Kamii-Devries Approach

Kamii-DeVries Approach Keys to Understanding

Key Contributors

Constance Kamii Jean Piaget Rheta DeVries Lev Semenovich Vygotsky Lawrence Kohlberg R.L. Selman

Historical Keys

Both Kamii and DeVries had a strong desire for the advancement of education to be based on scientific research. Together they set out to create an educational approach that applied Piagetian theory to correct the flaws they deemed in the Developmental-Interaction approach. Their approach was accounted for the whole child and relied heavily on constructivism. Their original intentions were to embrace preoperational thinking of young children and offer suggestion to teachers to promote mental construction, autonomous thinking and cooperation. As their educational approach evolved and gained recognition, Kamii and DeVries began to differ in their opinions of what the educational objectives of the approach should be. DeVries came to believe that the objectives should be progression of children to the next stage of development; furthermore these objectives should be measurable. DeVries set out to classify levels of cognitive development within daily classroom activities, in order to determine classroom activities that were justicifable in terms of developmental theory and research. It was at this point that DeVries began working more extensively with Kohlberg and less with Kamii. The actual model has been more directly influenced by Kohlberg than Kamii, however the model still bares her name.

Key Components

Physical-knowledge activities are activities related to children’s natural interests in figuring out how to do things. They enable children to construct meaning about the physical world.

Group games are used in the Kamii-DeVries approach as a means to promote social and moral development. Specifically, they focus on the development of autonomy and cooperation skills of children.

Key Terms

accommodation logico-mathematical experience autonomous physical experience assimilation psychologist’s fallacy heteronomous sociomoral atmosphere social-arbitrary knowledge symbolic play whole child

References

www.finefoundation.org www.googleimages.com www.main.uab.edu www.wikipedia.com Goffin, Stacie and Wilson, Catherine (2001). Curriculum models and early childhood education: Appraising the relationship. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.