Investigations Curriculum

The center utilizes the “Investigations" curriculum, which was developed by university faculty, the director, and classroom teachers. The curriculum is centered around engaging projects—called investigations—on topics that are selected by children, teachers, and families. As children investigate a topic–in learning centers, small collaborative groups, whole group activities, movement and music experiences, outdoor observation, or field trips—they acquire critical competencies identified in the Connecticut Early Learning and Development Standards and the standards of national professional organizations. Children’s progress toward achieving these competencies is assessed through anecdotal records, sampling of children’s work and play, photos and video, and interviews with parents.

Four pillars—evidence-based strategies—support children’s investigations: play scaffolding (a special kind of adult support as children play), collaborative learning projects, evidence-based arrangement of learning centers, and portfolio assessment.

Investigations: A Project-Based Preschool Curriculum

See Investigating videos

The underlying principles of the curriculum are as follows:

Preschool children actively make sense of the world through the use of prior knowledge and skills.
Content knowledge, critical thinking skills, and learning processes are equally important.
Children have a natural curiosity about the far away, long ago, nature, and the world.
Young children can construct content knowledge about any phenomenon as long as the can build on prior knowledge.
Unique content can lead to curiosity, exploration, and a sense of wonder that stretches thinking.
Aspects of the physical environment are important to shaping children's content knowledge as well as across disciplines.

The curriculum is based on the theories of Piaget, Vygotsky, and Malaguzzi, and the classroom applications of their work by Forman, Gandini, Katz, Leong, and Bedrova.

More Resources on the Curriculum

Investigating video series: A series of videos documenting different topics explored in the center, featuring our teachers, director, and children
Investigation: Bones in the Green Room: A newsletter article by one of our teachers describing how the curriculum is implemented in the classroom
Investigations Handbook: The most recent version of the curriculum manual used by our teachers
Illustrations from a Child-Centered Investigation on Bones: Powerpoint showing an example of our curriculum in action as children learn about Bones through variety of hands-on key experiences
Illustrations from a Child-Centered Inquiry on Wheels: Powerpoint presentation highlighting Key Experiences during an investigation of Simple Machines, when children zoomed in on WHEELS.
Balls: Projects, Inquiries, Investigations: Powerpoint presentation from a 2012 conference held on campus for teachers throughout Connecticut

For more information on using the curriculum, contact CFDRC director Niloufar Rezai.