Summary
of Lüdinghausens 1st Chapter
Latest Developments in
Research concerning Early Technical Education in Germany
Overview
I.
Germanys Political
Discussion about Education
II.
Developmental-psychological,
Cognitive-psychological and Neurophysiological Conditions for the Introduction
of Scientific Phenomena in Early Childhood
III.
What has learning got to do
with gender?
IV.
Early Technical Education
through audio-visual Media: Television, Radio, Cassettes, Computer Games,
Internet
V.
Possibilities for a
methodological-didactic Translation of Scientific and Technical Topics into
Practice
I.
Germanys Political Discussion about Education
The publication of the PISA Study in 2001 has shown, that students
performance and knowledge in the scientific-technical field is in great need of
support also in the techically highly developed countries of Europe.
In recent months, questions about the reasons for the
altogether poor performance of German teenagers have produced the following
discussion:
- How
can children learn to use knowledge and abilities in application- and
practice-oriented settings?
- How can we develop a better learning culture?
-
How can learning strategies
be improved?
-
How can we make better use of
childrens cognitive windows?
Whereas in most countries nursery schools work as
educational facilities that are responsible for the care, formation and
education of children, the situation in Germany is different. Here they are
institutions, which parents allow their child to attend for as many years as
possible, so that he or she may play all day. Germany has failed and still
fails to promote precursors of school learning in day-care institutions.
Although these institutions are being increasingly included in the
politico-educational discussion, nursery school teachers are often sceptical
about the subject of learning and especially about technical education:
They equate it with pressure to achieve and excessive demands on children. They
are quick to speak of over-institutionalization and deplore the loss of
childhood in general.
Primary education has to realise that there are so-called cognitive
windows in the childs development in the third to fifth years of life. During
these periods children are able to acquire knowledge comprehensively and
playfully. This is the best time for the aquisition of the accent and basic
grammar of a second language, for spacial orientation and for elementary
mathematical thinking. Despite these well-known facts there is almost no
concept of the early promotion of pre-schoolers in Germany.
Approaches aimed at creating educational opportunities in day-care
institutions, which also include scientific and technical aspects have
nevertheless existed for some time. The first research was carried out by
Gisela Lück (didactics of chemistry professor at the University of Bielefeld)
in nursery schools and by Elsbeth Stern who worked at primary level. Both have
proved that children can understand natural science laws far earlier than we
had assumed.
II. Developmental-psychological,
Cognitive-psychological and Neurophysiological Conditions for the Introduction
of Scientific Phenomena in Early Childhood
The crucial questions is, whether
it is possible and appropriate to give children at pre-school age experience of
scientific phenomena, and whether and how the teaching of natural sciences in
day-care centres makes sense.
A long time ago developmental
psychology (Piaget, Erikson, Lück etc.) discovered the existence of so-called
cognitive windows or sensitive phases in early childhood. These windows
offer the best possible time for the acquisition of a second language,
orientation in space and elementary mathematical thinking. Information is taken
in much more quickly and effectively than in later phases of the childs
development.
The realisation that the provision
of scientific experience seems to be possible and meaningful at pre-school age
is supported by more and more researchers. They point to the early interest of
pre-schoolers in scientific phenomena and support an early, age-appropriate
access to sciences.
Children apparently need learning
processes which are demanding and comprehensive and which involve mind, psyche
and body equally. Learning succeeds more lastingly, when the contents of the
experiments come from the childrens immediate range of experience, appear in
various contexts, appeal to as many senses as possible and can be conducted by
the children themselves. Learning situations with a positive atmosphere and in
which the children are often praised produce additional motivation. Above all
the influence of social role models, like parents and teachers, should not be
underestimated at pre- and primary school age. The way they radiate certain
interests, how lovingly they deal with the children and how variously they use body
language all have a crucial influence on a childs learning.
III.
What has learning got to do with gender?
Girls and boys behave differently, their respective dispositions,
attitudes, and approaches are different.
Dispositions towards specific behaviours and competences are possibly
biologically influenced, and gender-specific role expectations and competences
are acquired through socialisation.
A polarisation of the sexes has developed in most
cultures. It leads to gender-specific career choices and promotion
opportunities that, even today, make it difficult for girls and women to have
equal access to some vocational fields. This is partly true for the field of
natural sciences, but above all for all jobs that have to do with technology.
In 1999 the European Union established gender
mainstreaming as a political principle. These guidelines establish the binding
principle that all measures of the EU and its members are to be examined as to
their possible effects on both sexes and can only be realised if they support
equal opportunities for both, men and women.
In order to put the gender mainstreaming principle
into practice in early technical education, we have to consider the effects of
decisions on both sexes beforehand. Before every new project, before setting up
new play and learning activities and also in all everyday situations in
day-care institutions we have to ask:
-
Are there opportunities to participate for both,
girls and boys?
-
Are there barriers to access regarding activities,
space, or time which depend on the childrens sex?
-
Is it necessary to take special strengths and
weaknesses or special thinking structures of one sex into consideration in
certain learning and play situations?
-
Is it necessary to particularly motivate and
encourage girls in the area of technology?
-
Does it make sense to tailor the organisation of
experimentation and construction tasks to the respective interests of the
sexes?
-
Does it occasionally make sense to work with separate
groups of boys and girls?
IV. Early Technical Education through audio-visual Media:
Television, Radio, Cassettes, Computer Games, Internet
Children at the age of four to six years already have a pronounced
interest in scientific and technical facts. This is clear above all from the
fact that the media have been providing schoolchildren and pre-schoolers with a
broad variety of scientific and technical content for years. In the German
educational system sciences are nevertheless taught systematically only in
secondary school. That is to say, the media get children interested in
scientific topics long before our educational system provides for the teaching
of natural sciences.
Three to nine-year-old spectators regard television as a popular medium
of entertainment and in addition, as a source of information about scientific
questions. The programmes which offer scientific content cover a broad
spectrum. The most successful childrens programmes in which technological
content or topics from inanimate nature appear are Die Sendung mit der Maus
(The Show with the Mouse), Löwenzahn (Dandelion) and Sesamstrasse (Sesame
Street).
The auditory media (radio as well as sound storage media) also take up
the task of conveying technical-scientific content. Younger children value
auditory media more than older ones and have access to cassettes very early:
already 70 % of four-year-old children are familiar with the respective
devices. The mass-market of cassettes for children is above all economically
orientated and therefore media critics frequently describe the productions as
auditory trash since they usually exploit topics that have already proven
successful in other media.
Beside television and cassettes, computers have become an integral part
of the world experience of pre- and primary school children. There are numerous
games and learning programmes, which are adjusted to the different age groups
and the childrens developmental stages. For pre- and primary school children
there is already a large number of computer games, which are used with
unabashed interest by 3-year-old children as well. CD Roms playfully convey
technical-scientific knowledge to children of 4 years or older and enable them
to interactively acquire information on different topics from animate, but also
inanimate nature (e.g. earth-water-air) or to test existing knowledge.
Children are also about to conquer the Internet. By now there are some
hundred websites, which particularly address children. Search engines and
portals specially set up for children offer the possibility of attaining information
about technical-scientific content as well.
V. Possibilities
for a Methodological-didactic Translation of Scientific and Technical Topics
into Practice
It is obvious by now that early contact with technical
and scientific topics is important for the further development of a child. On
the one hand, a
vast number of
books exists on this topic and they contain numerous interesting experiments.
On the other hand, references to systematic research or possibilities for a
methodological-didactical approach in social-educational practice are scarce.
We found research work by Gisela Lück concerning the
teaching of natural sciences (especially chemistry) in early infancy. Further
recommendations concerning the methodological-didactic translation into
practice, especially for physical experiments, can be found in the work of
Mireille Hibon and Elizabeth Niggemeyer.
Possible ideas for the use of
computers in nursery school and day-care are presented in the project report of
the School for Social Pedagogics in Luedinghausen (Richard-von-Weizsäcker
Berufskolleg).
Download: chap1summaryengl.zip
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