HighScope Curriculum

By:
Laura Pantoja
Denise Maria
Brenda Gonzalez
 Age Group

• Preschool Age
• Years 3-5
 Over view of HighScope
• The HighScope Preschool Curriculum is based on the principles of active
learning and support of a child's positive interactions with adults and peers.

• Our Preschool Curriculum is a comprehensive model that addresses all areas

of development through eight content areas and 58 key developmental
indicators (KDIs) — the skills and behaviors at each stage of development
that pave the way for school and adult success. Each KDI is connected to
and reinforced by scaffolding strategies to support and gently extend
children’s learning
KDI (key developmental indicators)
 Developmentally appropriate
curriculum
• Age appropriateness: The high scope curriculum is based in an active learning program. For the
most part in an active learning setting, children initiate the activity that goes from personal interest
and intentions. Children choose materials and choose what to do with them. High scope offers
many opportunities to make choices. Many materials provided are new to young children and are
used in a different and inventive way. High scope curriculum children are to use the materials
according to their own interest and abilities.
• Individual Appropriateness: High scope focuses on the children different styles of learning to meet
their individual needs.
• Visual learners: Children learn through sight, observing objects, understanding patterns and
observing other’s behaviors.
• Oral learners: process information orally and are able to follow and understand verbal directions.
• Exploratory learners: In order for children to learn they must manipulate the materials and get a full
grasp and how the objects work.
• High scope also focuses on their individual differences on regard to the pace of learning: Some
children will learn in a faster pace and can move rapidly when others are slower to process
information
 Developmentally appropriate
curriculum continued..
• High Scope Curriculum states that by giving children a variety of options and opportunities is giving the individual child respect for
their differences in their age and stages of development. It encourages the child to develop competence in the different ways of
learning.
• Cultural Social Influences: High scope curriculum want children to feel secure and confident as they transition from home to the
early childhood development for that they use family support strategies to ease the transition:
• Knowing yourself and your family‘s roots, beliefs, and attitudes
• To understand the families we work for, we need to understand our own family practices. Our family origins, who we are and what
influences in the perceptions of other families.
• Learning from families and children about their styles and traditions
• Just as it is important to know our selves, it is just as important to understand the families of the children served. Understanding their
origins and cultural backgrounds enables adults to provide familiar materials to make the environment secure and welcome for
the children entering the early childhood setting.
• Creating positive relationship between yourself and others:
• Knowing yourself, the children in your program and their families is the key for a positive relationship. A relationship where we
accept and trust others, we value human differences, we focus on people’s strengths and we communicate clearly and honestly.
• Anticipating Excellence from each child:
• Avoid labeling and stereotyping children and families
• Recognizing each child as competent
• Assume that each child will succeed.
 Strategies for keeping children
interested
• By offering realistic choices and being aware when children show frustration
adults interfere by switching the activity and making it different to meet the
level of development avoiding a negative behavior that is not productive.
• The interest is maintained when young children are encouraged to explore,
ask questions and use their imaginations.
• High scope uses the term initiative to describe the ability and their desire to
follow through on a task. Children intentionally decide what, how, and with
whom to engage.
• The interest is sustained in the Highscope curriculum by encouraging young
children to follow their own interest and it helps the development of initiative
and intentionality.
•
 Child development theory

Jean Piaget Theory of Cognitive Development

• The belief behind Piaget's Theory of Cognitive
Development, was that children play an active role when it
comes to gaining knowledge. He was convinced that
children seek to learn through their curiosity of the world. In
his theory, children achieve their learning through hands on
experiences, planning, and observation. He believed that
children learn when they have a connection with the
objects and people that are in their environment
Piaget's theory of cognitive development consist of
four different stages:
 Preoperational stage: 2 to 7 years

• Emergence of language
• Pretend play evolves
• Tend to think in concrete terms
• Normally egocentric
• Start to think symbolically
• Conflict with the idea of constancy
 Highscope and Piaget's cognitive
development theory

• Just like Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory, HighScope

curriculum highly believes that children are, and should be
participants in their learning. HighScope curriculum encourages
children to do so by allowing them to plan, experience, and reflect on
play they've made decisions with. This process is called The Plan-Do-
Review sequence. To give children a better understanding of their
environment, teachers at HighScope centers give the children
opportunities to interact with the materials and people around them.
During their play, educators also scaffold and plan activities that
promote assimilation and adaptation opportunities for the children.
 WHAT IS HIGHSCOPE?

• HighScope curriculum was developed in the 1960s. The sole purpose of this
curriculum was to provide young children with skills that will allow them to
succeed during their years in the public-school system. HighScope focuses
on the importance of cognitive understanding required for academic
success. Children enrolled in the program achieve these skills and concepts
through exposure to direct experiences with the world around them. The
experiences are connected specifically to people and objects in their
environment. HighScope beliefs are based off the theory of Cognitive
Development by Jean Piaget. The belief is that children are active players in
their own learning. Therefore, adults present children with opportunities to
play, explore, make decisions, and reflect on their daily activities.
 HIGHSCOPE promotes...

• Problem Solving Skills

• Decision Making
• Cooperation
• Creativity
• Independence
• Persistence
• Curiosity
 Perry preschool study

• The Perry Preschool Study is a commonly known research performed on

HighScope Curriculum. The study was conducted on 123 children who lived
in povertym and likely to perform poorly in school. The children were
between the ages of 3 and 4. The study divided the students into two
categories. Some of the children were offered a high quality preschool
program using HighScope Curriculum from 1962- 1967. The other children did
not receive any type of preschool. In 2005, a follow up study named The
Perry Preschool Study Through Age 40, connected with 97% of the
participants from the first study. The study found that the children who
participated in the HighScope program received higher pay, committed less
crimes, and were more likely to have completed high school than those
children who did attend any preschool programs.
 References
• https://highscope.org/preschool
• https://highscope.org/curriculum/preschool/details
• https://www.education.com/reference/article/basis-high-scope-curriculum/
• https://prezi.com/wqcrlutj1h8g/highscope-approach-piagets-theory-of-
cognitive-development/
• https://www.verywellmind.com/piagets-stages-of-cognitive-development-
2795457
• Epstein, A. S. (2012). The HighScope preschool curriculum. Ypsilanti, MI:
HighScope Press.
• Epstein, A. S., Epstein, A. S., & Hohmann, M. (2012). The HighScope preschool
curriculum. Ypsilanti, MI: HighScope Press.