Early Childhood Standards of Quality for ... - State of Michigan

ELE: Intellectual DevelopmentQuestions for Reflection1. How do adults model questioning to help children learn to pose their ownquestions about what makes them curious? An example is, “What wouldyou want to know about why that happened?”2. What opportunities exist for adults to model curiosity, inquiry, andinvestigation for children? Do adults regularly take advantage of theseopportunities?3. How is the curriculum arranged so that the materials, situations, andactivities cause or give rise to intriguing problems likely to engage theinterest of the children?4. In what ways are adults helped to learn the importance of and the skills toengage children in:a. Formulating questions (“What do you want to know?”)b. Designing experiments (“How can we find out?”)c. Making predictions (“What do you think will happen if…?”)d. Drawing conclusions or finding solutions (“Do you think that worked?”)5. Which learning strategies do the adults in the program know of andvalue most?6. In what ways, and how effectively, do adults help children to find theright level of challenge? In what ways, how often, and how effectively doadults encourage children to argue logically, to predict and estimate, andto give reasons for their choices?7. How are equipment and playthings selected and arranged to extendchildren’s understanding of patterns, shapes, and colors? Whatopportunities do children have to collect and sort objects for ameaningful purpose?8. What opportunities are there for children to take things apart, putthem together, and figure out how they work, and how well do theseopportunities promote children’s learning?9. What opportunities are there for children to engage in collaborativesocio-dramatic play, and how does it contribute to their learning anddevelopment?10. What opportunities exist in the program and its environment to enablechildren to initiate purposeful problem-solving activities, to deviseproblems of their own, and to solve them to their own satisfaction using avariety of materials and equipment?11. How do adults encourage children to use trial and error to find solutionsto their problems and to use previous experience as a basis for trying outalternative strategies?12. Do adults intentionally provide children with opportunities to predict andestimate; e.g., in apportioning shares or quantities?68 Michigan Department of Education