Active Teaching Methods in Early Childhood Education

Active teaching methods in preschool

Today, education is considered the golden key for each person, each country to step into the future, a manufacturing industry whose profits are hard to measure. 

teaching methods in early childhood education

 

Education not only has the function of conveying the historical and social experiences of the previous generation to the next generation, but it is also important to equip each person with learning methods, develop internal thinking, and adapt to the needs of the future. a society of continuous learning, lifelong learning. In order to help learners meet those requirements, education reform is a very necessary and urgent job, in which, innovation in educational methods is the most important step in the process of achieving this goal. to educational reform. 

Children in the period from 0 to 6 years old are a period of strong development both physically, intellectually and emotionally. Children actively interact with what is going on around them. The essence of children's learning is through imitation, discovery, experience, and practice to understand things and phenomena happening around them, and at the same time, children learn to express that understanding through sharing and exchanging with friends.

Therefore, the role of the teacher is to exploit different situations and materials to encourage children to play, to encourage children to work together. Teachers help children think more about what they see and are doing, stimulate children to observe, consider, speculate on things around them and share what they see, what they think or what they still do. wondering, wondering. The psychological characteristics of this age are very favorable for innovating teaching methods, and at the same time, it is required to innovate teaching methods to suit the development characteristics of preschool children.

In fact, today, there are still many teachers who teach children according to the traditional one-way method "she talks, children listen", there are still quite a few teachers who choose to show children to children rather than organize for children to be active. Active, passive classrooms are caught up in the effects on the screen that dilute the focus of the lesson, the effectiveness is not high, activities for children to explore, experiences are not rich and diverse, teachers have not fully utilized the natural environment available to teach children, toys for children have not yet met the regulations... these are manifestations of the slow innovation of educational methods.

To meet the concept of child-centered education, teachers must effectively use active teaching methods. Active teaching method is an educational method in the direction of promoting the positivity, initiative and creativity of children, rather than focusing on promoting the teacher's positivity, so to teach according to the teaching method. Teachers have to put in much more effort than teaching by traditional, passive methods.

The following are some issues that teachers need to pay attention to in order to effectively apply active teaching methods in organizing children's education activities in response to a child-centered education perspective.

Teachers should help children use all their senses to explore things and phenomena

Teachers should spend time for children to observe, consider, conjecture, compare, use provoking questions, questions that stimulate children's thinking to lead children to think and help children talk about what they think. seeing, the teacher suggests for the children to share, express their opinions, and exchange ideas to learn and discover the object. Besides, teachers need to create a rich and attractive working environment for children with different utensils, toys and materials to stimulate children's interest in discovery.

Preschool teachers need to master the techniques of using each specific teaching method

Teachers need to comply with the technical requirements of each method, so that they can improve the effectiveness of organizing activities for children. These techniques include: Grouping technique, task assignment technique, problem situation technique, questioning technique... 

Specifically, about the technique of asking questions, teachers need to pay attention to a number of requirements as follows: The question must be directly related to the implementation of the lesson objectives; short, clear and easy to understand questions; right time, right place; appropriate to the child's level; Questions must stimulate children's thinking in order to encourage children's cognitive and language development, teachers do not combine many contents in one question, do not ask many questions at once, children will answer easily. easier with simple, clear-cut questions.

It is necessary to exploit and apply active teaching methods in a scientific way

To do this well, in each specific teaching method, teachers need to pay attention to a number of content as follows:

In order to help children's understanding become deeper and more sustainable, helping children to remember faster and longer, teachers should use group discussion method. There are many different ways to divide groups, however, the group should not be too large or too small, the discussion content of the groups may be the same or different.

It is necessary to clearly specify the discussion time and discussion results for the groups, to elect the group leader, the group discussion results can be presented in many forms such as: drawing, singing, acting, poetry... Teachers It is necessary to observe the discussion groups and get timely help in case the groups encounter difficulties.

– For the problem-solving teaching method, teachers need to follow the process of steps as follows: Identify and identify the problem or situation; collect information relevant to the problem or situation posed; list possible workarounds; analyze and evaluate the results of each solution (positive, negative, emotional, value); compare the results of the solutions; choose the most optimal solution; follow the selected workaround; Learn from experience for solving other problems and situations.

– For the role-play method, “acting” is not the main part of this method, but it is important for the teacher to help the child participate in the in-depth discussion after participating in the role.

In order to use the game method effectively, teachers should choose games that are easy to organize and implement. The games must be appropriate to the topic, to the characteristics and level of the child, and to the time budget. With real circumstances and conditions, children must understand the rules of the game and respect the rules of the game. The game must create the children's interest and enjoyment.

When using the discovery teaching method, the teacher should choose the content of the problem or situation that is appropriate for the child, prepare toys, visual aids and necessary conditions for the child to find on his or her own. explore, organize for children to work individually and in groups; encourage children to explore and discover on their own, making possible findings and solutions; list possible workarounds; analyze and evaluate the results of each solution of young individuals and groups of children; choose the most optimal solution; conclude on the content of the problem, as a basis for children to self-examine and self-adjust; Learn from experience for solving other problems and situations.

- For experiential teaching methods, teachers should organize for children to complete four steps: observation; thinking (mind); Feeling (emotion); Action (muscle). To learn effectively, children need to: absorb information, reflect on how it will impact their lives? Compare how well it fits with children's experiences and think about what new behaviors children will adopt from that information. Learning requires more than just seeing, hearing, moving or touching. Children need to be able to associate what they feel and think with what they feel and behave.

When using the brainstorming method for preschool children, teachers should guide children on how to answer short questions, sometimes requiring only one word. All children's opinions need to be encouraged and acknowledged by the teacher. In particular, do not criticize the child's answers and always praise the child at the right time. At the end of the discussion, it is important to emphasize that the results are the results of the whole group or of all members of the group.

– How to effectively apply the project-based teaching method? This is a very meaningful teaching method for children, but in practice, this method is rarely used by teachers. Projects often emerge from children's questions. 

Projects are carried out by one child or a group of children (4-6 members) to experience and explore related problems, questions, problems and challenges. Projects often take several weeks to complete – and sometimes even longer, depending on the age and interests of the child. The project-based teaching method is organized into three phases:

+ Stage 1: Test the child's interest

From the very beginning of the project, the teacher took an interest in the topic by encouraging the children to share relevant personal stories. When a child has a current understanding of a topic, the teacher then assesses the child's level of understanding and helps the child formulate questions that the child can explore.

+ Stage 2: Discovery activities

Allow children to go to the field, interview adults, good professionals. Children can view books, the Internet through adult support, Videos… Then they use a variety of formats to illustrate what they have learned and share new knowledge with you.

+ Stage 3: Evaluate the results and what the child has learned

The instructor concludes and helps the child review his/her work. Children share their work with their parents, with another classroom. Teacher's assessment of what children have learned through the project. Children then create presentations and products to share what they have researched and learned. At the end of the project, there will be products such as: Posters, models, reports, real objects, ...

Thus, active teaching methods in preschool education are not a completely new method, but rather inherit and maximize the advantages and available capabilities of teaching methods. traditional. The skillful and reasonable use and coordination of different teaching methods will promote the child's positivity and cooperation. Depending on the child's learning characteristics, the teacher chooses an appropriate approach.

In order to well implement active teaching methods, teachers must be professionally trained in this content, regularly train themselves skills to deal with pedagogical situations that are delicate and flexible. proficiently use modern teaching equipment, know how to orient children's development according to educational goals, but also ensure children's freedom in other educational activities