Effectiveness of Full Day Kindergarten - Research Proposal Example

The first five years of a person’s life are an essential time for enormous growth. It is the stage when enormous cognitive, linguistic, emotional, social and psychomotor skills are being developed (Dwyer et al., 2000). Research on cognitive development underlines that a supportive context plays an important role in strengthening and supporting the process of learning in a specific domain. Certain techniques that serve as an alleyway into the developing brain allow researchers to see that stimulation from the environment alters the course of the very physiology of the brain that interconnects nature and nurture.

An array of theoretical perspectives put forward that a significant characteristic of a supportive environment is a responsible and responsive adult. Parents, teachers, and caregivers are the ones who uphold development as they fashion learning experiences that make the most of and broaden the child's competence. These experiences should be challenging but, at the same time, within reach. To make this possible, these adults have to be sensitive to the individual and developmental characteristics of the child (Bowman et al., 1999). An excellent vehicle through which children build knowledge is through playing.

Playing provides opportunities to discover new skills by means of dynamic exploration of hands-on materials needed by the children. However, safe and comfortable environments wherein they can put these newly acquired skills into practice and utilize them to further learn new knowledge (Pennsylvania Department of Education and Department of Welfare, 2007). The individual learning and development of a child are built around on a continuum that is based on previous knowledge and experiences. The unique learning style, ability, and experiences are put together to uphold further progress along the continuum.