High Scope Curriculum for Independent and Socially Responsive Children - Book Report/Review Example

General Description The High Scope curriculum was borne out of the goal of the Weikart research team to help children in disadvantaged societies succeed and have equal opportunities in the society. The team created the curriculum based on their research involving experimental and control groups. In their longitudinal study, children under the High Scope curriculum were found to excel higher than the children in the control group in terms of attaining higher education and employment. In his own words, Weikart describes the High Scope Curriculum as one that is ideal for preschool, elementary and high school.

To date, High Scope is now being used in different settings, including private and public preschools, both half day and full day, child-care centers, home-based child care programs, special education, and intergenerational programs in both urban and rural settings in the U.S. and all over the world. According to Hohmann and Weikart (22), High Scope education is valid for groups of children from several different cultures. The main principle governing High Scope is Active Learning. Through Active Learning, students become an integral part of the program as they decide, choose, design and evaluate activities and learning materials they are offered.

This principle relates closely with Existentialism because students are given the chance to choose the best resources for their own use. The cost for a High Scope school is not different from the regular school. What may be different are the materials being offered to children. Learning materials in High Scope schools should be designed in a way that challenges their critical/logical ability. Materials should also include natural things found in the school garden or at home, and in the community.

Philosophical/Theoretical Basis The idea is to provide an “open framework” where students can grow and learn under the guidance of adults or their teachers. In this open framework, teachers should be open to ideas suggested by children. They are there to guide, appreciate, give importance to, and affirm plausible characteristics and behavior. Children are not limited to a single material or idea. Rather, they learn with multiple resources around them. Active children create their own ideas following Constructivism, through active experiences they have with people, other than their classmates.

They do not learn from direct teaching or lecture but actively engage in achieving goals of the curriculum. They learn best through social interaction and exploration. Meanwhile, adult learners are likely to adapt to the demands of their environment as they are given the chance to actively interact and participate in varied learning environments. In the High Scope setting, children are asked at the beginning of the day to choose materials and activities to be used and accomplished throughout the day.

Children are given aims to worked on, and as they do, they make intelligent choices by asking, reading, solving problems, interacting with others, and doing experiments or creative work. They also engage in role-playing, arts, and discussion to help them become responsive to their social environment. Goals to be Accomplished High Scope Curriculum seeks to give children a chance to actively learn using materials, human resources and learning environment provided to them. Active learning means utilizing their own ideas to facilitate learning.

First, the goal is to let them