Reflection
At the start of this module before selecting a topic, I thought that centres in Singapore were more academic based and that there was very little play in the centres. This was because, through my practicum experiences all I saw was that the children were constantly doing worksheets or workbooks. The children had very little time to play. My host teacher told me that the play time of just 10 minutes though was little, it was very precious to the children at the same time as they know that that do not get to play often. One of the early childhood issues I worked on this semester in this module was on learning through play. Through working on this topic, I was able to find out more about it.
Through interviewing the principal for our needs analysis, we found out that there are some needs to be addressed when implementing play in the classroom. One of the main need was time. According to the principal and teachers there is not much time to prepare materials for play as well as time to implement purposeful play in the classroom. However, the teachers would still try their best to incorporate as much purposeful play as possible. This has shown me that there are centres which believe in purposeful play and are trying to implement it to the best of their abilities. From this I discovered that our initial idea that purposeful play was not possible in Singapore is false. Secondly there was another need in the centre, it was that the principal and teachers all had different perspectives about play. Therefore, in our recommendations we came up with something to help align their perspectives.
This project has also helped me to grow and enhance my organizational skills. This is because we needed to do research and there were many things to research on. Therefore, we did a mind map to help us. I feel that before this project I would not have used mind maps because I am a very unorganized person and organization is not my forte. However, through this it also taught me to be more organized with how I presented my information. I could use this skill in further projects and when in daily life as it is important to be organized and to plan ahead.
The capstone project has definitely helped me to improve on my communication skills as this was a group work through out the whole semester. Initially I am not someone who does well in group work as I do not know how to communicate well with the group. However, this module has definitely forced me to learn to communicate with the other members in my group. Since this is a skill that I have been lacking, I feel that I was able to improve on it slightly through out this module. Communication skills are important when I go to work in the industry later on as teachers are not meant to work individually. They have to collaborate with their colleagues, parents and even the communities. Therefore, I would definitely be able to apply this skill in future when I work.
Through this module I was able to develop my problem solving skills in real life situation. Before this, the I always thought that the solution to most problems was simple and would just involve money. However, after going through this process of capstone project, I realised that sometimes the way to solve situations are not just to use money. There are other possible ways such as aligning perspectives of others.
This Capstone project is not an easy one and it requires us to be critical in thinking and analyzing. This project has also allowed me to discover more about my interest in learning through play.
The process of coming up with possible recommendations which were feasible was not an easy task. Our initial idea of getting help from the parents and hiring more people to help with the preparing the materials for play were not feasible ideas as firstly, it will cost a lot to pay someone to prepare materials. Secondly getting help from parents will not be easy as well, this is because they may be working parents and may not have the time to spare. Therefore, we had to come up with more recommendations, and finally we decided on doing a fish bowl discussion which will help to get the teachers’ and principal’s perspective on the same page before we can find a solution to their need of lack preparation time.