Teaching Young Children: An Introduction

This engagingly interactive and easy-to-read book outlines how to deliver quality early education and care through its focus on curriculum. Full-color throughout, this edition's features include more concrete applications in the book–and on the website. The author weaves five essential elements of effective early childhood education throughout the book: understanding development, play, guidance, working with families, and diversity. The book provides an overview of the planning, preparation, and delivery of a curriculum for young children, one that's built around six specific curriculum/content areas (physical development, emotional and social development; mathematics, science, and social studies; language and literacy, technology, creative arts, etc.), each explored in its own chapter. The author stresses the importance of play and the need to nurture each child's natural affinity for learning through experimentation and exploration. Separate chapters on the importance of the outdoor environment and the effect of technology on early childhood education help to complete this well-rounded presentation. For pre-service teachers; covers infancy through 3rd grade.

Michael Henniger is professor of early childhood education at Western Washington University, where he currently serves as Associate Dean of the Woodring College of Education. Prior to this and other administrative assignments, he taught early childhood education courses at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Central Washington University, Northern Illinois University, and Western Washington University for a total of 22 years. University teaching interests include preschool and primary curriculum, play, learning environments, and family/community involvement in education. While completing his doctoral degree at the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Henniger taught preschool children in the university lab school. His public school experiences were in rural Alaska, where he taught first and second grades and high school mathematics.

 

In addition to numerous articles and presentations on play, playgrounds, parent/community involvement, and technology for young children, Dr. Henniger has authored/co-authored the following books: Working with Parents of Handicapped Children (with Elizabeth Nesselroad); American Education (7^th Edition) (with John Johansen and James Johnson); The Teaching Experience: An Introduction to Reflective Practice;and Teaching Young Children: An Introduction (4^th Edition).

 

Dr. Henniger’s professional and research interests include promoting the importance of indoor and outdoor play experiences for young children, multicultural toys and games, the role of technology in the lives of young children, and family/community involvement strategies. Recent research opportunities have led to a deeper knowledge of integrating curriculum through project learning, curriculum options for infants and toddlers, and health and fitness issues for young children and their families.