Documenting the developmental milestones of children during their early childhood learning stages is a fundamental element of mapping the trajectory of development of such learners and guiding classroom-based instructions. There is a need to note that different documentation practices have been in use for a long time. Such practices range from paper-based processes to the digital ones such as photographing and keeping records on online platforms. The objective of this work is to present findings on the importance of documentation, noting methods of documentation from three articles. The paper reports that documentation of whatever type has positive effects on the learning processes of the children.
According to D’Angelo, Hollan, and Piper (2010), the DRDP (Desired Results Developmental Profile) is one of the methods that teachers use in the documentation of student progress. In this type of documentation, as the study reports, teachers are assigned groups of children sorted according to their age groups. It is noted that the children are assigned this groups as soon as they enter the institutions. The teachers are then involved in actively monitoring their development by use of their knowledge to develop the documentation profile. This process enables the teachers to direct conferences with parents and in customizing lessons plans designed in relation to the needs of the students (D’Angelo, Hollan, and Piper, 2010). A specific time is defined for the completion of the documentation profile. In most cases, the completion occurs within sixty days since the recruitment of children to their classes followed by a regular interval of every six months. The cited study also reports that the system of documentation is state-mandated for all the leaners.
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Another documentation practice, the Reggio Approach to Documentation, is reported in Seitz (2008). According to this study, the approach to documentation is an adoption from the Reggio region of northern Italy. This type of documentation is done based on the experiences of the children, their ideas, thoughts, and memories (Seitz, 2008). For this reason, as the study notes, this type of documentation offers an inspiring example concerning the usefulness of displaying the work of children while considering both the aesthetic aspects and content of the display. The process of documentation entails samples of works of children completed at different learning levels. The study reports that such documentation may include photographs depicting the progression of work, comments from teachers as well as other adults that work with the children, transcriptions of discussions held by children, comments, explanations of intentions related to the activity among others (Seitz, 2008).
Lastly, according to Schulz (2015), DRDPtech is an online version of the DRDP used for inputting information about the development of children during their early childhood education days. It should be noted that the web version resembles the paper-based DRDP for all the fields. However, this system does not assist in the collection of information. The teachers use other forms of information collection such as photographing the activities of the children in the groups assigned to them (Schulz, 2015). Teachers are supposed to keep records of the development of children assigned to them as soon as they are recruited into their classes and update them as directed using the manual DRDP.
The reviewed studies report different benefits of documentation of children development. For instance, the processes are used in enhancing learning among children (D’Angelo, Hollan, and Piper, 2010). The study argues that documentation could be used in enhancing extensiveness as well as the depth of the process of learning among children from all their projects and other works. The children are taught to be more confident, interested, and curious while contemplating what they have learned at school. In addition, the processes of preparation and depicting documentaries of the experiences of children give a type of re-visiting or debriefing in which the students develop new understandings. The second importance of documenting the works of children during their early childhood education years is that it makes the teachers to take ideas and works of children with more seriousness (D’Angelo, Hollan, and Piper, 2010). This advantage is related to the fact that the project work requires planning about work evaluation as the work continues. The leaners undertake the minor tasks of learning while the teachers keenly monitor what they do so that they can record such information for the purposes of documentation. This means that the will consider every aspect of the process of learning, which is a desired outcome.
It is also reported that documenting the works of children leads to the integration of parental views into the processes of learning of their children (Seitz, 2008). According to this latter cited study, documentation allows the parents to be deeply conscious of the development of their children through reflecting on their experiences while at school. The parents are able to learn what the teachers are doing and what they should contribute towards the education of their children. It is also reported that the documentation process allows the teachers to develop an awareness of the need for research and its usefulness in improving their profession (Seitz, 2008). The studies report that the process of documentation requires the teachers to keep records of data collected using methods similar to those of research. The fact that documentation also raises the curiosity of teachers towards the progress of learners also means that the teachers are motivated to note details of the learning environment.
Lastly, the processes of documenting the works of children ensure that the learning activities of children are made visible (Schulz, 2015). For instance, of special interest to educators in the US, the processes of documentation gives information concerning the learning and progress of children that is not possible to demonstrate using the formal checklists and standardized tests that are commonly employed. While the teachers in the country often find meaningful information as well as insight from their individual first-hand observation of the learners, the documentation of the works of children using a wide range of media gives compelling evidence to the public of the power of intellectualism of children, which is unavailable using any other means of recording.
In conclusion, literature reports the existence of different tools for the documentation of children activities during their early childhood learning stages. However, this paper has reviewed only three of such approaches, the Desired Results Developmental Profile, the Reggio Approach to Documentation, and the DRDPtech, which is an online version of the DRDP. As much as there is a variation in the approaches of documentation, the studies report positive effects of the process on the learning development of children. For example, documentations enable the visualization of learning processes, improve the process of learning, and cause the teachers to be keen with details of students in their classes. The reviewed studies further suggest that documenting the works of children enhances the participation of parents through allowing them to follow the learning trajectory of their children. What could be the most important of all the benefits is the fact that documentations allow teachers to trace the paths of development of students in their classes and in devising teaching methods that would be suitable for each category of the students.
References
D’Angelo, S., Hollan, J., & Piper, A. M. (2010). Transition to Digital: Documentation Practices in Early Childhood Development. Retrieved http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/media/uploads/undergrad/sp13_honor_thesis_dangelo,_sarah.pdf
Seitz, H. (2008). The power of documentation in the early childhood classroom. YC Young Children , 63 (2), 88.
Schulz, M. (2015). The documentation of children's learning in early childhood education. Children & Society , 29 (3), 209-218.
