Guiding Principles About Young Children's Growth and Learning

Children are active learners

Children learn through experiences with people, objects and things in their world. Experience through play, knowledge, curiosity and sense of wonder are foundations for children’s learning. Children’s ideas about themselves impact their interactions with adults, with other children, and with how they view themselves as learners.

Each child learns in unique ways

All children are learners with unique characteristics that influence learning. The rate of development and learning varies for individuals and is not the same for every child of the same age. The individual learner is impacted by genetics, the environment and experiences, interests, motivation for and approaches to learning. Learning may be uneven or occur in spurts.

Learning is most meaningful when it is integrated acrossall areas of development

Children construct knowledge and integrate new ideas and concepts into their existing understandings. Their achievements in language and learning are influenced by the social and emotional aspects of their development. Communication infl uences mathematical and scientific understandings. There are no clear lines between the domains or areas of learning.

Learning is continuous and sequential

Children’s understanding grows from simple to complex (or from concrete to abstract). New knowledge is built on previous experience and understanding.

Development and learning are rooted in culture and supported by the family

The child’s language, knowledge, traditions, and family expectations are the primary influences on development. Learning is enriched by stable, nurturing relationships within the family and community.