A comparative review of a reggio emilia inspired program for infants and toddlers

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dc.contributorBlitch, Kimberly
dc.contributorKomara, B. Cecile
dc.contributorGilpin, Ansley T.
dc.contributor.advisorHernandez-Reif, Maria
dc.contributor.authorBlocker, Lindsay
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa
dc.date.accessioned2021-05-12T16:28:14Z
dc.date.available2021-05-12T16:28:14Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.descriptionElectronic Thesis or Dissertationen_US
dc.description.abstractThe Reggio Emilia approach is a social constructivist method that fosters children’s creative development through organized focus on symbolic representations (Edwards et al., 2012). This study compared the physical environments and teacher-child interactions in infant and toddler classrooms in a Reggio Emilia Inspired Program (RI) to those of a matched non-Reggio Emilia Inspired Program (NRI). A brief history of the RI approach and the founder, Loris Malaguzzi, key child development theorists, and key teaching principles and strategies of the RI paradigm are reviewed. A RI and a non-RI program, both NAEYC accredited, were compared for quality of teacher-child interactions, classroom environment, children’s behaviors, and development using standardized measures. Participants were two teacher (one RI infant and one RI toddler) and their children. With school closures due to COVID-19, data collection was stopped early at both sites. The findings are presented as a feasibility study. The ITERS-3 was used to assess the classroom environments of the two programs (RI and NRI). Analysis of the ITERS-3 scores failed to reveal that the RI approach promoted a more optimal classroom environment for infants’ and toddler’s learning than the NRI approach. However, closer examination conducted by videotaping an activity in the classroom revealed high-quality teacher-child interactions for both the RI infant and toddler classroom. Interviews in the RI program depicted teachers who view their children as an equal part of the classroom supporting the RI principle of the Image of the Child. This study contributes to the literature on RI programs and raises new questions related to the sensitivity of environmental scales in assessing creative, non-structured, reflexive program.en_US
dc.format.extent100 p.
dc.format.mediumelectronic
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.otheru0015_0000001_0003704
dc.identifier.otherBlocker_alatus_0004M_14339
dc.identifier.urihttp://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/7647
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Alabama Libraries
dc.relation.hasversionborn digital
dc.relation.ispartofThe University of Alabama Electronic Theses and Dissertations
dc.relation.ispartofThe University of Alabama Libraries Digital Collections
dc.rightsAll rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated.en_US
dc.subjectEarly childhood education
dc.subjectBehavioral sciences
dc.titleA comparative review of a reggio emilia inspired program for infants and toddlersen_US
dc.typethesis
dc.typetext
etdms.degree.departmentUniversity of Alabama. Department of Human Development and Family Studies
etdms.degree.disciplineHuman Development and Family Studies
etdms.degree.grantorThe University of Alabama
etdms.degree.levelmaster's
etdms.degree.nameM.S.
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