Early childhood education refers to pre-school, pre-kindergarten, day care or nursery school. None matter what you called it, all of them prepare young kids to transition easily into elementary school. It is for children ages 3, 4 and 5.
Critics of pre-kindergarten education claim the differences between children enrolled in pre-school programs and children not receiving formal education are only discernible during kindergarten, first, and second grade.
However, early childhood education emphasizes on the overall development of the child socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively development needed in order to help them have a brighter future. If done right, early childhood education can help in developing a lifelong love of learning in children.
In this article, we will learn about the significance of early childhood education.
3 Key Benefits of Early Childhood Education
At birth, a baby’s brain contains 100 billion neurons (nerve cells), this is approximately as many nerve cells as there are stars in the Milky Way and almost all the neurons the brain will ever have! The brain nerve cells start forming connections known as synapses about three weeks after conception. At birth the number of synapses per neuron is 2,500, but by age two or three, it’s about 15,000 per neuron.
These synapses are absolutely crucial because at an early age, between 0-2 we have a “window of opportunity”, are sensitive periods in children’s lives when specific types of learning can take place. The rapid growth of these synapses play a vital role in learning, memory formation, and adaptation early in life. At about 2 to 3 years of age, the number of synapses hits a peak level. But then shortly after this period of synaptic growth, the brain starts to remove synapses that it no longer needs.
So we must make use of this peak neuron activity. These neurons and synapses do not only aid cognitive abilities but also help develop other skills. Below is a list of these skills that can be honed through early childhood education:
1. Social – Emotional Understanding
Social-emotional development include the ability to identify and understand one’s own feelings, to accurately read and comprehend emotional states in others, to manage strong emotions and their expression in a constructive manner, to regulate one’s own behavior, to develop empathy for others, and to establish and maintain relationships. (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child 2004, 2)
Early education environments provide a safe space where children can meet other people of their age, sowing the seeds of ‘socialization’ and ‘friendship’ in young minds. At this stage their social and emotional interactions with peers is simple, but will increase in complexity from engaging in repetitive or routine interactions such as rolling the ball to to engaging in cooperative play such as building a tower of blocks together or acting during pretend play. Through these interactions with kids explore their interest in others and learn about acceptable and not-acceptable social behavior/interaction.
Interactions with peers provide the context for social learning and problem solving, including the experience of social exchanges, cooperation, turn-taking. This is also the stage when they start learning the crucial virtue of empathy.
2. Character Building and the Concept of Self
Often we view academic achievement and personality or character of the student as two different thing. In fact, character building is not a parallel or an alternative to academic achievement, but an essential foundation of it. Just as the school teaches traditional sbjects such as English, Maths and Science, school environments are also good at teaching kids about respect (by asking kids to raise their hands before they speak) and empathy, respect and integrity (by not allowing physical fights in the class and asking kids to make up by shaking hands, for example).
This is important because by the time a kid has to make career decisions after high-school, for example, he/she should have a fair idea about his/her own beliefs, values, likes and dislikes.
3. Enthusiasm for Lifelong Learning
Children are naturally curious human beings. As kids you will see them wanting to partake in everything, ask a lot of why questions etc. By being an early learning environment where by nature basic concepts are taught through activities and play will develop a hunger in kids for learning.
Along with this early education also balances fun and play with the ability to listen, follow directions, attend to tasks and participate in group activities this develops young kids’ skill of concentration. An important component that will make them better learners as they progress.
There is also plenty of study that show that kids who go though early education also go on to complete higher studies. This eagerness and enthusiasm for learning will remain with them their entire lives! Which will be an important skill that kids will need in the future to remain relevent in the every changing human-roles in the modern workforce.
In conclusion…
Early education is so much more than just play and learn environments; while kids are learning literacy and numeracy they are also becoming well-rounded individuals that are truly invaluable.
To know more about early education you can view a well documented project know as the The Abecedarian Project. You can also read about an indepth research evaluating the benefits of early child hood education here: The long-term impact of the Head Start program
Aware of the fact that in this article we have talked about pre-school or early childhood education institutes, but anyone of you readers looking at home-schooling (a growing preference among parents)? If you are already home -schooling do let us know what you think about this, specially about the social-emotional development.
Harshada is an experienced design researcher, focusing on working with kids, education pedagogy and educators. She is the editor of Steamdaily bringing to your insights, updates, interviews, and thoughts of the rapidly evolving world of edtech.
