Preschool education; Learning environment; Children's learning environment evaluation scale; United States; China
China Library Classification. G6 19 certificate identification code a article number1004-4604 (2009)11-0047-05
It is the bounden duty of preschool educators to explore effective evaluation methods and find and solve the problems existing in preschool education at present. The American Children's Learning Environment Assessment Scale is a preschool education environment assessment tool with a long history and extensive influence in the world. This paper will analyze the content of the scale and its preliminary application in China, in order to help improve the education quality of kindergartens in China.
I. Overview of Children's Learning Environment Assessment Scale
The Early Childhood Learning Environment Assessment Scale (ECERS) was developed by Frank? Porter. Thayer of Frank Porter Graham (FPG) Children's Development Center? Developed by Professor harms and others, the first edition was published in 1980, and the revised edition was published in 1998, namely ECERS-R (early childhood environmental assessment scale-revised edition). The main purpose of this scale is to evaluate children's learning environment. This paper is mainly based on ecers-R.
ECERS-R includes 7 subscales and 470 evaluation indexes. The seven sub-scales are space and facilities, personal care procedures, language reasoning, activities, interaction, project structure, parents and staff. 〕1〕 The evaluation indexes of each sub-scale are different, ranging from 10 to 4. The scale uses a 7-point scoring method: 1 for inappropriateness, 3 for meeting the minimum requirements, 5 for good, and 7 for excellent. ECERS-R is suitable for the evaluation of child care institutions that recruit children aged 2.5~5 years. A test usually takes about 4 hours, and one activity room can be evaluated at a time.
Previous studies show that ECERS-R has good reliability and validity, and its reliability and validity are not affected by cultural differences. [2] In the United States, ECERS-R is used as a research tool in almost all national infant research projects.
Under the guarantee of good reliability and validity, the Evaluation Scale for Children's Learning Environment has been translated into Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish and other languages since its publication, and has been widely used in various countries in the world. The Chinese version of ECERS-R was also published in Taiwan Province province in 2006.
Second, the preliminary application of ECERS-R in China
In order to understand the applicability of ECERS-R in China, researchers conducted an ECERS-R survey in Beijing in May and June 2008. Finally, 40 activity room samples were collected, mainly from 26 activity room samples of a kindergarten and 14 activity room samples of 6 other kindergartens. All the kindergartens under inspection belong to Beijing municipal demonstration kindergartens and first-class parks. The test results are as follows.
(a) Overall results and analysis of the measurement
According to the data measured by ECERS-R, the overall average score of 40 activity rooms is 4.32 (according to the 7-point scoring method). The average score of each subscale is 3.75 for space and facilities, 5 for personal daily care, 4.66 for language reasoning, 3.29 for activity, 5.6 for interaction and 3.55 for work and rest structure. Because the content of the seventh sub-scale "Parents and Teachers" has little connection with the educational practice in the activity room, it is not used. The data of this study show that the validity of ECERS-R is good.
According to the scoring standard of ECERS-R index, 3 points means that the index meets the minimum requirements, and 5 points is a good standard. The average score of 40 activity rooms this time is 4.32, which is between the minimum requirement and the good level; Of the six subscales, only personal daily care and interaction reached a good level. This shows that the quality of the learning environment provided by the inspected kindergartens for children needs to be improved.
(B) Evaluation results and analysis of the six subscales
1. Space and facilities
The average score of this item is 3.75, which does not reach a good level. (1) The indoor space score of most activity rooms is 4, which is lower than the good level. The main reason is that in order to reach a good level, indoor space must "provide a space for disabled children or adults to enter", and most of the activity rooms tested lack this facility. (2) In terms of space, although there are many children, only a few activity rooms are crowded. In addition to outdoor activities, most classes also have special dormitories where corner games can be set up. Many American kindergartens can't do this. Relatively speaking, the furniture in kindergartens in China is few and monotonous. For example, many activity rooms have no facilities such as benches, sand pools, water tanks or easels. (3) In terms of rest and comfortable facilities, many activity rooms lack soft facilities, such as cushions, carpets and plush toys. Many times children like the building block area just to read or chat on the mat in the building block area. (4) In the corner planning, although the kindergarten has carried out corner games, some teachers have failed to grasp the basic principles of corner design, such as placing quiet areas (such as book areas) near noisy areas (such as the corners of dolls' houses or building blocks), or not clearly marking every corner, standing in the center of the activity room but unable to find the entrance to every corner, or simply designing corners along the four walls of the activity room and placing them in the center of the activity room. The timely replacement of materials in the game area is also not ideal. (5) The score of secret space is low, and only a few activity rooms have secret spaces, so that children can learn to relax themselves under the pressure of group life. (6) Relatively speaking, exhibitions related to children are well done. The children's works displayed pay attention to individuality, all of which are displayed in children's sight, and the three-dimensional space works are quite rich. However, the frequency of displaying works can be changed more quickly to better respond to the theme of the event. (7) The score of big muscle game space is not high, the main reason is that the space safety can't reach the ECERS-R standard ... Although many kindergartens have laid cushions in a large area, the thickness of the cushions laid under the big ladder is not enough. Compared with American kindergartens, the outdoor play space in China kindergartens is relatively single. (8) The use time and corresponding skills of large muscle exercise equipment are developed in place, but there is a lack of diversification. It is recommended to provide tricycles with and without pedals, balls and materials of different sizes for children to play with.
2. Personal daily care
The average score of this project is 5. 1, and the overall level is good. (1) Parents and children are satisfied with the work of sending teachers to kindergartens, and the communication between teachers and parents is harmonious. (2) Children are not encouraged to talk during meals. ECERS-R encourages children to socialize during meals. Obviously, this is related to the cultural traditions of China and the United States. Maybe this project can be revised in the future. (3) In terms of nap/rest, the spacing between children's beds can't meet the standard, and the standard of ECERS-R is that the spacing should be above 9 1 cm. (4) In terms of toilet/diaper changing, the facilities are basically designed according to the height of children. The only drawback is that the toilet is used too often and has not been disinfected once. The sanitary work of toilets needs to be further strengthened. (5) Teachers often urge children to wash their hands, but because there are many children, it is inevitable to miss something, especially after children sneeze or blow their noses.
3. Linguistic reasoning
The average score of this project is 4.66, which is lower than the good level. (1) There is still much room for improvement in the provision of books. Children don't have enough time to freely choose books to read; The number and types of books are monotonous; The layout of the corner of the book is not ideal, for example, there are no carpets, cushions and seats beside the bookshelf for children to read freely; Books are rarely placed in other corners, such as natural corners and toy areas; The books placed are often unrelated to the activities carried out in the activity room; Language materials such as flannel stories and Tuka games are rarely used. (2) There are not enough materials to encourage children to communicate, for example, there are few dolls and animals in the building block area, there are no puppets in the book corner, and the materials for dressing up games can't meet the needs of three or four children's activities at the same time. (3) Teachers pay more attention to the use of language to develop children's reasoning ability, especially the introduction of concepts and relationships and the discussion of the logical relationship between middle and large classes. However, these discussions often appear in collective teaching activities, and teachers rarely use children's personal interest in daily life and free games to develop their reasoning ability or problem-solving ability. (4) In the use of informal language, teachers pay attention to the management of children's behavior; There are too many language reprimands by individual teachers, but too few languages can exchange information and share feelings with children; Young teachers' guiding skills in encouraging children to make lengthy or complicated answers to questions are not in place. However, the communication between teachers and children is generally pleasant and the relationship between teachers and children is also very harmonious.
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4. Activities
The average score is 3.29, which is slightly higher than the minimum standard. (1) The scores of each item under the activity subscale did not reach a good level, and the free activity time failed to meet the requirements of ECERS-R (accounting for more than 1/3 of the total time of children in the park). Compared with American kindergartens, kindergartens in China generally have less free time. (2) In terms of small muscle activities and artistic activities, the number of active materials is very rich, but the difficulty level of materials is not rich enough, and the frequency of material replacement is not high. Kindergarten attaches great importance to the cultivation of children's artistic ability, with rich activities, and children's works have many opportunities to be displayed. (3) In terms of music/rhythm, unless it is a special kind of music or dance, the variety and quantity of music equipment in the activity room are not rich enough, and the variety of music is not complete, which does not reflect cultural diversity. Although almost every activity room has an expensive piano, children are not allowed to use it freely. (4) In terms of building blocks, the most commonly used are small building blocks, and there are almost no large hollow building blocks that can be used to build a stage, and there are no large building blocks built outdoors. Although there are homemade building blocks, the number is small; Accessories used to enrich building block games, such as toy figures, animals, cars and road signs, are not rich enough. (5) Almost all activity rooms have no sand pools and water tanks. (6) The theme of drama games is single and the materials are scarce, far from diversification or cultural diversification. Teachers seldom enrich children's drama games with pictures, stories or outdoor outings. Strangely, almost all the dolls in the drama corner are blonde. (7) Lack of natural/scientific activities. Almost every activity room is filled with farmed animals and plants, such as onions, turtles and goldfish, but there are not enough books, games or toys about knowledge of nature and related activities. Teachers in middle and large classes usually let children observe and record biology. (8) The problem with math/number activities is that teachers are not good at integrating math concepts into various activities, and are used to promoting the development of children's math ability by practicing paper or special math game tools. (9) In encouraging acceptance of differences, the score is extremely low.
interaction
The average score of this item is 5.6, which exceeds the good level. (1) Teachers will actively participate in children's big muscle activities and promote children's positive interaction, but they are lacking in encouraging children to talk about game-related experiences; Teachers know how to adjust the guidance strategies for children according to their age and ability, and pay attention to scanning the whole class frequently; Teachers appreciate and encourage children to finish their works; However, teachers need to strike a balance between encouraging children to explore independently and guiding teaching. For example, let children find problems in the game and guide them to solve problems, instead of blindly emphasizing that children should correct mistakes or constantly instill correct practices. (2) Most activity rooms have good discipline. According to the ECERS-R standard, it is not in line with the characteristics of children's development to let children wait in their seats, but it seems reasonable from the perspective of China's traditional culture. (3) In the interaction between teachers and children, China children are obviously quiet and good at observing teachers' expressions and listening to teachers' instructions; The interaction between teachers and children is pleasant, and teachers will express their love and concern. Relatively speaking, teachers have not done enough to respect children, such as listening attentively to children and looking up to them. Teachers are often authorities, not children's playmates. Of course, there are also a few teachers who do a good job in respecting young children. (4) The interaction between children is usually positive, and teachers often provide opportunities for children to cooperate to complete tasks.
6. Work and rest structure
The average score of this item is 3.55, which is obviously lower than the good level. (1) The time planning of work and rest structure is reasonable and flexible. (2) In terms of free time, the materials prepared for free games are not changed in time, which is lack of freshness and lack of free game time. (3) In grouping time, teachers should try different grouping methods according to children's learning rhythm, so as to give children more choices and better meet their development needs. (4) In meeting the needs of special children, almost all kindergartens do not know how to evaluate the needs of special children, make individual education plans and guide problematic behaviors. This aspect needs to be strengthened urgently.