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By Charlotte Meaden, Faye Humby, Kerry Hayward, Sarah Baker and Toni-Marie McCarrick

High/Scope
High/Scope is an approach that was initially developed by Dr David Weikart in 1962, to serve children at risk of school failure in Michigan, USA. Staff encourage children to become decisionmakers and problem-solvers, helping them to develop skills and traits that enable them to become successful students. (Pound, 2005, p. 56) The curriculum model is now used in more than 20 countries including UK, Ireland and Mexico.
Pound, L (2005) How children learn, Leamington Spa: Step forward publishing.

Research was carried out called the High/Scope Perry Pre-school project. This was to evaluate if early intervention was the solution, from the research it was concluded that this was. From here the High/Scope approach was implemented into nurseries. The Perry pre-school project ran for 5 years and was a longitudinal study, following up the lives of the children who went to the nurseries. One group of children were enrolled on a pre-school course whilst the other group had no education before they went to school. The original project was one of the early attempts to translate Piagets theory into practice with each aspect of the work theoretically grounded and thoroughly evaluated. (Bredekamp, 1998, p. 27)

High/Scope Perry Preschool study findings at age 27

80 60 40 20 0
5+ arrests $2000+ Own home Graduate

Nursery No Nursery

Hohmann, M and Weikart, D (1995) Educating young children, Michigan: High/Scope press .

Key dates
1962-1967: High/Scope Perry pre-school project
began with the first group of 123 children.

1984: Publication of Changed lives: the effects of the


Perry Pre-school program on youth through age 19.

1990: High/Scope UK, the first institute outside the US. 2004: Publication of Lifetime effects: The High/Scope
Perry Pre-school study through age 40.
Pound, L (2005) How children learn, Leamington Spa: Step forward publishing.

Every child is unique and their selfconfidence needs to be enhanced by building on what they can do already

The power to learn resides in the child

Independence is promoted

View of childhood

Children learn through their own actions and interactions

Children need to take care of their own needs

Children and adults think differently

Hohmann, M and Weikart, D (1995) Educating young children, Michigan: High/Scope press.

http://www.high-scope.org.uk/hs_code/about_us/approach.asp (Accessed on 13/11/07)

The Daily Routine


Planning time (1015 minutes) Work time (4560 minutes; includes cleanup time at the end) Recall time (1015 minutes) Small-group time (1520 minutes) Large-group time (1015 minutes) Outside time (3040 minutes) Transition times (including arrival and departure) (variable) Eating and rest times (variable) Adult team planning time (2040 minutes)

http://www.highscope.org/Content.asp?ContentId=182 (Accessed 16/11/2007)

Key Activity Concept


High/Scope activities are focused around active learning using the senses and imagination as well as adult interaction. Children are also encouraged to choose their own activities to do and use them however they would wish to. It is important therefore, that the equipment to be age appropriate and for the supervising adults to observe for the children's wellbeing.

Play dough

Problem Solving using puzzles

Mixing Paint

Adding food colouring to water


Role play Material work

Activities
Blowing bubbles

Wood work (sawing and drilling holes with adult supervision)

Printing and creating masks on the computer

Making paper chains

Children learn best through active experiences with people, materials, events and ideas (Jackman, 2004, p. 27)

Classroom Plan

Children should be agents in their own learning, therefore the organisation of space, materials and people must support independent learning. (Brown, 1990, p. 11)

Labelled play equipment


Cooking corner

Mat
Sand and Water activities Play dough

Writing and drawing

Role Play

One of the hallmarks of programs based on active learning is the many opportunities they provide for children to make choices (Hohmann et al, 1995, p. 25) Through exploration, children answer their own questions and satisfy their curiosity (Hohmann et al, 1995, p. 25) The active learning process involves all the senses (Hohmann et al, 1995, p. 25)

The eight key experiences relate directly to Piagets areas of cognition. (MacNaughton, 2003, p. 96)

Quotes

High/Scope philosophies
Plan do review Communicating perceptions through creativity Adults support and play with children Children should have control over their own learning Learning through talk

Other theorists
Piagets active learning Gardners multiple intelligences. Vygotsky ZPD Smilanskys roles of planning Bruners scaffolding

Through active learning-having direct and immediate experiences and deriving meaning from them through reflectionyoung children make sense of their world. (Pound, 2005, p. 57) Scaffolding is the process of giving support to learners at the appropriate time and at the appropriate level of sophistication to meet the needs of the individual. (Pritchard, 2005, p. 31)

High/Scopes view of Play


Play vigorously and quietly
Children should interact with peers and adults

Experiences

Various activities

Repetitive and new challenges

In the Classroom
Adults organise play into specific areas
Sand and Water Play Role Play Drawing and Painting

Wide variety of materials

Easily accessible

Supporting Play
Play in a supportive climate in involves all the ingredients of active learning. Materials Choice Language Awareness of others

Plan-do-review
plan activity, carry out and reflect set process in motion review experiences small group time large group time

To capture and build on childrens natural enthusiasms, adults put themselves in childrens hands as often as possible. They follow childrens directions; willingly assume the pretend roles assigned to them by children (Your leg is broken, but Im a doctor so Ill fix it) and play games according to the childs rules. (Hohmann et al, 1995, p. 53)

Planning leads to involvement and concentration on play

Planning and Play

Planning supports the development of complex play

SIMPLE PLAY
Familiar routine, repetitive, unproductive Cognitively unsophisticated Performed with no planning or purposefulness Without structure and with out a goal Conducted with little mental effort and little care

COMPLEX PLAY
Creative, imaginative and productive Cognitively complex Structured and working towards a goal Learning a new skill, or trying to improve an old one Conducted with care and mental effort

Hohmann, M and Weikart, D (1995) Educating young children, Michigan: High/Scope press, p. 177.

Assessment gather accurate information about children observing daily planning sessions

Encouraging Independence Space and time Childrens intentions Childrens thinking Active learning depends on positive adult child interactions (Hohmann et al, 1995, p. 6) Conduct home visits

Does the High/Scope approach really work?


The Overall conclusion from research is that children across cultural and socio-economic backgrounds and of varying abilities benefit from the High/Scope Approach. This should be seen as an investment in a child's future life chances and as an investment in the future well-being of Society http://www.highscope.org/Content.asp?ContentI =291 (Accessed on 13/11/2007)

Bibliography

Bredekamp, S (1998) The contribution of High/Scope to early childhood education in the United states Early years 18 (2) pp. 27-31 Brown, M (1990) The High/Scope approach to the National Curriculum An introduction, London: High/Scope Institute. Hohmann, M and Weikart, D (1995) Educating young children, Michigan: High/Scope press. Jackman, H (2004) Early Curriculum: A Childs Connection to the World, USA: Thomson Delmar learning. MacNaughton, G (2003) Shaping Early Childhood, Bershire, McGraw-Hill Pound, L (2005) How children learn, Leamington Spa: Step forward publishing. Pritchard, A (2005) Ways of learning, Oxon: David Fulton publishers Head start and High/scope, http://www.angelfire.com/stars3/education/headstart.html (Accessed on 13/11/07) The High/scope approach, http://www.highscope.org.uk/hs_code/about_us/approach.asp (Accessed on 13/11/07) http://www.highscope.org/Content.asp?ContentI=291 (Accessed on 13/11/2007) Daily Routine, http://www.highscope.org/Content.asp?ContentId=182

(Accessed 16/11/2007)

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