Evolvement And Tendency: Historical Study On The Development And Reform Of Early Childhood Curriculum In America

Curriculum is the foundation and core of the School education. In every age and country, education reforms often revolve around the curriculum reform, which in early childhood education is no exception. From the developmental agenda of the early childhood curriculum, we can see different people in different times hold different ideas and purpose about the early childhood education. Early childhood curriculum play an very important role in the growth of children, at the same time, it is directly related with the whole nation quality and the future of the country.In the process of the early childhood curriculum development, we always learn from other country’s successful practices. Since the 1980s, China’s early childhood education workers pay more attention to the early childhood curriculum of America. Not only the original curriculum but also the curriculum which its migration from other countries both are we like to copy, but there have been a quite many problems in the whole process of imitation and model.To learn the America’s early childhood curriculum, we must put it in the background of the America to survey, and deep into its own contexts to interpret. So we can comprehend America’s early childhood curriculum more accurate and profound.Applying documentation method, comprehensive analysis, combining historical facts with commentary, case analysis and comparative method, this thesis has studied systematically the course of development and reform of the America’s early childhood curriculum in 20th century. I divide the course into four stages according to the fundamental goal of the early childhood curriculum. In the past hundred years, early childhood curriculum in the America has under gone an evolution process from idealism to pragmatism, then to emotionalism, and finally to intellectualism. After the three major change, contemporary early childhood curriculum in the America to a new stage of change, which is the curriculum wavering between in“development orientation”and“academic orientation”, and there is a gradual integration tendency.The four stages are as follows:The first stage from the early 1900s to the 1930s, the early childhood curriculum was influenced by the pragmatism.The development of experimental psychology and pragmatic philosophy acts as the background.The progressivists Hall and Dewey are most influential.And representative curriculum are social and conduct curriculums. The trend of the curriculum is from conservative to progressive.The second stage from the 1930s to the 1960s, during this period, in order to ensure children’s individual mental health and the personality complete, the early childhood curriculum pay more attention to affective development. At that time, the second world war broke out after the great depression, psychoanalytic psychology and theory of maturation potency were very popular in America, so a lot of American held the opinion that the personality health development was most important, and should give children more free. Of course, the nursery school curriculum of England also influenced America’s early childhood curriculum.The third stage from the 1960s to the 1980s, the early childhood curriculum dedicated to promote children’s cognitive development and prepare for children future studies. The representative curriculum models in this period are Developmental-Interaction approach, Kamii-DaVries curriculum models, High/Scope curriculum models, Bereiter–Engelmann curriculum models. From historical perspectives, this chapter analysis the development agenda of curriculum models mentioned above and put them into a comparative framework. From the curriculum theoretical basis, goal orientation, content choice, and implementation process to compare them. At last, I explains the reasons why the early childhood curriculum encounter cooling, and point out there are no great changes in early childhood curriculum from the 1980s to late 20th century. This period is the fourth stage of the America early childhood curriculum.At last, I review and rethink the developmental agenda of early childhood curriculum in America, analysis external propelling force for early childhood curriculum development and reform, summary American early childhood curriculum evolution characteristics, provide enlightenment for early childhood curriculum reform in China.