Overview
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
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this 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).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2024
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).
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.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
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.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
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.
Feedback from Unit Evaluation
Links between the Early Years Learning Framework and criteria sheet need to be more specific
More specific links will be made between the task and the criteria sheet with specific mention of curriculum documents or frameworks
Feedback from Unit Evaluation, Emails
Support for the lecturer
Continue to maintain the personalised delivery of the unit content
- Document aesthetic, communicative and expressive processes used by self and others to interpret and represent the world
- 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
- Use authoritative sources and relevant literature to propose pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning in the Arts that are responsive to children
- 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
- 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 - 50% | |||||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment - 50% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||||
| 5 - Team Work | |||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||||
| 10 - First Nations Knowledges | |||||
| 11 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |
| 1 - Presentation and Written Assessment - 50% | |||||||||||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment - 50% | |||||||||||
Textbooks
Teaching the Arts: Early Childhood and Primary Education
- Edition: 3rd (2019)
- Authors: David Roy, William Baker, Amy Hamilton
- Cambridge University Press
- Melbourne Melbourne , Victoria , Australia
- ISBN: 978-1-108-55236-3
- Binding: Paperback
Additional Textbook Information
The textbook listed is suggested reading to supplement the unit content on Moodle. Chapters from this book are listed for reading in the unit profile in association with the weekly unit focus.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
g.busch@cqu.edu.au
Week 1 - Awareness of the Arts Curriculum.
Begin Date: 04 Mar 2024Module/Topic
Exploring different ways of seeing, knowing and learning in the Arts
Chapter
Text book chapters will be noted for each week.
Text: Roy, D., Baker, W., Hamilton, A. (2019). Teaching the arts: Early childhood and primary education (3rd ed). Melbourne, Victoria: Cambridge University Press.
Read: pages 54-55 Learning in and through the arts.
Content material and articles are identified in the weekly topic and will be found in the eReading list.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 2 - The Arts and curriculum
Begin Date: 11 Mar 2024Module/Topic
Introduction to the Australian Curriculum: The Arts
The Arts covers 5 areas - dance, drama, media arts, music and visual arts.
Chapter
Text book:
Read: page 13 The Arts in Curriculum
Read: Chapters 4-8 over week 2 and 3.
Content material and articles are identified in the weekly topic and will be found in the eReading list.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 3 - Influenced by the Arts
Begin Date: 18 Mar 2024Module/Topic
Australian Curriculum: The Arts - Making and Responding strands and the links to dance, drama, media arts, music and visual arts.
Chapter
Text book: continue reading Chapters 4-8 over week 2 and 3.
Content material and articles are identified in the weekly topic and will be found in the eReading list.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 4 - Personal links to the Arts
Begin Date: 25 Mar 2024Module/Topic
Creating meaning and developing personal identity in and through the Arts.
Chapter
Text book:
Read: pages 50-52 - benefits of the Arts
Read: Chapter 11 Diverse Learners, pedagogy and the Arts.
Content material and articles are identified in the weekly topic and will be found in the eReading list.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 5 - Creating and playing with the Arts
Begin Date: 01 Apr 2024Module/Topic
The importance of play, creativity and exploration as processes for engaging with the world through the Arts.
Chapter
Content material and articles are identified in the weekly topic and will be found in the eReading list.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation Week - no lecture - review and reflection
Begin Date: 08 Apr 2024Module/Topic
Vacation week.
No lectures this week.
Chapter
Take the time to review the first 5 weeks of the unit and prepare assessment task 1.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 6 - Linking the Arts to learning
Begin Date: 15 Apr 2024Module/Topic
Using the Arts to integrate and enhance all curriculum subject areas.
Chapter
Text Book:
Read: Pages 261-272 Integration of the Arts with other learning areas.
Read: Pages 61-90 The Arts and cross curriculum priorities
Content material and articles are identified in the weekly topic and will be found in the eReading list.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 7 - Keeping track of learning
Begin Date: 22 Apr 2024Module/Topic
Documentation in the Arts as ways of seeing and knowing and how that informs our planning and pedagogy.
Chapter
Text Book:
Read:Chapter 10 Organisation, pages 276-305 Planning and Assessment.
Content material and articles are identified in the weekly topic and will be found in the eReading list.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 8 - Children's appreciation and the Arts
Begin Date: 29 Apr 2024Module/Topic
The art of awareness and appreciation - noticing the detail. How teachers support children to explore their learning through the Arts.
Chapter
Text Book:
Read: Page 23-28 Your role: the Arts in early childhood and primary education.
Content material and articles are identified in the weekly topic and will be found in the eReading list.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 9 - Interconnections in the Arts
Begin Date: 06 May 2024Module/Topic
Disciplines within the Arts. - interrogating the 5 Arts and how they intertwine to enhance learning opportunities and teaching satisfaction.
Chapter
Text Book:
Read: Pages 61-90 The Arts and cross curriculum priorities as listed in Week 6.
Content material and articles are identified in the weekly topic and will be found in the eReading list.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 10 - Playful learning and teaching
Begin Date: 13 May 2024Module/Topic
Learning the pedagogy of playful teaching and learning through the Arts to facilitate engagement in the classroom.
Chapter
Content material and articles are identified in the weekly topic and will be found in the eReading list.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 11 - The Arts and technology
Begin Date: 20 May 2024Module/Topic
How using ICTs to develop new approaches in the Arts processes enhances learning and teaching.
Chapter
Text Book:
Read: Pages 34-37 Arts education in 21st century lives.
Content material and articles are identified in the weekly topic and will be found in the eReading list.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 12 - What does it all mean?
Begin Date: 27 May 2024Module/Topic
Linking the content together to see the big picture.
Review week and assessment 2 preparation.
Chapter
Content material and articles are identified in the weekly topic and will be found in the eReading list.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Review/Exam Week
Begin Date: 03 Jun 2024Module/Topic
Review/Exam week
Chapter
Not applicable to this unit.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Exam Week
Begin Date: 10 Jun 2024Module/Topic
Exam week
Chapter
Not applicable to this unit.
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Presentation and Written Assessment
Overview:
Task 1 requires you to be an active participant in developing an artefact or performance that aligns with The Arts curriculum. Foundation - Yr 2 band, Making and Responding strand.
This assessment task requires you to use your understandings of The Arts: Making and Responding strands from the Australian Curriculum. Creation of a personally significant artifact or dramatic performance will be supported by a written explanation and reflection of the significance of the process and design of the artifact or performance. Essentially we are looking at the process of learning.
This task is comprised of 2 parts.
Part A:
You will develop and share a piece of personally significant work and identify the components that specifically link to The Arts curriculum - Making and Responding strand.
Students will prepare a digital presentation (wiki, wix, powerpoint or similar) for submission that reflects the learning processes undertaken when making and responding to the development of the chosen medium within the Arts curriculum.
The presentation will include image/s or video along with a short written reflection on the processes and skills related to the two strands (making and responding) with which you engaged. You will consider how your preparation for, and presentation of, your work reflect the aims of the Arts curriculum.
Approximately 600 words.
Part B:
Identify common factors for yourself and children that support meaningful Arts learning by enhancing meaning-making, offering sources of wonder and inspiration whilst contributing to a sense of connectedness.
Consider the learning, sensory and emotional experiences that you engaged in when completing your personally significant artifact highlighted in Part A. Relate this process to that of a child experiencing making and responding strands in The Arts.
Draw on: your experiences as a participant in the Arts learning process; reflections in Part A; engagement with course readings; the rationale, aims and content of the curriculum for the Foundation to Year 2 Band Level of The Arts curriculum; and the Early Years Learning Framework to form links to future classroom teaching practices.
Weekly Zoom sessions will unpack this task. Examples of previous assignments will be shared with commentary to support student understanding.
Approximately 1000 words.
1600 words (in total)
Weighting: 50%
Further information and a guide to completing the task will be found on the moodle site in the Assessment Block.
Assessment details will be explained during the online weekly zoom sessions.
NOTE: This assessment task builds knowledge of the content, aims and structure of the Australian curriculum: The Arts. Critical reflection on the processes for creating Arts experiences that include and value learners imagination, creativity and ways of being and belonging is an important feature of the task which can be used as evidence for demonstrating aspects of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers focus areas 1.2, 2.1, 4.1 and 6.2.
Week 6 Monday (15 Apr 2024) 11:45 pm AEST
Assignments will be submitted online through moodle or a link to a website will be submitted on a word document.
Feedback on this assessment will be provided in sufficient time to allow for academic support and advice necessary to inform student's responses to the next assessment task
- Understanding of the connection between Arts learning and creativity, imagination, meaning making and identity.
- Knowledge and understanding of the Arts process of making and responding for meaning making.
- Evaluation of factors that support learning in and through the Arts as sources of inspiration, meaning and enjoyment.
- Reflections on course readings show demonstrate understanding of strategies to support young children's meaning making.
- Critical reflection on experiential learning to identify implications for teaching practice.
- Document aesthetic, communicative and expressive processes used by self and others to interpret and represent the world
- 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
- Use authoritative sources and relevant literature to propose pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning in the Arts that are responsive to children
- 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.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
2 Practical and Written Assessment
Overview:
Task 2 requires you to be a facilitator and observer of the learning and engagement of 3 young children of different ages between 2-8 years old whilst participating in The Arts strands. One child must be younger than 3 years, one child needs to be 4 – 5 years (prior to school) and one in the early years of schooling Foundation to Year 2.
Part A:
You are required to observe and then document children’s engagement in the Arts processes of Making and Responding. You will create and present a visual learning story that will be submitted online using a wiki, wix, powerpoint or similar.
Your documentation should include observations from a range of age groups including young children prior to school age and those in the focus year levels of Foundation to Year 2. It is expected that your observations will be of at least 3 children of different ages in the early years age group. Your documentation should record a story that identifies:
- contextual information - who the children are and their relationship to each other, ages or year levels, male/female, attending school or an early learning centre
- observations of the children's interactions between each other and with significant adults (you) that could include excerpts of conversation transcripts or photos
- the developmental theories they are testing (eg. managing utensils, colour mixing, vocal changes, beat tempo and others) and
- the processes of Making (engaging with the activity) and Responding (how did they feel, what did they say/do).
Visual representation, including photos of children participating in an open ended learning experience - the process, along with the final product created by the children should be presented. You will provide a supportive text that explains the process observed with links to the Early Years Learning Framework Outcomes and Australian Curriculum content descriptors.
Part B:
You are required to identify principles and approaches to pedagogy that support children’s engagement in authentic Arts learning experiences and that will guide your teaching practice and implementation of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts. You should record your emerging insights about how children are making meaning in and through Arts processes. Consider the conditions and relationships that enhance or hinder these experiences to construct a philosophy that clearly articulates your beliefs about the provision and importance of arts-rich experiences for young children prior to formal schooling and during the early school years. Scholarly sources are to be included to support your observations, pedagogical approaches and philosophy.
2000 words (in total)
Weighting 50%
NOTE: This assessment task provides opportunities for demonstrating knowledge of pedagogical approaches to arts learning that create connectedness and support meaning, enjoyment and aesthetic ways of knowing and being for learners from diverse backgrounds. The task focuses on critical reflection for ongoing professional learning and research-informed approaches to supporting young children’s art making processes and can be used as evidence for demonstrating aspects of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers focus areas 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 3.3, 3.5, 4.1, 5.1, 5.4 and 6.2.
Week 12 Friday (31 May 2024) 11:45 pm AEST
The assignments will be submitted through moodle.
Feedback on the final assessment task will be provided following moderation and prior to the date of certification of grades for the term
- Knowledge and understanding of the content and substance of the Arts curriculum.
- Focused observation that identifies the process of making and responding to meaning.
- Knowledge of pedagogical approaches that support the identity, curiosity and creativity of young children.
- Identification of barriers to and support mechanisms for connectedness in Arts learning.
- Critical reflection and justification of viewpoints on environments, processes and strategies that support meaning making in the early years.
- Document aesthetic, communicative and expressive processes used by self and others to interpret and represent the world
- 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
- Use authoritative sources and relevant literature to propose pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning in the Arts that are responsive to children
- 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
- 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.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
