Part 1- Entry 1

People, places, things and Events are all intertwined. You can’t have an event without it being at a place and people being involved in the event. Ministry of Education (2007) describes how social sciences are about the people places, things and events that happen in peoples past, present and future. It discusses how social sciences helps children to begin to define their identity and explore how they express themselves through exposure and exploration of their culture and heritage. Talay- Ongan & Ap (2005) states children develop an understanding of social science children participate in cultural experiences and events and learn a sense of belonging and self worth as well as the way they are expected to interact and react within society.

Gonzalez- Mena ( ) states the process to social studies  starts with the child learning about them self,  gaining self knowledge, through the people places, things and events they experience. Children take in what they see or experience in a literal way and cannot yet determine truth from false. The process then moves to learning from others, where they learn values and social skills, so they can interact in society and different places with events and different things such as technology and computers. Next the learning moves to community and then global world where the children get a sense of the past and present of the community and begin to think about ways in which they can be a part of the community in the future. Mindes (2006) talks about social sciences being when people explore their social and physical environment. In pre-schoolers it is about children learning about them-self through their relationships with their family and community. In later years the focus becomes on their community and more global issues once they have discovered who they are and where they fit in and where their values lie.

At my centre there is a family of children who experienced the Christchurch earthquakes. When they moved up from Christchurch to Auckland shortly after the earthquake the children were very unsettled. Too much noise or sudden unexpected noises would upset the children and would rely on one another to support and settle one-another. The sirens from fire and earthquake drills would set the children into hysterics and one time we had to call the parents to come and support the children because they were beside themselves. Through time the children are slowly adjusting to the drills. I have noticed the child that was a young infant during the earthquake still gets upset from the drills, so I can see how from an event other people’s reactions after the even have effected how the child handles certain situations. The children don’t often let the teachers console them. I remember when the older child once asked me “have you been in the earthquake too?” because I told him I understand he felt upset and scared. This made me realise we are not a comfort to them because we cannot relate to the experience they have lived through.

Fleer & Jane (2011) states popular culture begins the basis of children’s understanding of the world and how it works. It impacts on children’s in many ways, from my reading some of the ways I see popular culture effecting children is with things like technologically created worlds make it easier for children not to have to interact face to face and it has made people not have to work so hard because technology does a lot of things for us so we do not have to spend time doing these things. Another way popular culture effects children is when they move to another country with a different culture and beliefs this often sees the values and beliefs of the immigrants be distorted by the those of the country they have moved to causing hybridisation of cultures.

References

Fleer, M., & Jane, B. (2011). Design and technology for children. Frenchs Forest, Australia: Pearson Australia

Gonzalez-Mena, J., 2011. Foundations of Early Childhood Education: Teaching Children in a Diverse Society, New York, NY: McGraw Hill Higher Education.

Mindes, G. (2006). Social studies in kindergarten. In D. F. Gullo (Ed.), K today teaching and learning in the kindergarten year (pp.107-115). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children. 

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Talay-Ongan, A., &Ap, E. A. (Eds.). (2005). Child development and teaching young children.Southbank, Australia: Thomson Social Science Press.