DEVELOPING THE MODEL OF CONSTRUCTIVISM EXPERIENCE ARRANGEMENT FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD CHILDREN

Abstract

The objectives of this research article were to 1) develop the model of constructivism experience arrangement for early childhood children and 2) study the impact of constructivism experience on early childhood children, student teachers, and teachers. This research was a qualitative research. The target groups were 1) 9 classrooms of kindergarten 1 (4 years old) and 2 (5 years old) at Anuban Chiang Mai School during the academic year 2011, 2) 9 early childhood student teachers from the Faculty of Education at Chiang Mai University, and 3) 9 kindergarten teachers. The instrument used in this study were 1) constructivist experience arrangement plan through MTPA model 2) MTPA Model Implementation Focus Group Discussion, 3) an unstructured interview to reflect on the teaching and learning activities according to the MTPA model of students and class teachers. Data were collected continuously during the 2011 academic year. Data were analyzed by synthesizing summary, categorizing descriptive characteristics, then data were analyzed and presented by descriptive methods. The results of this research were as followed             1) model for experience arrangement in order to construct children’s own knowledge was called MTPA model and 2) the impacts of the constructivist experience were all positive. It was concluded that MTPA model had impacted on early childhood children’s cognitive development and process skills. Moreover they also enjoyed learning. As for student teachers' impact, they changed their roles from teaching to facilitating learning for the children. Impact on teachers, they have gained the knowledge and ideas to apply innovations to the development of their own instructing.