NAEYC’s 18th National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development
Sunday, June 14 – Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Charlotte Convention Center
Charlotte, North Carolina
The deadline for submitting a proposal was October 31, 2008. We are no longer accepting proposals.
NAEYC’s National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development is designed for teacher educators, program administrators, and others who provide professional preparation and ongoing professional development experiences for the early childhood workforce: center- and school-based teaching staff, family child care providers, and other direct service specialists. The goal of the Institute is to deepen participants’ understanding of the expanding early childhood knowledge base, develop skills that improve professional preparation and practice, and sharpen their ability to use effective, active learning approaches for adults.
Much of children’s learning takes place when they direct their own play activities. During play, children feel successful when they engage in a task they have defined for themselves… Children need years of play with real objects and events before they are able to understand the meaning of symbols… Learning takes place as young children touch, manipulate, and experiment with things and interact with people… The child’s participation in self-directed play with concrete, real-life experiences continues to be a key to motivated, meaningful learning in kindergarten and the primary grades.
Developmentally Appropriate Practice Guidelines, 1986 |
Play: Where Learning Begins. NAEYC has been a proponent of play as a medium for child learning for many years! Unfortunately, many within and outside our profession have had misconceptions about what play is, how it operates as a vehicle for child learning, which play is a more effective way to learn than another form of play, what the adult’s role in facilitating child play is, and so on.
The primary focus of the 2009 Institute will be the research on play in early childhood education environments and strategies for pre- and inservice preparation of the early childhood workforce in light of this research. An indepth understanding of play, as well as the fundamental tenets of developmentally appropriate practice, are critical to adult decision making in early childhood environments that frame, facilitate, and assess child learning.
Play is an important vehicle for developing self-regulation as well as promoting language, cognition, and social competence… Children of all ages love to play, and it gives them opportunities to explore the world, interact with others, express and control emotions, develop their symbolic and problem-solving abilities, and practice emerging skills. Research shows the links between play and foundational capacities such as memory, self-regulation, oral language abilities, social skills, and success in school.
Developmentally Appropriate Practice Guidelines, 2008 |
Institute sessions also will address other topics in addition to those that are related to play. Participants will learn about current research and issues in higher education, inservice training programs, program administration, linguistic and cultural diversity, public policy advocacy, and many aspects of developmentally appropriate practice, literacy, math, science, social and emotional development, and more!
Valued content is learned through investigation, play, and focused, intentional teaching. Children learn by exploring, thinking about, and inquiring about all sorts of phenomena. These experiences help children investigate “big ideas,” those that are important at any age and are connected to later learning. Pedagogy or teaching strategies are tailored to children’s ages, developmental capacities, language and culture, and abilities or disabilities.
NAEYC-NAECS/SDE Position Statement on Early Childhood Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation, 2003 |
NAEYC’s National Institute is designed for leaders who prepare and mentor early childhood professionals. Read more
Thanks to our following Institute Sponsors.
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