Research On The Value Of Planting Activities And Educational Strategies In Kindergartens

It’s been nearly 200 years since Frobel founded the world’s first kindergarten and regarded planting as an important activity.Planting activities have been continuously influenced by the ideas of natural education,multiple intelligence and social constructivism.Since the launch of Guidelines on Learning and Development for Children Aged 3-6,planting activities have received more attention at kindergartens in China,however the implementation of planting activities is not well practiced.Some kindergartens come across problems like teachers’ ambiguous understanding of planting activities and improper use of educational strategies.Following the routine of action research,this study cooperated with Teacher N from X kindergarten,targeting at the planting activities participated by 11 children from this class,analyzing precisely the performance of experience acquirement of children and the legitimacy of education strategies by observation,interview and object analysis,to solve the existing problems in current planting activities and improve the quality.During two-round action research with the spiral process of "plan-implementation-reflection-reimplementation",we carried out activities around sowing,managing,harvesting and experimenting of several varieties of crops.The children have increased their natural affection,learned planting knowledge as well as developed the ability of observation and experiment during the session,whilst the teacher has enriched her planting knowledge and skills,and improved the educating ability of planting activities.Meanwhile,the parents have deepened their understanding of planting activities with the improvements of planting knowledge and awareness of daily natural education.This study concludes that planting activities are characterized with naturalness,scenario,cultivation,integration,labor and sustainability.It values in expanding children’s diverse experience,including the unique experience of natural affection and planting knowledge,as well as developing a derived experience of science-exploring consciousness and ability,mobility,diet habits,mathematics and mathematical processes,cooperation consciousness and ability,expression consciousness and ability.Children’s experience acquisition is both affected by internal factors like children’s existing experience,planting behaviors and approaches to learning as well as some external factors,which includes teachers’ education behaviors,planting knowledge and understanding of planting activities’ value,kindergartens’ material conditions and curriculum outlook as well as parents’ support and understanding of planting activities’value.During the action research,this study applies the following educational strategies to fully realize planting activities’ value:Firstly,teachers should be prepared for pedagogical content knowledge and experience of planting activities,select suitable planting crops according to children’s needs and plants’ characteristics,outline the activities according to the growth of plants,use the diversified activity resources and types flexibly,face up to children’s questions and support their in-depth exploration,plant with children with emotion input and so on.Secondly,kindergartens should improve the status of planting curriculum,assure the invest in funds,courts and supplies,empower teachers and hire specialists.Last but not least,parents should provide physical and mental support,participate in planting activities on and off kindergartens.