Global Perspectives of ECE - Introduction

WHY? TO INFLUENCE

Before I decided to further study in Early Childhood Eduction (ECE), I has involved in this field for 8 years. Even though, I viewed myself at the Stage 1 of the pyramid. For the past 8 years, I took advice from ECE practitioners, I attended workshops and seminars, I read articles and publications just to find out more about ECE and what it entails.I tried my best to prepare myself before embark my journey in Part Time study in USM.   

After following the course for 2 semesters, I have changed. The lecturers and the contents of the course changed my concepts and understanding about ECE. Slowly, I have moved up to stage 2 where I understand the essential principles of ECE. After the "training" I get from our mentor, Dr Kim, I am able to place myself in stage 3 in which I can share my knowledge in relative to ECE and provide appropriate feedback to others. 

Currently, I am trying to interprets the principles and practices of ECE to parents whenever I have a chance. I need to do more to extend this interpretations to the members of the community. Sometimes, I do fallback to stage 2 and 3 but I will integrate my knowledge and experiences in ECE to make myself stand firmer in stage 4 in near future. Hopefully 10 years later, I can move up to the top of the pyramid to contribute my works to the society especially children. 

HOW? EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

"They must TALK about what they are learning, WRITE about it, RELATE it to past experiences, APPLY it to their daily lives." - Chickering and Gamson (1987)

Based on the above principles, we are encouraged very much in doing experiential learning instead of content learning. This is 21st century. Knowledge around the world can be obtained easily and quickly. It depends on our will (our choice) to learn or not to learn. We can engaged with the more knowledgeable parties around the world to make our learning authentic. We are able to archived what we learnt in shared multimedia for critical revision and reflection. Reflections from every lesson make us THINK. Our Dr Kim really wanted to provoke our thoughts in order to re-conceptualize or even create new Early Childhood knowledge. This method of learning is totally NEW to my generation and yet essential to CONNECT to the future generations. 

WHAT? FOLLOW THIS BLOG AND YOU WILL KNOW WHAT WE HAVE DONE