Page 1: Early Childhood Environments

iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/env/cresource/q1/p01/

What can teachers do to make the classroom

environment more conducive to children’s learning and
development?
Safe, responsive, and nurturing
environments are an important part
of supporting the learning and
development of infants, toddlers,
and preschoolers. Such
environments also help to prevent
challenging behaviors and serve as
a core component of interventions
for infants and young children with
identified disabilities. According to
the Division for Early Childhood
Recommended Practices (DEC-
RP):

“Environmental practices refer to aspects of the space, materials, equipment, routines, and
activities that practitioners and families can intentionally alter to support each child’s
learning across developmental domains.”

Unfortunately, many practitioners are unsure how to create environments that support their
children’s learning across different age groups (e.g., infants, toddlers, preschoolers) and
developmental domains (e.g., social, communication, cognitive, motor). Well-designed
classroom* environments:

Support responsive caregiving

Foster independence and feelings of competence in young children
Encourage staff efficiency
Promote children’s engagement
Decrease challenging behavior
Facilitate appropriate social interactions among children
Provide structure and predictability

Research Shows
Changes in classroom environmental arrangement, such as rearranging furniture,
implementing activity schedules, and altering ways of providing instructions around
routines, have been found to increase the probability of appropriate behaviors and
effectively decrease the probability of challenging behaviors.
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(Chandler et al., 1999; Dooley, Wilczenski, & Torem, 2001; Martens, Eckert, Bradley, &
Ardoin, 1999)

The table below describes three interdependent components of early childhood

environments.

Components of Early Childhood Definition

Environments

Physical environment The overall design and layout of a room, including its learning
centers, materials, and furnishings

Social environment The interactions that occur within the classroom between peers,
teachers, and family members

Temporal environment The timing, sequence, and length of routines and activities that take
place throughout the day

In order to create an environment conducive to the learning and development of infants,

toddlers, and preschoolers, these three components must be carefully designed and
implemented. Indeed, every aspect of a classroom environment’s design should reflect its
program’s priorities and philosophy. For example, a program that concentrates on
improving children’s math skills is likely to emphasize the availability of materials related to
numeracy, as well as to learning shapes and patterns. Additionally, if this program’s
philosophy was Montessori-inspired—that is, it helped students to learn concepts through
hands-on work with materials, rather than by traditional direct instruction—you might expect
to see bead chains to support the teaching of mathematical concepts.

The following pages address these physical, social, and temporal components in more
detail.

Listen as Ilene Schwartz discusses how the three components of the environment are
intertwined to help children succeed (time: 2:47).
View Transcript

Ilene Schwartz, PhD

Professor, Special Education
Director, Haring Center for Research
and Training in Inclusive Education
University of Washington

Including Children with Disabilities

A well-designed, safe, and responsive environment is an essential first step in including
young children with disabilities in early childhood settings such as inclusive preschool,
Head Start, and childcare programs. If, however, the learning environment does not
provide the support necessary to help children with disabilities to succeed, teachers must
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make changes to maximize their participation in planned activities, interactions, and
routines. These intentional changes can be small and are often easy to implement, yet they
can yield immediate improvement in the level of child participation and learning.

*In this Module, the term “classroom” refers to any out-of-home setting in which group care
is provided to infants, toddlers, or preschoolers.

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