Sinteze (Jan 2012)
Basic methodical principles in introducing children to the environment
Abstract
Through interaction with people and the environment a child learns about the world around him, becomes involved in the real world and constructs his own identity. For the area of teaching about the environment of especial interest is an evolutionary theory called Core Knowledge Perspective. According to this developmental theory, a newborn starts life with inborn, specialised cognitive systems represented in the form of core cognitive domains. There are five cognitive domains: physical, numerical, linguistic, psychological and biological. Learning about the environment is an integral part of all areas of child's development and learning. This is why teaching about the environment, and generally, learning about the world is closely connected with other aspects of learning in children. For teaching about the environment to children in preschool institutions of special importance are the principles of obviousness, gradualness and systematicity, the principle of scientific orientation, the principle of endurance of knowledge, the principle of activity, independence and individuality, the principle of fun and pleasure, the principle of age appropriateness of teaching content as well as the principle of correlation of programme content. When teaching the content of learning about the environment, a preschool teacher should take a comprehensive approach, that is, integrate the content of the subject with the contents of other teaching disciplines as preschool children acquire knowledge in an integrative, all-encompassing manner, rather than partially.
