Foundations of Teaching and Learning

Running head: FOUNDATIONS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING 1
Foundations of Teaching and Learning
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FOUNDATIONS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING 2
Foundations of Teaching and Learning
Introduction
Early learners need special care regarding the learning environment for two reasons.
First, the learner is at a critical moment of social, physical, and psychological development. In
this regard, the learner needs the learning environment to be conducive and stimulating to all
aspects of construction. Second, the brain of the child at this age is highly impressionable. The
learner absorbs information rapidly from the people around him or her and the general
environment. Moreover, wrong learning will affect his or her future learning, and may also have
an impact on the future earnings and adjustment to the social environment. A conducive
environment is one which supports a program’s curriculum and philosophy. Most early learner
philosophies emphasize the need for hands-on-learning, fair play, and whole child development.
Therefore, an optimum learning environment for early learners should cater for these needs.
A right learning environment should have the necessary resources, and it should be
designed to provide optimum learning without interfering with other aspects of learning. Sand,
water, drama kits, art items, books, and manipulative constitute some of the requirements in an
excellent early childhood learning environment. The environment should get designed in such a
way that the activities in an area do not negatively affect the other areas. For instance, children
should be able to play loudly in one area without interfering with the children engaged in
reading. In the same vein, learners using pain should not destroy reading books in the process
(Hu, & Szente, 2009). Therefore, the activities that will take place should guide the design of the
learning environment.
The most critical consideration in developing a learning environment or early childhood
learners is ensuring that it meets the needs of the children. The young ones of any species have

FOUNDATIONS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING 3
needs which are as important as the ones for adults. In traditional setups, most of the nurturing
needs for children got catered for in the families. Children went to school to play and learn
literacy and math skills. In the current world, children enter school early, and social
psychological and physical needs get met in a school setting. Failure to meet the needs of a
learner will have negative future repercussions. The learning environment should, therefore,
provide the child with basic needs for proper learning and development (Schachter, Gerde, &
Hatton-Bowers, 2019).
One of the most crucial needs for a learner in the early childhood education stage is the
attachment. According to Bowlby's Attachment theory, the quality of social and emotional
development in children depends to a great extent on the bond with the mother. Children need to
feel an attachment to an adult caregiver for at least two years of her early life (McLeod, 2007). A
child who encounters a problem of attachment in early childhood may not only fail to learn
appropriately but may also become socially maladjusted in the future. According to the theory,
for a child to get psychologically and socially adjusted, he or she needs to be attached to
significant adult for at least two years of her early life for continuous care. The theory focuses on
the mother as the primary attachment and caregiver figure. The consequences of a failure of the
development of a maternal bond in the first years of life include reduced intelligence,
delinquency, increased depression, psychopathy, and increased aggression (Zeanah & Gleason,
2015). The current situation calls for the focus to shift from the parent to the teacher or caregiver
at the learning center. A competent caregiver provides the conditions necessary for child
attachment.
On its part, Mary Ainsworth's "The Strange Situation" theory measures how the
attachment in children varies (McLeod, 2007). The system recognized three categories, which