Assessment of Educational Protection Tools (APE) of Block in Early Childhood Education
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study aims to evaluate the use of Educational Props (APE) blocks in improving the cognitive, motor, and social-emotional development of early childhood. The assessment was conducted through observation, documentation, and interviews with teachers and children in the 4–5 year old age group at an early childhood education institution. The results of the study indicate that the structured use of blocks can improve children's classification, construction, fine motor coordination, and social skills such as cooperation and communication. The obstacles found were the suboptimal variation in block use and the lack of educators' understanding of constructive play-based stimulation strategies. The implications of this study encourage teachers to use a guided play approach to make the use of APE more effective.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
Akhtar, S., & Sengupta, S. (2020). Using concrete manipulatives to enhance mathematical understanding in early childhood education. Early Childhood Education Journal, 48(4), 455–467.
Arsyad, A. (2016). Learning media. PT Raja Grafindo Persada.
Arsyad, A. (2017). Learning media. Rajawali Pers.
Berk, L. (2013). Child development. Pearson.
Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. (2015). Tools of the mind: The Vygotskian approach to early childhood education. Pearson.
Brewer, J. (2014). Introduction to early childhood education. Pearson.
Clements, D.H., & Sarama, J. (2011). Early childhood mathematics learning. In ON Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on mathematics in early childhood education (pp. 95–122). Information Age Publishing.
Clements, D.H., & Sarama, J. (2011). Early childhood mathematics learning. In ON Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on mathematics in early childhood education (pp. 95–122). Information Age Publishing.
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2018). Research methods in education (8th ed.). Routledge.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Directorate of Early Childhood Education (PAUD). (2015). Guidelines for the use of educational teaching aids (APE). Ministry of Education and Culture.
Hollebrands, K., & Lee, H. (2022). Supporting geometric thinking with digital tools in early childhood classrooms. Journal of Mathematics Education, 12(3), 145–160.
Jones, K., Tzekaki, M., & Panaoura, A. (2013). Geometrical thinking in early years: Understanding shapes and spatial reasoning. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 84(1), 145–163.
Ministry of Education and Culture. (2020). National Standards for Early Childhood Education. Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia.
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Montessori, M. (2019). The Montessori method. Montessori Press.
Morrison, G.S. (2018). Early childhood education today (14th ed.). Pearson.
Nurhayati, A., & Rahmawati, D. (2019). Development of teaching aids for basic mathematics learning in early childhood education. Indonesian Journal of Mathematics Education, 7(2), 112–120.
Nurhayati, S. (2021). Authentic assessment in early childhood education as a tool for mapping children's developmental achievements. Golden Age Journal, 5(1), 20–28.
Piaget, J. (1964). Development and learning. University of Chicago Press.
Piaget, J. (1969). The psychology of the child. Basic Books.
Santrock, J. W. (2018). Child development. McGraw-Hill Education.
Smith, J. (2020). Teaching geometry to young children through block play: A developmental perspective. Early Childhood Education Journal, 48(3), 245–256.
Sudjana, N. (2017). Assessment of learning outcomes. PT Remaja Rosdakarya.
Sugiyono. (2019). Educational research methods: Quantitative, qualitative, and R&D approaches. Alfabeta.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
Widiasari, D. (2022). Implementation of authentic assessment in play-based early childhood education (PAUD) learning. Journal of Early Childhood Education, 10(1), 33–41.