Fundamental to an inspiring approach to learning is to see students right at the center of the process, utilizing their curiosity and interest to help them learn from adults, their peers and their environment. This approach has been adopted by centers in Italy for more than forty years. Reggio Emilia schools in Mclean VA have also adopted this approach, influenced by the success of this method.
Children in these schools are offered a flexible curriculum instead of a rigid one passed down unchanged from generation to generation. Lessons are based around the thoughts, ideas and observations of the child. The goal is to cultivate a passion for exploration and learning that will last a lifetime.
Learning is seen as a journey and the children are allowed to help direct the pace. They can move more quickly through some areas and take more time when they need it. Children determine when they are ready to move on instead of having this decided by a teacher who may be unaware of a gap in understanding.
The educators also function differently. They function as nurturers and guides rather than as an authoritarian figure. Italian teacher, Loris Malaguzzi, saw the need to change the way teachers and students interacted. He felt that a teacher needed to facilitate exploration, discovery and problem solving by listening closely to what students have to say and observing their interactions.
Students in a school like this are encouraged not to just sit still and listen. The lessons are interactive and students use materials and language skills to make their thinking apparent. Movement, shadow play, drawing and music are just some of the means used to stimulate creativity, communication and symbolic skills.
Children are not just taught surface knowledge as is the case in so many schools. The knowledge they absorb is on a much more meaningful level. They learn how connect ideas, solve problems and develop insights. They also absorb values like respect for others and responsibility for their actions.
Parents are often not really involved in the educational process and may even be seen as a threat by teachers. This is not the case in these schools, where teachers and parents work closely together and share ideas. Documentation is kept by the teacher in the form of a book or panel of transcribed dialogues and photographs. This shows parents how their children are developing.
Children discover what they understand, know, question, imagine and feel and then communicate this. They do this by being given the freedom to learn what they want to learn at their own pace. Teachers, parents and children are all involved in the learning process but the child is at the center, developing into a responsible, respectful, insightful, creative adult well able to function fruitfully in society.
Children in these schools are offered a flexible curriculum instead of a rigid one passed down unchanged from generation to generation. Lessons are based around the thoughts, ideas and observations of the child. The goal is to cultivate a passion for exploration and learning that will last a lifetime.
Learning is seen as a journey and the children are allowed to help direct the pace. They can move more quickly through some areas and take more time when they need it. Children determine when they are ready to move on instead of having this decided by a teacher who may be unaware of a gap in understanding.
The educators also function differently. They function as nurturers and guides rather than as an authoritarian figure. Italian teacher, Loris Malaguzzi, saw the need to change the way teachers and students interacted. He felt that a teacher needed to facilitate exploration, discovery and problem solving by listening closely to what students have to say and observing their interactions.
Students in a school like this are encouraged not to just sit still and listen. The lessons are interactive and students use materials and language skills to make their thinking apparent. Movement, shadow play, drawing and music are just some of the means used to stimulate creativity, communication and symbolic skills.
Children are not just taught surface knowledge as is the case in so many schools. The knowledge they absorb is on a much more meaningful level. They learn how connect ideas, solve problems and develop insights. They also absorb values like respect for others and responsibility for their actions.
Parents are often not really involved in the educational process and may even be seen as a threat by teachers. This is not the case in these schools, where teachers and parents work closely together and share ideas. Documentation is kept by the teacher in the form of a book or panel of transcribed dialogues and photographs. This shows parents how their children are developing.
Children discover what they understand, know, question, imagine and feel and then communicate this. They do this by being given the freedom to learn what they want to learn at their own pace. Teachers, parents and children are all involved in the learning process but the child is at the center, developing into a responsible, respectful, insightful, creative adult well able to function fruitfully in society.
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