"When the Children Teach at School": The Implementation of an Educational Programme in Preschool Education

This paper outlines the rational for and the purpose of implementing a project titled “Teach to Learn” which was based on a process of children changing roles inside the class in preschool education. More specifically,... [ view full abstract ]

This paper outlines the rational for and the purpose of implementing a project titled “Teach to Learn” which was based on a process of children changing roles inside the class in preschool education. More specifically, this project aimed at placing children into the teaching position along with their teachers and parents and then, they educated themselves on a specific topic. This project was carried out through five stages. In the first stage, special emphasis was placed on building students’ confidence with the aim of educating the rest of the preschoolers mainly through games which make students feel comfortable and lead them to act in a relaxing and stress-free environment. In the second stage, children were engaged in activities in which they raised their awareness about a topic of their interest by searching for information using various sources. Throughout the next stage, the children in cooperation with their parents and teachers designed their own ‘teaching’ process focusing on fostering a multimodal learning environment which facilitates children’s learning and accommodated different learning style and needs. The next stage was devoted entirely to the implementation of their designed instruction making use of games, videos and creative activities that are highly effective at this education level. In the last stage, children were involved in discussion activities where they expressed their feelings and thoughts about the whole process of taking on the role of a teacher. Therefore, students, teachers and parents fostered a learning community at school and the children realized the importance of teaching, developing also metacognitive skills. In this way children enhanced and shared their knowledge with their peers. This process equips children with awareness of their learning process and needs and children’s interaction is of high importance for their future tendencies.