This article is reprinted from Texas Child Care, a quarterly newspaper published by the Texas Workforce Commission. Subscriptions may be placed by calling 512-441-6633, or writing Editor, Texas Child Care, P.O. Box 162881, Austin, Texas 78716-2881.
Developmentally
Appropriate Practice
Buzzwords or best practice?
By Jocelyn Smrekar and Andrea Hansen
Teachers and parents are sometimes fooled into thinking that children must learn to read by age 5, usually in kindergarten. Consider this example: Jamie has trouble reading in kindergarten. Her teacher says it’s because she only played in preschool. In first grade, Jamie is called learning disabled because she still doesn’t read. By third grade though, Jamie is reading fluidly with her peers. Have teachers cured Jamie of a disability? No! Jamie’s reading development followed its own course and leveled into a lifelong skill and what teachers call "working at grade level."
Children develop at different rates in separate areas: physical, emotional, cognitive or intellectual, language, and social. Differences, including abilities and disabilities, affect the way and speed with which children develop skills. Genetic traits, temperaments, learning style, environment, cultural and racial expectations, and experiences influence learning. Some children learn to say words at 8 months, others not until they’re almost 2 or older. Many children learn to walk at 9 months, while others wait until they are 15 to 18 months. Charts of developmental milestones—walking, talking, running, or stacking three blocks, for example—are based on averages. Parents and teachers frequently worry when a child doesn’t have a skill at the targeted time. Most often, skills develop according to children’s interests and temperaments—that is, a child’s basic approach to people and events.
Foundation
for Further Learning
Developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) is a term coined by the National
Association for the Education of Young Children. It describes teaching techniques
that identify and foster the developmental needs of children, both individually
and in groups (Bredekamp, 1987). DAP is a set of guidelines suggesting curriculum
content and practice serving children birth through age 8. Simply stated, these
guidelines encourage early childhood programs to provide an educational environment
that responds to the needs and interests of children. In that environment, trained
teachers use observation to plan for the class and the individuals in it. In
DAP classrooms, children’s play is the primary vehicle for learning. This
article will focus on DAP in school settings, prekindergarten through third
grade.
DAP deals with all the levels and stages children grow through, building a strong foundation for future learning. Children remember, classify, repeat, and modify their experiences as they learn about the world and the people in it. For example, Zach, age 6, is eager to put together a puzzle with 100 pieces. He has experience with puzzles—first with five-piece wooden puzzles in a frame, then with cardboard floor puzzles, and finally with boxed 60-piece puzzles. He knows that the picture on the outside of the box will be a guide as he separates the straight-edged pieces from the curved ones. He locates the four corners, looks for matching colors, and after 45 minutes of concentrated effort, completes the puzzle. He has used his past experiences to build new ones that include abstract tasks like classifying, matching, counting, sorting, identifying, and experimenting. He has improved his small motor skills, increased his ability to concentrate on a complex task, and learned the virtue of tenacity, sticking to the task until completion. Zack’s alert teacher notes his success and plans new ways to challenge his skills and foster new interests. A teacher’s understanding and use of DAP are keys to educational success.
Learning experiences
in a DAP classroom
Children are active learners—they need opportunities to investigate and
explore with objects, materials, and equipment in order to construct a base
of information about their world. Through firsthand experiences, children are
able to connect what they already know with new, more complex information. Teachers
who use DAP in their classrooms provide opportunities for children to interact
with a variety of materials. They offer uninterrupted time to actively explore
not only intellectual skills, but also social, emotional, physical, and language
skills. Specific teaching techniques include asking open-ended questions, modeling,
demonstrating, exploring, coaching, and direct instruction. These techniques
extend learning and guide children to skill mastery (Bredekamp and Copple, 1997).
Young children learn best and most when they actively and playfully explore materials and activities, using all their senses. Developmentally appropriate classrooms are set up so individuals or groups of children can become directly involved with materials. Children move between free or spontaneous play and organized play. In free play, for example, a puppet show evolves into a performance by children in dress-up clothes. In organized play, children might chart the favorite fruits of class members.
Role
of Play
A central issue in DAP is the role of play in the curriculum. Because adults
don’t depend on play to learn, they tend to dismiss it as a pleasant time
spent without profit. In children, however, play is an essential part of a child’s
education. Sometimes called children’s work, play supports a child’s
development by providing the tools, equipment, and interpersonal experiences
that help children grow. Through play, children acquire information, master
activities, use concrete materials as symbols, organize previous learning, learn
perseverance and focus, solve problems, and develop creativity.
Are Children
Really Learning?
While many teachers agree that DAP helps children develop cognitive, social,
emotional, language, and physical skills, parents often ask, "Is my child
really learning? All I see is play."
Standardized tests given after second grade to children in both DAP and traditional classrooms have revealed little difference in general reading skills (Kostelnik, Soderman, and Whiren, 1993). Children in DAP classrooms scored significantly higher in tests of vocabulary, reading comprehension, expressive language, and reading and writing mechanics in context. In standardized tests of math, the two groups showed similar scores in overall math skills, but the DAP children scored significantly higher in conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills than children in traditional classrooms. Children who had been in DAP classrooms for five years scored significantly higher in reasoning and problem-solving skills. Most importantly, children in DAP classrooms reported great enthusiasm for school and high involvement in the learning process.
What Does
a DAP Classroom Look Like?
The physical setup of a DAP classroom indicates how learning takes place. The
teacher’s desk is usually in an inconspicuous place, not in the front of
the room. Student desks, if provided at all, are clustered into learning centers.
Most often, long tables replace individual desks, encouraging cooperative group
work. Room arrangements and traffic patterns may change throughout the year
as children grow and change intellectually, and they meet specific educational
goals.
Another difference in DAP classrooms is the way textbooks and worksheets are used. Often in traditional classrooms, printed materials are the primary source of instruction; teachers dictate the use of textbooks, worksheets, and other teaching materials. In a developmentally appropriate classroom, children learn through materials that are concrete, real, and relevant to their lives.
In a kindergarten class that is studying insects, for example, the classroom is rich with pictures, colorful field guides, and posters. It may also have an ant farm with magnifying glasses, a box of silk worms spinning cocoons, a tomato plant with resident praying mantis, and a butterfly house. Children are encouraged to collect insects and sort them by size, color, function, or benefits to humanity. They use math skills like counting, estimating, and graphing in the daily routine. They have opportunities to draw and paint their impressions of insects as well as to sing and act out the metamorphosis of caterpillar to butterfly.
In a DAP classroom textbooks are resources, not the primary source of information. All equipment and supplies—including manipulatives, construction materials, art music, and role-playing props—are accessible to the children as they explore and discover answers and new questions. Teachers support learning by setting up centers and providing the materials and guidance necessary for the children to learn.
DAP as Best
Practice
Teachers who have adopted developmentally appropriate practices consider each
child’s uniqueness and skill level when planning activities. Allowing children
to progress through the stages of development at their own rates is the best
way to build the foundation for future learning. This philosophy is reflected
in the classroom environment and activities planned. Learning takes place naturally,
because it is child-centered and relevant. Children are constantly learning,
building on what they know to create new ways of thinking and seeing their world.
References
Berger, E. Parents as Partners in Education: Families and Schools Working Together
(4th ed.) Columbus: Merrill/Prentice Hall, 1995.
Bredekamp, Sue. Developmentally Appropriate Practices in Early Childhood Programs: Serving Children from Birth Through Age 8. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1987.
Bredekamp, S. and C. Copple (eds.). Developmentally Appropriate Practices in Early Childhood Programs (rev. ed.). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1997.
Carew, J. "Experience and the development of intelligence in young children at home and in day care," Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 45, 6-7, 1980.
Everyone’s Welcome: First Steps to Inclusion. Austin: Texas Workforce Commission, 1996.
Holdaway, D. The Foundations of Literacy. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann, 1979.
Isenberg, J. and N. Quisenberry. "Play: A necessity for all children," Childhood Education, 64 (3), 138-145, 1988.
Rutter, M. "Family and school influences on cognitive development," Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 26, 683-704, 1985.
About the
Authors
Jocelyn Smrekar, Ph.D., is an associate professor of education at Texas A&M
University-Kingsville, and in August, joins the faculty of Clarion University
of Pennsylvania. Her research focus is play, language, and social development
in culturally and linguistically diverse children.
Andrea Hansen, M.Ed., teaches preschool children with multiple handicaps for the Southlake Carroll Independent School District. From 1992 to 1997 she was an instructor in early childhood education at Texas A&M University-Kingsville.