7.2: Commonality

Commonality is representative of the current research and understandings of processes of child development and learning that apply to all children, including the understanding that all development and learning occur within specific social, cultural, linguistic, and historical contexts (NAEYC, 2020).

Considerations of Development and Theory

When professionals consider development in planning curriculum, it means understanding what is appropriate at a given age or stage of development. Developmental milestone charts can help with this. It is vital to know what children should be capable of at a given age of development and plan activities accordingly. For instance, we know that young children are concrete thinkers who learn best by using real, tangible items rather than representations of items. If we want a group of 3-year-old children to learn about apples, we will give them real apples to smell, touch, see, and taste. In this way, they can develop a long-lasting, deeper understanding of apples. This is developmentally appropriate. Offering a child a book about apples may be a useful support and vital for language development, but the book alone will never give them a conceptual understanding of apples.

Likewise, well-meaning families often expect early childhood professionals to have children complete worksheets in preschool. From what we know about child development, young children do not have the executive function (mental skills including memory, flexible thinking, and self-control) to allow them to sit in a chair for long periods of time to learn from worksheets. Further, their bodies are designed to wiggle and move. Sitting at a desk will not help preschoolers learn. That is why many high-quality early childhood programs focus on play-based learning (Blums & Holloway in Julien et.al, 2023).

Principles of Child Development and Learning

NAEYC has put forth nine principles and their implications for early childhood education professional practice.

1. Development and learning are dynamic processes that reflect the complex interplay between a child’s biological characteristics and the environment, each shaping the other as well as future patterns of growth.
2. All domains of child development are important; there is a bi-directional influence in that each domain both supports and is supported by the others.
3. Play promotes joyful learning that fosters learning in all developmental domains, as well as content knowledge across disciplines. Play is essential for all children, from birth through age 8.
4. Although general progressions of development and learning can be identified, variations due to cultural contexts, experiences, and individual differences must also be considered.
5. Children are active learners from birth, they are constantly taking in and organizing information to create meaning through their relationships, their interactions with their environment, and their overall experiences.
6. Children’s motivation to learn is increased when their learning environment fosters their sense of belonging, purpose, and agency. Curricula and teaching methods build on each child’s assets by connecting their experiences in the school or learning environment to their home and community settings.
7. Children learn in an integrated fashion that cuts across academic disciplines or subject areas. Because the foundations of subject-area knowledge are established in early childhood, educators need subject-area knowledge, an understanding of the learning progressions within each subject area, and pedagogical knowledge about teaching each subject area’s content effectively.
8. Development and learning advance when children are challenged to achieve at a level just beyond their current mastery and when they have many opportunities to reflect on and practice newly acquired skills.
9. Used responsibly and intentionally, technology and interactive media can be valuable tools for supporting children’s development and learning.

Social and Cultural Learning

Social and cultural learning also influences how children grow and learn, such as the uniqueness of their family and where the family lives. As social and cultural settings change, the ways children grow and learn change too. "Social and cultural aspects are not simply ingredients of development and learning" (NAEYC)—these shape how it happens. For instance, play is something all children engage in, but how they play can vary depending on where they're from. So, teachers need to recognize both what all children share in their development and how those similarities can look different because of where they live and their culture.

References

Blums, A. & Holloway, S.N. (2023). Developmentally appropriate practice. In Julien et.al. (2023). Introduction to early childhood education. Libretexts.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2020). Developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) position statement. NAEYC.