How Has [Your Chosen Topic] Influenced the Development of Early Childhood Education in Canada?

Background Information

History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future. Robert Penn Warren, American poet and novelist

Children, and thus child care, have always existed. History shapes who we are and how we understand our world. Early childhood education (ECED) has been shaped by important events and people in history. By looking at these historical influences we can understand our current practices better.

AI is a tool that can support you academically, but like all tools it needs to be used effectively and responsibly. However you choose to use AI, you should see it as a partner in learning, not a replacement for hard work. Within this assignment, there are some ways that AI can support you and other ways that it should not be used, which are included throughout the assignment description/instructions.

Learning Outcomes

Here is what you will be able to do at the end of this assessment:

• Examine the historical roots of ECED in Canada, including societal shifts, pedagogical approaches, and policy frameworks.


• Contrast evolving curricular and pedagogical approaches, early learning frameworks, and definitions of quality in ECED.


• Describe the roles and responsibilities of ECED professionals in all aspects of the profession.

Directions

1. Choose a topic.Pick a specific period, event, movement or influential figure that interests you and has impacted ECED. If you are not sure what to choose, ask AI to help you brainstorm a list of historical events/movements and figures that impacted ECED in Canada. Ask AI to give a 1-2 line explanation of each so you can see which one is of most interest to you.


2. Research. Use the 6 Ws (who, what, where, when, why and how) to guide your research. Use credible sources that you find using the Bow Valley College library and Google. Here is a tutorial that will help you to understand how to research and find credible sources.https://bowvalleycollege.libwizard.com/f/scsBe aware that AI cannot do the research for you. Sometimes AI makes up sources, and because it can scan everything thats online, sometimes it does not choose the most credible sources. If you use it to help you research, you will need to be very careful.


3. Sample questions can guide your research. You do not need to answer all the questions listed below, and you may add your own.Ask AI to help you generate some W questions about the event/movement/figure that are important, or to check your list of "W" questions to see if you missed any:
   
   
   1. Who was involved? Who was impacted?
   
   
   2. What was important? What was the impact?
   
   
   3. Where did the event happen? Where was the person from? Where did the movement originate? Did this location have an impact on it? For example, was there a unique cultural perspective?
   
   
   4. When did it happen? When did they share their ideas?
   
   
   5. Why was it important? Why does it matter?
   
   
   6. How long did the impact last? How did they share their ideas? How did people react?
   
   
   


4. Reflect by thinking about the following questions:
   
   
   1. Why did you choose this topic?
   
   
   2. What were the key contributions or changes?
   
   
   3. How did those changes impact ECED then, and today?
   
   
   4. How can understanding this history help us with current ECED challenges?
   
   
   5. Is there evidence of this history in the Flight framework? If not, why?
   
   
   


5. Make it personal.Connect your topic to your own experiences in ECE whether as a child, a volunteer, a practicum student, an employee, a parent or a community member. Share a personal story that relates to your research and reflection.AI cannot help you with this personal connection or the personal reflection as both need to come from YOU and your experiences.


6. Presentation format. Choose one:
   
   
   1. A written paper (3 4 pages).If you are writing a paper, ask AI to edit it for you. Be specific on what you want it to edit ask it if your assignment is clear, well written, good grammar, flows well, or something else.
   
   
   2. A creative art piece, with a written or recorded summary/explanation (2 pages or 5 minutes) with reference list.Ifyou are doing a creative image, there are some AI tools that can help you generate digital images. You will need to be careful about what prompts you give it and then check the image to see if it matches what you are thinking and trying to explain.It might be simpler to create the image yourself, but AI generated images can be fun so you can decide which is the best approach for you.
   
   
   3. A multi-media presentation (Canva or Powerpoint) approximately 5 - 10 minutes.If you are doing a powerpoint or other multi-media presentation, ask AI to develop the outline for you and then fill in the information yourself.
   
   
   

Be sure your assignment balances facts about history with your reflection on why it is important. You need to include both.

Submit your assignment to Dropbox on D2L labelled Assignment 1 Historical Reflection. If your assignment includes audio or video recordings, be sure to include a link as the file may be too big to upload.

Note: no matter what format you choose to complete your assignment, you must include a reference list. All references need to be cited in APA format.

Here are some other ways that AI cannot/should not be used within this assignment:

• AI cannot add your citations or your quotes for you. These should come from you so that you are sure they are relevant to your assignment and show your understanding of the content.


• Beware of using multiple AI tools (translators, grammar checkers, Chat GPT, etc) to edit or develop your assignment. Sometimes your finished product can end up more confusing than if you just did not use AI at all.