Posted: October 16th, 2024

Teaching strategies | Pedagogical approaches

Teaching strategies/ Pedagogical approaches

Strategy Definition
Active listening Encouraging children to lead conversations. Teachers create opportunities for shared, sustained conversations by listening deeply and thoughtfully to what children are saying and actively responding to their contributions. This fosters a sense of respect and value for each child’s voice.

Challenging Offering children opportunities to extend their knowledge and skills in the context of secure relationships. Teachers gauge when to offer challenges and opportunities through provocation and reflection that will extend children’s thinking and learning. By carefully considering the child’s developmental stage and interests, teachers can provide appropriately challenging experiences.

Collaborating Enabling children to take the lead in their learning while working with them to contribute to, rather than dominate, the direction of the experience. This can also include involving others (e.g. family members and members of the community) who may have particular expertise or knowledge that can inform and support learning. Collaboration encourages children to develop their communication, negotiation, and problem-solving skills.

Direct instruction Using explicit teaching strategies when other strategies might not be safe or appropriate. Direct instruction can be particularly helpful for introducing new concepts or skills, especially in situations where clear and concise explanations are necessary.

Encouraging Making comments that support, motivate and encourage children to persist. Encouraging words can build children’s confidence and resilience, helping them to overcome challenges and persevere in their learning.

Explaining Making ideas and requests clear for children. This is useful when children want or need to understand a concept or idea. Clear and concise explanations help children to make sense of the world around them and to follow instructions effectively.

Gaining prior knowledge Acquiring information about a child’s previous learning, interests and individual needs. Understanding a child’s background knowledge and interests allows teachers to tailor their instruction to meet their specific needs and build upon their existing understanding.
Giving feedback Offering constructive, specific feedback on behaviours or actions. Feedback should be timely, specific, and focused on helping children to improve.

Holistic, integrated and interconnected approaches Holistic approaches recognise the integration and connectedness of all dimensions of children’s learning, development and wellbeing. When educators take a holistic approach, they pay attention to children’s physical, personal, social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing and cognitive aspects of learning. This approach recognizes the interconnectedness of all aspects of a child’s development.
Inquiry based learning Children pose questions and investigate the answers. This allows them to they feel in charge of their own learning. Inquiry-based approaches to learning harness this spirit of investigation, creating an interesting, engaging and meaningful curriculum that uses children’s interests and questions as a starting point for effective learning.

Intentionality Educators are intentional in all aspects of the curriculum and act deliberately, thoughtfully and purposefully to support children’s learning through play. They recognise that learning occurs in social contexts and that joint attention, interactions, conversations and shared thinking are vitally important for learning. Intentionality emphasizes the importance of thoughtful planning and reflection in creating a supportive learning environment.
Labelling Labelling emotions expands children’s emotional vocabulary. Further, identifying emotions is also useful for learning to read other people and what they might be feeling. Helping children to label their emotions can improve their self-awareness and emotional regulation.

Making connections Helping children to see relationships and inconsistencies. Teachers contribute to and extend children’s thinking by comparing their experiences and ideas. Making connections helps children to build a deeper understanding of concepts and to see the world in a more interconnected way.

Modelling Demonstrating a skill or routine. Teachers gradually release responsibility so children can practise and master the skill or routine. Modelling provides children with a concrete example of how to perform a task and allows them to observe and imitate the desired behavior.

Narrating This allows children to be the expert of their play and increases vocabulary. Narrate what the child is doing without inputting your ideas through questioning “You are making curly lines with the blue crayon”. Narrating play can enhance children’s language development and their ability to express themselves creatively.

Negotiating Working with children to consider their own and others’ perspectives, and develop problem-solving strategies and solutions that cater to the different perspectives. Negotiation fosters cooperation, empathy, and conflict resolution skills.

Positioning Placing objects or yourself in particular areas. You may intentionally place different objects together to promote a learning objective. Positioning can be used to create a specific learning environment or to guide children’s attention towards a particular activity.
Project based learning Acquire knowledge and skills by working on a project ( help with nursing paper writing from experts with MSN & DNP degrees) over a period of time. Project-based learning encourages children to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world problems, fostering critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity.

Prompting recall Reinforce concepts, solve problems, report on observations or develop concentration. “Do you remember what happened when tried this?” Prompting recall helps children to retrieve information from their memory and to make connections between different concepts.

Providing choice Recognising children’s agency by offering opportunities for children to make safe choices and experience the consequences of their actions. Provisions for choice need to be considered in the context of relationships and should not place children at risk or in danger. Supporting children to make choices encourages autonomy and independence.

Questioning Open-ended questioning can be used to extend children’s thinking and problem-solving. Teachers emphasise reasoning and willingness to change thinking when gaining information from questioning. Questioning is a powerful tool for promoting critical thinking, curiosity, and deeper understanding.

Reflecting guiding children to reflect on their day and their learning experiences, and to engage in thinking that helps them to build on prior learning. The process of reflection is strengthened by engaging in high-quality verbal interactions about current learning and what comes next for each child. Reflection helps children to make sense of their learning, identify areas for growth, and set goals for future learning.

Repeating child’s language

Researching helping children to gather information to find solutions to problems. Researching involves asking questions and using a range of sources. Research skills are essential for lifelong learning and problem-solving.

Responding to cues Accurately responding to each infant’s pattern of sleep, hunger, alertness, and need for comfort. Responsive caregiving is crucial for infants’ development and well-being.

Role play Role plays involve practising communication skills and discovering what works personally for an individual and what does not work. Children and educators can engage in role play. Role-playing can help children to develop social skills, empathy, and confidence.

Scaffolding Providing children with a supportive framework for taking the next steps or moving to a higher level of thinking. Teachers use their knowledge of children’s strengths, interests, ideas and needs to break down skills and routines to guide each child. Scaffolding provides individualized support to help children reach their full potential.

Serve and return hen an infant or young child babbles, gestures, or cries, and an adult responds appropriately with eye contact, words, or a hug, neural connections are built and strengthened in the child’s brain that support the development of communication and social skills. Serve and return interactions are essential for early language and social-emotional development.
Suggesting This involves offering children advice, ideas and recommendations about what to do next.

Sustained shared thinking Sustained shared thinking occurs when educators support the development of children’s complex thinking and problem-solving skills by engaging children in open-ended and exploratory conversations. Sustained shared thinking promotes deep understanding, critical thinking, and collaboration.

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Tags: Child Development, Collaborative Learning, Holistic Education, Inquiry-Based Learning, Pedagogy