Japan-US Cooperative Study in Search of Quality Curriculum for Preschool Children-From Comparative Study to Collaborate Curriculum Planning

这是一项为期三年的案例研究，试图通过比较日本和美国的实验学校模式来描述幼儿教师教育与课堂实践之间的关系。本研究考察了三个背景下的教师培训和职前培训，其中两个在日本，一个在北加州，以及教师如何在未来的实践中整合和应用这些背景下的知识。研究的目的有两个：(1)通过跨文化体验引发元认知反思，并应用这种反思思想来进一步了解美国和日本的幼儿教师教育；(2)利用这种更深层次的理解来反思我们自己的课程编写，并考虑如何以及如何适应和实践其他文化模式的哪些方面。研究通过观察、访谈和视频评论小组收集。所有的对话和观察都被录像或录音，以供分析和Corrobo…更多的配给。日本的课堂老师是美国课堂录像带的录像师和剪辑师，美国的课堂老师也是如此。研究人员既扮演参与者观察者的角色，又扮演数据收集者的角色。数据来源包括协作观看课堂视频的讨论；大学教师教育课程的观察；3-4岁的实验室学前班教室；实习教师和班主任计划和评估会议；大学毕业生的实地工作；以及全体员工计划会议。数据还包括收集的与实习教师评估和目标有关的人工制品；大学和实验室学校班级的教案；学生大学工作；大学课程大纲；以及国家教育文件和框架。三个主要发现是：(1)日本和美国的教师培训有许多共同之处。两人都有丰富的基础课程，包括儿童发展、儿童早期教育哲学与理论、家庭与社会等。两人都在实际课堂上进行实践，都认真对待和准备，尽管时间长短不同。主要的不同在于如何将基础与实践联系起来；日本人依赖技能，美国人依赖理论。(2)通过合作观看视频和讨论，很明显，日本教师倾向于从儿童的角度来看待事情。这可能可以通过他们接受培训的方式来解释。视频显示，日本学生教师被要求坐在孩子后面，扮演孩子的角色，并将班主任视为孩子和他们自己的榜样。(3)向学生教师传授的关于美国课程设置的内容与加州课程指导方针的要求之间存在差距。较少

This is a three-year case study attempting to describe the relationship between early childhood teacher education and classroom practices by comparing laboratory school models from Japan and the United States. This research examined the teacher training and pre-service in three settings, two in Japan, and one in north California, and how teachers integrated and applied knowledge from those contexts in their future practice.The goal of the research is two-fold ; (1)to elicit meta-cognitive reflection through cross-cultural experience, and apply this reflective thought to further understand early childhood teacher education in the US and Japan, (2)to use this deeper understanding to reflect on our own curriculum writing and to consider how and which aspects of the other cultural model to adapt into and practice.Research was gathered through observation, interviews and video commentary groups. All conversations and obsevations was either video taped or audio taped for analyses and corrobo … More ration. The classroom teacher in Japan was the videographer and editor for the tapes of the classrooms in America, so was the America classroom teacher. Researchers played the role of both participant-observer and data collectors. Data sources include discussions from collaborative viewings of video from the classes ; observations of University teacher education classes ; 3-4 year old laboratory preschool classrooms ; student teacher and Head teacher planning and evaluating sessions ; a University graduate's work in the field ; and whole staff planning sessions. Data also include collected artifacts related to student teacher evaluation and goals ; lesson plans from the university and laboratory school classes ; student university work ; university course syllabi ; and national education documents and frameworks.Three major findings are :(1)Teacher training in Japan and in US had many features in common. Both had rich foundation courses consisting of Child Development, Philosophy and Theory of Early Childhood Education, Family and Society, etc. Both had practicum in actual classrooms, taken and prepared seriously, though the duration of time differed. The Major difference was the way to bridge the Foundation to practicum ; the Japanese relied on skills, and the US on theory.(2)By collaborative viewings of video and discussions, it was clear that Japanese teachers had inclination to see things from the child perspectives. It maybe explained by the way they were trained. The video showed that Japanese student-teachers were asked to sit behind the children and played the role of a child, and saw the Head-teacher as a role model to the children and to themselves.(3)There was a gap between what was taught to the student-teachers about curriculum in US settings and what the California's curriculum guidelines requires. Less