Incorporating The Early Years Framework
The Early Years Learning Framework is used to describe the main principles, practices, and learning outcomes that are integral to the support and improvement of a child’s learning up to the age of five. The Early Years Learning Framework strongly emphasises play-based learning and the importance of language, and social and emotional development of young children. The three key elements of this framework are principles, practices and learning outcomes.
Secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships
High expectations and equity
Ongoing learning and reflective practice
Responsiveness to children
Continuity of learning and transitions
Children have a strong sense of identity
Children are connected with and contribute to their world
Children have a strong sense of wellbeing
Children are confident and involved learners
Children are effective communicators
Australian Government Department of Education and Training. (2017). Early Years Learning Framework. Retrieved from https://www.education.gov.au/early-years-learning-framework-0
ECRH. (2018). Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework. Retrieved from https://www.ecrh.edu.au/approved-learning-frameworks/early-years-learning-framework
What it Means to my Game:
Each individual section has its benefits and uses in my game or can be used to justify parts of my game and explain how they are incorporated. This section is a personal breakdown of my game given the framework
The usefulness of my game can be justified from the Principles section of the diagram. Children, like all of us, learn from repetitive and reflective practice. Meaning that they respond well when they are given positive reflection for their actions. i.e. The game gives them a reward or encouragement for a correct or valid action. This can be furthered in my game with how all actions never have a negative reaction but a positive reaction. If a student gets an answer wrong, they are asked to try again and if they get it right they get a congratulatory message. Ultimately, it can be seen that for children, all the trivial things make a significant difference.
The most obvious section of the diagram to discuss is the practice section. As is already well-established children of the chosen demographic greatly benefit from learning when they are playing and interacting with games. With this in mind, this is a further section that I can use to explain and justify the implementation of my game within the classroom. It also further explains the implementation of basic learning into my game. When I started developing my game it was purely made to drain energy from children before they entered the classroom. However, with a new understanding of this learning practice, it was decided that teaching basic maths and grammar would be more beneficial to both the development of the children and the teaching team that may decide to implement this game.
Learning Outcomes: (Left Third)
My game has the most to learn from the left third of the diagram. As can be seen, children engage well when they are immersed in an enjoyable setting. i.e. The more fun they have within a virtual world the more they will learn. This can be used to back up my use of a pirate world as the games main setting. If I was to simply have minigames that happened within the normal world there is a chance that the children playing the games would not learn from the experience because they themselves would not become immersed with it. It would be similar to playing a fantasy game such as Skyrim but one of the main objectives of the game is to have a 9-5 job and no powers. It isn’t enjoyable and you as the player would disassociate from the experience very quickly, the same ideals can be related to young child learning. With this sentiment in mind, the importance of having an immersive experience is more solidly confirmed and proven to be a useful induction into my game.
All research Congregated from research conducted by Thomas Priest and Riley Webb.
Although it is important for me to assess my own work using the Early Years FrameWork it is much more important for a teacher who would actually use the game with children to give their honest assessment on it and to get useful feedback given their examination of the game.
*Feedback from the teaching team of Russel Island*
My game works well in showing learning in a very different way. Instead of sitting in a classroom, students can pretend they are in a different world and still continue to learn.
Responsiveness to Children:
My game has appropriate subject matter for children of the demographic age. This means that my game can be used by the teaching team within a school setting and that the children will interact positively with the generated theme.
My game works well with a teaching approach known as Narrow Pointy teaching. This is because the questions asked are simple and all within a simple work set. As an example, in the numbers game, the numbers only go from 1 -10 instead of implementing negative numbers or larger numbers.
My game is also useful for teachers as an assessment device. By monitoring the game and the students playing it they can make conclusions based on student actions.
What’s missing?
Continuity of Learning:
The one thing that my game is lacking is the continuation of learning. Meaning, that although my game works well it doesn’t push the users any further than the base game. With this in mind, algorithms can be put in place to see what students are doing well and pushing their skills to further their learning.
Learning Outcomes: (Left Third)
Encourage Strong use of Wellbeing:
Something that was commented on was that the game was very useful in allowing students to express their learning in a new and fun environment. This meaning that teachers can get a better gauge on what they know, better than if they sat them down for a test or asked them a straight question.
