The broad aim of the symposium was to identify the theoretical and methodological problems provided by the practice in early childhood education, and to explore the extent to which theoretical development in developmental psychology might provide useful knowledge with regard to the practice in early childhood education.
Minamitate pointed out the shortcomings of ordinary teacher training course which relied on the lecture method,and reported on the experimental case study method ln which each student teacher observe her assigned child.
Muto presented the method of analysing educational objectives by means of analysis of children's cognitive schemata.
Ueno discussed implication of recent theoretical development in child psychology on the evaluation of early childhood education,and emphasized the role of the context in which chil's behavior occurs.
Tajima presented a methodological framework to guide the reseach on cognitive socialization of young children,and discussed its implication in educational practice.
