The High/Scope Curriculum

Teachers in the High/Scope program emphasize eight key experiences as they plan for their time with children (Weikart et al., 1971):

1. Active learning. Teachers expect children to initiate and carry out their own tasks in the classroom. They encourage manipulation of materials in all areas of the High/Scope classroom.
2. Using language. Teachers emphasize oral and written language. They encourage children to talk with others about their experiences and feelings as they go through the school day.
3. Experiencing and representing. Children need many opportunities to experience through their senses and represent those activities through music, movement, art, and role-playing.
4. Classification. The ability to notice similarities and differences among objects grows during the early childhood years. Teachers provide many opportunities for children to grow in their understanding of classification because of its importance in later mathematical learning.
5. Seriation. Another important foundation for mathematics is the ability to order objects from smallest to largest on the basis of some criteria such as length, weight, or width.
6. Number concepts. Understanding, for example, what fiveness means is another mathematical concept that High/Scope teachers promote.
7. Spatial relationships. Children gain understandings of concepts such as under/ over, up/down, and in/out as they interact with materials in their environment.
8. Time. Although an understanding of time develops slowly, children gradually learn concepts about seasons, past and future events, and the order of activities as they work with tasks and communicate their results to adults and others.