Essential Question: How does the environment or structure of a classroom affect a child’s learning and development?

What I’ve learned from a combination of in-person experiences and research that I’ve done (specifically through the documentary series that I’m watching) is that children need a safe and comfortable environment in which they can be creative and are encouraged to play with other children, while also getting solo-attention from adults that they need. 

Children, especially from ages 0-3 (and then 3-6, etc.), are constantly learning about the world around them. The teachers they have (their parents and early childhood educators) and the environment they are in (whether nurturing or oppressive) play a large role in how the child will learn in the further stages of their development. 

One challenge that I’m facing is that it is hard to focus on the “structure of a classroom” aspect of my essential question. When I was writing it, I didn’t realize how vague and broad it was. I now realize that this could reference the social, physical, or academic parts of a classroom so I find it hard to know exactly what I was looking for when I wrote that. I found that in the Fours there is often a “follow the leader” mentality. If one student started acting doing something distracting, other children would often join in until a grown-up shut it down. This situation does not only apply to the Fours, this can be seen in all age groups that I’m studying. Children during this age often like to push boundaries, to see what will cause the grown-up to step in. Overall, I am enjoying the Senior Project so far, despite struggling a little with the essential question.