Background Research QKLG, EYLF and Australian Curriculum Basic education is primarily aimed at encouraging children’s literacy and numeracy learning. The Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guidelines (QKLG) provides kindergarten teachers’ guidelines that are based on the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) of Australia (QCAA, 2010). These guidelines provide advice for the teacher to support and strengthen children’s sense of belonging, being and becoming (Queensland Studies Authority, 2010). Both numeracy and literacy are essential skills for life, with children requiring real life situations to see and use them. The EYLF guidelines encourage hands-on, play-based learning with planned learning experiences and interactions that is relevant, …show more content…
Learning is an important activity in an individual’s life, as it is the core of our educational process. Learning involves acquiring and modifying knowledge, skills, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours to understand old and new information (Wiley, 2016). Individuals learn through experiences that take the form of social interactions, linguistic or motor skills. Behavioural, Cognitive, Social and Cultural, and Constructivism are five basic types of theories used in educational psychology (Wiley, 2016) The most important relationship is between behaviour and environment. Altering the environment will result in a change of behaviour. Behaviour is shaped through positive and negative reinforcement. A positive reinforcement will increase the likelihood of the behaviour happening again and negative reinforcement will decrease the likelihood (Wiley, 2016). For example, a student was rewarded five stamps on their chart for their effort when completing five maths questions correctly. The students who did not answer five questions correctly were given an additional three questions to complete. Cognitive theory is the formation of inner activities of the mind. It includes a variety of ways to understand the relationship between the individual and the environment. All cognitive theories emphasise the active role of learners in making meaning out of their experience (Wiley, …show more content…
To be able to put effective teaching strategies in place, the teacher needs to have a clear understanding of where the student is now and where the student needs to be in their development. This gives the teacher the correct tools to develop the most effective teaching strategies that are suited for the student’s success (ACARA, 2017). The fundamental teaching strategy used for years prep to grade 2 is play-based learning. This type of learning allows the student to interactively make connections and learn literacy and numeracy from one another (ACARA, 2017). A key component of play-based learning in literacy and numeracy is communication, as the student shares their ideas and information with each other, giving the student a chance to use their thoughts and ideas in a real-life situation (Touhill, n.d.). Younger students also become more engaged in hands-on play-based learning. Hands-on learning is more interactive for the student as they are physically holding or seeing what is being taught to them (Touhill, n.d.). For example, if a student was learning how to count, the teacher could provide the student with counting