Goals
The goals that govern the preschool are steadfast and are executed specifically in CSI’s curriculum and methodology. CSI espouses the following goals:
- First, CSI aims not only to foster specific learning but to provide many opportunities for physical, social, and emotional as well as cognitive development.
A crucial factor in CSI’s developmental is that cognitive growth cannot be separated from the growth of personal and social processes. Further, CSI aims to be an active community, connected to the social world of which it is a part, rather than an isolated place for “learning lessons”. CSI aims to foster the child’s ability to deal effectively with her environment. The development of competence is central. Competence means being as able as possible in all areas of development, and being motivated to use one’s abilities for self and others. - Second, CSI aims to develop the child’s sense of autonomy and individuality.
CSI hopes to foster a strong sense of identity, the child’s ability to act on one’s own, to make choices, and to be able to accept help. - A third goal is the development of social relatedness and connectedness.
This means teaching children to care about others, to learn how to feel part of larger social groups, being able to form friendships, cherishing diversity, and developing awareness of human interconnectedness. - A fourth goal is the encouragement of creativity.
CSI intends to provide a wide range of means for children to express feelings and ideas. Children’s creative work can take many forms - physical movement; drawing, painting, spoken and written words; melody or rhythm; mathematical or scientific ideas. - Finally, CSI hopes to promote an integrated way of thinking rather than compartmentalization.
Integration is manifested in a child’s pulling together different ways of experiencing the world - joining thinking and feeling, making connections between how one feels and how others might feel, communicating in both original and conventional ways, connecting the self to the world.