Welcome to Unit 6
Academic Curriculum:
Cognitive & Language Domains
Review of Unit 5
Explain what is meant by the
word aesthetics and why it is
important to create
curriculum that advances
skills in the Aesthetic
Domain.
Explain how developing skills
in the Affective Domain
impacts all developmental
areas.
Please SHARE your thoughts on how the above
applies to Curriculum Development….
Cognitive & Language Domains
Unit 6 explores the cognitive maturation of young
children; how advances in neuroscience provide
information about the learning process and about
teaching strategies, best practices, and early childhood
theories. You will examine multiple realms of
intelligence and communication.
You will learn how to engage young
children in higher level thinking skills;
how to maximize intellectual and
language development; how to
effectively integrate language
experiences across the curriculum
Learning Goals
• Discuss how advances in neuroscience have
supported or refuted recognized early childhood
cognitive learning theories (Piaget, Vygotsky,
Bandura, etc.).
• Describe effective ways to integrate curriculum
across content and language spheres.
• Explain how to use inquiry as an instructional
approach.
• Write goals and objectives for lesson plans based on
professionally recognized standards.
Cognitive Domain
The Cognitive Wheel (Chapter 11; pg. 313) includes
the details of need to know in these areas:
Physical Knowledge
Logical-mathematical Knowledge
Representational Knowledge
Social-conventional Knowledge
Metacognitive Knowledge
Physical Knowledge
Check out the details and share….
Language Domain
The Purpose & Goals consistent with professional
standards (Chapter 12; pg. 351):
Purpose: For children to communicate their ideas and
feelings and to accurately interpret the communications
they receive.
Check the list of goals in the following areas of oral and
non-oral language development & share your thoughts.
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Listening & viewing
Speaking
Writing
Reading
Unit 6 Project: Research Paper
Preferred Curriculum Model - Extended Evaluation
In the Unit 4 Project you assessed two curriculum
models and concluded which one best represents your
educational philosophy and/or more closely aligns with
best practices for private or community schools. You
provided relevant support to evaluate each curriculum
model. In this project you will be evaluated on your
ability to use electronic libraries/ databases for research
purposes (GEL-6.5). This paper should include the
following three parts.
Part 1
In the Unit 6 Research Project you will conduct an extended
evaluation of the curriculum model earlier identified as your
preferred model. Your examination now should be more extensive
as you make additional connections to early childhood theory and
determine if this model is supported by current breakthroughs in
brain research, relevant current trends, and/ or best practices used
in private or community schools.
Explain how this model supports best practices like DAP
(Developmentally Appropriate Practice) and maximizes student
development in the following domains:
• Cognitive
• Language
• Affective
• Aesthetic
• Physical
• Social
Part 2
Conclude by either defending the curriculum
model or questioning it based on this more
exhaustive examination. You will need to
retrieve documents through advanced
searches, refine search strategies, and explain
the strategies you used to refine the search in
your paper. You are expected to include a
minimum of five works referenced with quotes,
citations, and/or notations to validate your
findings.
Part 3
Engage in a search using the words brain research, early childhood
education, child development, and/or curriculum models, etc., will
lead you to numerous useful articles.
As with all research, it is important to consider the quality of the
sites you investigate. For some assurance that the information
presented is accurate, search the Kaplan Library, eric.ed.gov, and
links for government or respected professional education
organizations (for example, NAEYC Position Statements or the
ASCD website (Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development). Since this paper is evaluating your research
strategies be sure to explain with details your research methods
and evaluation of your findings.
Project Rubric
65 points
Preferred Curriculum Model is identified and investigated in depth for its
connections to early childhood theory, current trends, and brain research.
60 points
A research examination of how this model advances early childhood theories,
educational best practices like DAP (Developmentally Appropriate Practice), and
maximizes student development in the following domains was included. The
applicable learning domains are:
Cognitive
Language
Affective
Aesthetic
Physical
Social
60 points
Body of paper is 3 -5 pages. Grammar and spelling is correct. Writing is clear,
concise, and follows a logical pattern. The APA Format is used and a minimum
of six quotes/ citations are included; along with a separate Reference and Title
Page. The student demonstrates the ability to retrieve documents through
advanced searches, refine search strategies, and explain strategies used to
refine the search and locate reliable resources such as the Kaplan Library, links
for government or respected professional education organizations
Read Project Directions
& Check Project Rubric
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Thoroughly read the project directions
Check the grading rubric
Connect with classmates for support
Ask questions
Don’t procrastinate; turn your project in
on time
Reliable Sources?
Some ways to check:
 Is the author credible?
 When was it written?
 Why was it written?
 Is the source a nationally recognized
organization, institution, university, etc.
 Have you checked the reliability of the source
itself?
Professional Standards
In the Unit 6 Discussion you investigated the impact of
Professional Standards on Curriculum Development.
The following list was explored:
• The text Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum
• Recognized educational associations like NAEYC Position
Statements, the International Reading Association & National
Council of Teachers of English’s published Standards for the
English Language Arts, etc.
• State Standards
Share what you found out
regarding the impact of
Professional Standards on
curriculum development.
Seminar Discussion:
Curriculum: The Language Domain
Discuss the following questions beginning with the 1st:
 How can early childhood professionals integrate
language experiences across the curriculum?
 Describe some current trends in reading
instruction/ teaching strategies?
 What modifications/ adaptations/ accommodations
to lesson plans will assist ESL (English as a
Second Language) learners in developing social
English language vocabulary skills?
“A system of general instruction, which shall
reach every description of our citizens from
the richest to the poorest, as it was the
earliest, so will it be the latest of all the
public concerns in which I shall permit myself
to take an interest.”
-Thomas Jefferson to J. Cabell, 1818