Most of us are familiar with the term curriculum; it defines a goal or objective, and describes the methods and mechanisms used by student and educator to accomplish said goal. We call these goals 'learning outcomes' and divide them into two categories; general and specific. A common general learning outcome in a child care setting might be tying your shoe by yourself. To get to that general outcome, we have to meet specific learning outcomes. For example, in order to tie your shoe you need to:

• use a pincer grip (holding something with your thumb and forefinger)

• understand sequencing (A comes before B followed by C, 1 comes before 2, etc.)

• recall the memory of each step in tying your shoe

• use sequencing to follow multi-step directions (hold your laces, wrap one lace around the other, make bunny ears, wrap the bunny ears around each other, etc.)

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All of these specific learning objectives can take time for children to develop, and trying to explain it a child logically is usually a short trip to frustration for both us and the child. That's where Emergent Curriculum comes in.