Describing the Elements of Preschool Curriculum with a Problem-Solving Approach from the Perspective of Curriculum Planning Specialists and Educational Psychologists

Subject Areas : Curriculum Design and Development

Shahrzad Sarkhosh ¹ , Alireza Sadeghi ² , Batoul Faghiharam ³ , Hassan Shabani ⁴ , Rozita Zabihi ⁵

1 - PhD student, Department of Educational Sciences, Islamshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
2 - Associate Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran.
3 - Associate Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Islamshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Islamshahr, Iran.
4 - Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Islamshahr Branch, Tehran, Iran
5 - Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Islamshahr Branch, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2021-04-23 Accepted : 2021-08-22 Published : 2021-10-01

Keywords: preschool, Curriculum, problem-solving,

Abstract :

Purpose: The present study aimed to describe the elements of the preschool curriculum with a problem-solving approach from the perspective of curriculum planning specialists and educational psychologists.Methodology: This study was a qualitative study conducted in Tehran. The population consisted of curriculum specialists (n=200) and educational psychologists (n=238) who were selected using the purposive snowball sampling method, and 24 subjects were studied until reaching theoretical saturation. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. To analyze and interpret the data, the method of thematic analysis through coding was used.Findings: The findings indicated that from the perspective of curriculum planning specialists and educational psychologists, a problem-solving curriculum for preschoolers includes goals (cognitive, attitudinal, functional), content (organization, presentation methods), teaching methods (traditional methods, attention to learner's age, instructor's characteristics, and active methods), learning activities (individual, group), instructional materials (features and types of resources), space (physical characteristics of facilities), time (duration, attention to the child's preparedness and age), grouping (attention to responsibility, respect for others, attention to ethics considerations, attention to group homogeneity, nature of the problem, group heterogeneity, number of group members, gender, age, personal differences), and evaluation (of the program based on personal, procedural, quantitative, and descriptive differences).Conclusion: Given the importance of the Comments, it can be continuously applied to and formulated for the preschool level to raise problem-solving skills in children and foster their abilities to understand and reflect on life in the future society.

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