquest experience, I think about all the ways that I can improve on my webquest, and the wealth of information that I have obtained and that I am able to share with others. I have also learned like Erik Erikson theory, that children develop as does adults and learning is an ongoing process no matter how old a person becomes. I wanted to create a webquest to show the connection between both Social Work and Early Childhood Education fields as the two fields have a major impact on children's academic success.
Credits
References
Chap 3 pdf
Morrison, G. S. (2014). Fundamentals of Early Childhood Education. (7th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.