Hand Washing Teaching Outline

Hand Washing Teaching Outline

The teaching project began as a design for hand washing for second grade students. Through observation it has been noted that this second grade class needs constant reminders to wash their hands before taking part in certain activities. This was especially noticed in my personal experience when volunteering in the lunchroom of this particular school. The teachers were observed on several occasions reminding the children to wash their hands before eating or after using the bathroom. Another observation was the fact that there were no alcohol-based hand sanitizers in the lunch room for children to use in case one forgot to wash his or her hands before going down to the cafeteria.

The teaching project on hand washing is to take place at an elementary private school observing procedures. The children participating are male and females students between the ages of seven and eight and from middle-income families. English is the primary language spoken, and there are no learning disabilities in this particular group. The children come from several diverse backgrounds and ethnic heritages.

According to Piaget, during the ages of seven and eight, the children are beginning to develop a concrete operational stage in the classroom. Because of this, their learning is based on logic as well as systematic approaches to different areas. Symbols, language, etc. is related to concrete objects during this stage of growth. It is also known that operational types of thinking will begin to develop during this time, such as different mental actions that can be reversible. As a result, the egocentric thoughts that were at the center of the child's thinking earlier on begin to diminish. Allowing children to understand cause and effect at this stage of life is one of the important parts of teaching. This as well as understanding different logical approaches to teaching can helps ensure that the children will begin to understand the necessity of hand washing (Piaget, 2001).

There are 10 children in each classroom. The school restrooms that are accessible to these children have soap, running water and paper towels. As a standard procedure, two teachers are present in the classroom and one will assist the children in using the facilities in order to wash his or her hands and the other teacher will be assisting with the activity handouts for the children.

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