Learning through exploration, active participation and imitation

Learning by exploration, bustling involution and imitationYoung children try by exploration, active p cheaticipation and through imitation and as such quality machinations plan comprising of all finessework forms visual art, music, media, dance and drama should be include as part of the curriculum in the betimes childhood classroom. As stated by Spodek,1993 (cited in Isenberg Jalongo, 2001) through active in the art activities children ar able to express themselves and it provides opportunities for information of creativeness , symbolizing and enhances their encyclopaedism about aesthetics which further helps them fix academic knowledge. Smith, 1982 (cited in Wright, 1991) menti angiotensin converting enzymed that children be able to organise their experiences and know about themselves and their world through participating in the humanities. Dyson (1990, p.52) further stated that art and bunco dupe decisive partings in childrens growth as symbol makers . Li ke nobble, art is intended and intrinsically motivated as children atomic number 18 free to choose the subject matter and direction of the activity. at that place are no external demands or expectations and children are free to explore, audition and investigate with the people, objects and materials provided. He excessively mentioned that children pursue art activities for intrinsic pleasure rather than external rewards. Furthermore, the gestures and first words children economic consumption during make believe play reflect upon peoples actions and things around their daily lives which is the early infrastanding of symbolisation as healthful as the basic ft that invents into drawing pictures, spoken and written words in their later stages. ground on my practical experiences in the classroom and as well as through the readings from books I believe that humanities is just as all-important(prenominal) as some(prenominal) other subject in the curriculum and children d o learn and develop their physical, intellectual, stirred up and complaisant sciences through participating in the arts activities. It is also a requirement by the Ministry of Education that the arts be included as part of the curriculum in the Singaporean classroom. (cited in Framework for A Kindergarten Curriculum in Singapore, 2006).This essay is a brief attempt at looking at the importance of the arts in the education of young children drawn from two art forms which are music and drama.According to Isenberg Jalongo, (2001) four types of education are promoted through the arts and they are 1) knowledge about the arts 2) skills in the arts 3) dispositions towards the arts and 4) lifes about the arts. As knowledge about the arts is substantial through sensory experiences and explorations of materials, children provided with such opportunities to observe, explore and discover about the world, develop their cognitive business leader and it further enhances foundation for late r learning in the preschool eld whereby they use symbols, language and make believe play develops. Skills in the arts are developed when children are allowed to explore and experiment in a safe and healthy art environment provided with a mannequin of tools and materials under the guidance of an adult who has already acquired these skills. For example, children creating a paper use the skill of printing, painting, tearing, rolling, and colour mixing. They use their fine motor skills, eye hand coordination and social interaction skills. Throughout the activity they engage in the process of worry solving as they experiment with colour and texture to create the paper. There is a certain amount of trial and error while they experiment with the tools. Self expression as children are able to use their bear imagination and creativity to express themselves while creating the paper. (Isenberg Jalongo, 2001) Vygotsky, according to Berk, (2000) viewed childrens cognitive development as a socially mediated process whereby processes and skills are transferred and back up from more knowledgeable adult as children try new tasks. He also believed that as long as children acquire language, their ability to fade with others leads to changes in thought and behaviour that vary from culture to culture. As such, the tierce type of learning dispositions towards art depends on the adult being the role model and the interaction with more competent peers and teachers to support the child to infix successfully in the arts. Providing feedback as stated by Wright, (1991) is part of additive assessment that guides childrens learning and helps them acquire the atoms, concepts, forms, and vocabulary about the arts. When children are attached opportunities to respond to art workings created by others, for example, when they are taken for visits to art galleries and teachers model ways to respond thoughtfully while viewing the works by professional artist children learn to resp ect the work of others and when teachers entertain childrens work and display them, these develops their sense of efficacy and enables them to have positive niping about the arts.On the other hand, Swanwick, (1998) mentioned that the three elements of play applicable to learning through the arts are mastery, imitation, and imaginative play. Mastery involves learning of a skill associated with an art form for example children learning to make hitchhike puppets for a drama performance or trying to keep to the unit of ammunition while experimenting with a melodious instrument during a tuneful pleximetry session. Children being able to identify things and people other than themselves as well as learning how to express sympathy, empathy and show concern explains the expressive character of the art form known as Imitation. Based on my classroom experience, preschoolers making musical sounds for pigs running away from the woman chaser and moving their bodies to declare tendency s of a wolf and expressing through facial expressions as an angry wolf for a drama performance of the story Three Little Pigs are examples of imitation. Imaginative play focuses on the structure of an art form. Examples of imaginative play during the Three Little Pigs drama are when children experiment with diametric musical instruments until they are able to create the sound that best resembles the pigs running away from the wolf and when experimenting with the different ways as they can move that suggests the causa of the wolf. Swanwick, (1998) also suggests that all three elements of play must be in action for all ages in order to learn through the arts.Isenberg Jalongo, (2001) birdcall that music contributes to the total development of the child cognitive, physical, social, emotional, heathenish and aesthetics. In my centre, we have a music and movement area equipped with a variety of musical instruments the like bells, tambourines, triangles etc. Children participate in music and movement activities whereby they move as well as sing along and play musical instruments. Through these activities children develop their large muscles of their bodies as they invent actions to go along with the songs .They develop fine motor skills as they play musical instruments and become aware of beat, tempo, and pitch. These activities also build kinaesthetic intelligence. Gardner, (1973, cited in Isenberg Jalongo, 1997) Children gain experience with music and use of language as they sing the songs for event when singing the song If you happy and you know it clap your hands they middleman words with actions and focus on the sequence and task and all these involves childrens ability to process mentally the tone, rhythm, and melody and thus involves thinking skills and cognitive connections amidst music and learning. As mentioned by Isenberg Jalongo , 1997 that Bruners three learning stages enactive, iconic and symbolical suggests developmentally appropriate musi cal experience for children and they add that Bruners enactive stage relates to Piagets(1952) sensorimotor stage and Eriksons (1950) trust-building stage where physical activity and music are intertwined. Thus, musical activities stimulate the childrens senses, cognitive development and also build social relationships. Childrens creativity is intensify when they are asked to decide on the other actions and movement isolated from those suggested by the teacher. As stated by McAllester, (cited in Isenberg Jalongo, 1997) music encourages participation, share-out and cooperation .Through participating in the musical activities, there is cooperation and sharing when children get unneurotic and work with a partner or in a congregation and these develops their social skills. Music is also an excellent tool to familiarise children with the different culture. When children are given the opportunity to experience and listen to different cultural music, they begin to appreciate and unders tand what each ethnic conclave is about.and these develops their aesthetic skills and understand the art form.Cornett (1999) supports the need for teachers to integrate creative drama in the classroom as she states that drama being a part of ordinary life, prepares an individual to connect to real life situations.Cornett (1999) adds that when children are participating in the drama, they are able to look at problems from different points of view, respect diverse thinking, and realise that there are many ways to settle one problem. She further states that through drama, children learn to exchange feelings and emotions with each other. This enhances their personality development.Cornett (1999) also states that personal development takes place when children control their body and words as they express ideas and feelings during the drama activities. She also indicated that positive egotism image and boldness are developed through the problem solving situations.Cornett (1999) reite rates that children engaging in situational confrontations during their role play, also become aware of the different emotions people feel for example happiness, sadness .anger, fear. She adds that the children learn that these feelings can be dealt with, thus create a tolerance towards them.Isbell Raines (2007), agree that social skills can be developed in drama as children working in a group overcome difficulties through problem solving skills. They experience working with peers as they negotiate plans to stage the drama. During interactions, children learn to negotiate with each other, work cooperatively, and develop respect for each other.In my centre, besides the dramatic play in the home corner, my class of four year olds involve in elemental puppetry and mask drama using rhymes and childrens stories. Rhymes like This little pig went to mart are taught to children using puppets and later children retell the rhyme using the puppets. In addition, children take turns to dramat ise the rhyme each child given a mask of a pig (mask designed and made by child), actions like going the market, eating roast beef are incorporated. Puppets and mask are excellent props in focusing childrens attention. Through such activities children are able to participate in dramatic action using the element role, as they pretend to be someone other than themselves. Language is enhanced as they retell rhyme and children are able to express ideas and feelings through dramatic movement. (Isbell Raines, 2007).As mentioned above, experts powerfully believe that musical activities and drama enables children to develop their physical, cognitive, social, emotional and aesthetic skills as well as to provide opportunities for development of self expression, creativity, symbolizing all of which enhances their academic knowledge .There are many opportunities for children to learn and develop skills, knowledge and processes through participation in the arts , as such having discussed the benefits and leaning outcomes of childrens participation in the arts , I strongly believe that the arts is important in the education of preschoolers and all art forms should be integrated into the preschool curriculum with equal emphasis as any other subject in the curriculum.