EDEC11026 - The Arts and Learning in the Early Years

General Information

Unit Synopsis

The unit Arts and learning in the Early Years introduces the rationale, aims and content of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts through a focus on children’s ways of knowing and meaning making. Students reflect on their own engagement with the processes of Making and Responding which comprise the strands of the Arts curriculum to examine the role educators play in supporting young children as unique, confident and capable learners and effective communicators while meeting the stated aims of Arts learning in school contexts. Students investigate the importance of responsive interactions, connectedness and aesthetics for making meaning through and in the five distinct areas of the Arts curriculum and analyse the effect of pedagogical approaches that afford time to be present with children and support their creativity and expression of ideas. They problematise how these approaches to Arts learning may be supported in the transition to formal schooling and the implementation of the Arts curriculum in the Foundation to Year 2 Band Level. Students deepen their intellectual and emotional engagement with the challenges of planning and delivering authentic Arts learning experiences for children through a process of inquiry and documentation that makes young children's learning and meaning making processes visible. They respond to this process by writing a manifesto that identifies guiding values, principles and practices for themselves as contemporary early childhood educators in the Arts.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 1
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 1
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2024

Term 1 - 2024 Profile
Online
Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Presentation and Written Assessment 50%
2. Practical and Written Assessment 50%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 93.75% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 31.37% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Moodle Evaluation Verbal comments
Feedback
The unit content was relatable with useful teaching strategies being added to the content
Recommendation
Continue to link the content to real classroom/teaching experiences.
Action Taken
Each tutorial included relevant, real life teaching examples.
Source: Moodle evaluation
Feedback
The passion of the lecturer was obvious and made the unit more interesting and enjoyable.
Recommendation
Continue to add personal stories and comments to add to the content.
Action Taken
Actions and teaching style continued
Source: Moodle evaluation
Feedback
Assessment feedback was supportive and helpful
Recommendation
Continue to return assignments in a timely manner with useful comments to support learning.
Action Taken
This was continued
Source: Unit Evaluation
Feedback
Links between the Early Years Learning Framework and criteria sheet need to be more specific
Recommendation
More specific links will be made between the task and the criteria sheet with specific mention of curriculum documents or frameworks
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit Evaluation, Emails
Feedback
Support for the lecturer
Recommendation
Continue to maintain the personalised delivery of the unit content
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Document aesthetic, communicative and expressive processes used by self and others to interpret and represent the world
  2. Use knowledge of the rationale and aims of the Arts curriculum to interpret meaning making processes and articulate experiences and strategies that support children’s learning in and through the Arts
  3. Use authoritative sources and relevant literature to propose pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning in the Arts that are responsive to children
  4. Observe children to identify and describe features that are significant in terms of their engagement with the Arts processes of making and responding and the implications for educators’ curriculum decision-making and enactment and responsive interactions with children in the early years
  5. Communicate an explicit commitment to valuing and listening to children’s ways of knowing, describing how decisions about the learning environment, curriculum and pedagogy will optimise children’s learning in and through the Arts and build a responsive learning culture.

Successful completion of this unit provides opportunities for students to engage with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate Career Stage) focus areas of:

1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students
1.2 Understand how students learn
2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
3.3 Use teaching strategies
3.5 Use effective classroom communication
4.1 Support student participation
5.1 Assess student learning
5.4 Interpret student data
6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice
Additionally, the unit contributes curriculum knowledge specified by ACECQA (Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority). This includes curriculum studies and understandings about early childhood pedagogies.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Presentation and Written Assessment • • • •
2 - Practical and Written Assessment • • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Communication • • • • •
2 - Problem Solving • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • • • •
4 - Information Literacy • • •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence •
8 - Ethical practice • • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 - Presentation and Written Assessment • • • •
2 - Practical and Written Assessment • • • • •