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Show v. 1 !:: SUSC Experiment Unique child development lab. provides creative experiences 1 1 However, some of the jnost tin-i tin-i usual and liilficKlinn experiences exper-iences aie provided by the "trough". This pleee of equipment equip-ment is a (able height receptacle recep-tacle lined wilh metal into which Mis. Uishop and her assistants as-sistants pour substances such as soap suds, wheat, corn meal, sunt, flour, rice, jello water, colored cooked spag-belli spag-belli and other items. The children are encouraged to handle the materials In order jto feel the textures, to look at them, to smell them and even to taste them, when the materials are harmlessly edible. edi-ble. Mrs. Bishop believes in giving giv-ing the children as many different dif-ferent experiences as possible to broaden their horizons. For this reason they are introduced introduc-ed to music and rhythm of various types, simple science experiments, food activities, and a great vark'ty of art media. A favorite project for the young students Is to gather gath-er spring seeds on one of their numerous nature walks and glue them to sheets of paper in various designs. 3; School is out for 21 Cedar fj' City children who ordinarily I would not be going to school at all for at least nnolher !' year. ' Jt The end of the spring quar- ;jr ter at Southern Utah State ''3 College signaled the climax '!jt of another session of the M unique child development la- A boralory which has been con- f ducted at the college for the Ki past eight years. i'A Fai'h quarter, approximate-ly approximate-ly two dozen tots, three and St four years of age, are enrolled In a pro-school situation at SUSC which provides them wilh a Variety of creative experiences ex-periences and furnishes child development majors with a wide tango of interesting study stu-dy subjects. Teacher of (lie course and director of the "creativity laboratory" lab-oratory" is Mrs. lionnie Dish-op, Dish-op, who lias now completed her third year in the assignment. assign-ment. She Is a native of Cedar Ce-dar City and obtained bachelor's bach-elor's and master's degrees in homo economics and child development de-velopment at Utah Slate University. Uni-versity. The children attended the "school" five days a week in two sections from !) lo 11:30 a. m. and from 1 to 3:30 p. m. They were checked by the college col-lege nurse each day for any possible illnesses and then directed di-rected into a number of activities, activ-ities, which were conducted inside or outdoors according to weather conditions. One of the choice places for walking, according to Mrs. Bishop,- Is the SUSC campus which offers a wide range of plant life and rock arrangements arrange-ments for study and play. The children are also encouraged en-couraged to bring objects from homo which they wish to share wilh the group, "It is The laboratory is located in the south wing of the SUSC Science Center as part of the family life facility. An attractive attrac-tive room has boon decorated and furnished to suit the needs of its young occupants. A special feature is a two-way two-way mirror-window which enable en-able college students to observe ob-serve their subjects without disturbing their activities. Adjacent to (ho indoor facility fa-cility is a larged fenced-in palio area complete with a circulating water font displaying display-ing a sculpture of a young child pouring water from a vessel. Some standard play equipment is provided for the youngsters, but much of their play activity centers around logs, throes and sand piles such as would bo found in many natural outdoor areas. Non-directed activities include in-clude finger painting, water coloring, clay molding, easel painting, cutting, pasting, puzzles, puz-zles, blocks and playhouse. delightful to see their scope of awareness grow as their experiences in the laboratory progresses," Mrs. Bishop said. She explained that she feels one of the most important aspects as-pects of the pro-school training train-ing is the ability the children develop to play with others and share. They are also taught to cooperate by putting put-ting away the play materials and helping to tidy up their classroom and yard at the end of each activity. Oik? of the laboratory's most interested observers and enthusiastic en-thusiastic supports is Dr. Roy-don Roy-don C. Braithvvaite, SUSC president, pres-ident, lie contributed much lo the planning and initiation of the project in 1961 in cooperation co-operation with Mrs. Ada Carpenter, Car-penter, head of the SUSC Family Life Department. The preschool laboratory has proved to be so popular that many parents make applications ap-plications to enroll their children chil-dren several years in advance. Mrs. Bishop said it is desirea-blo desirea-blo to have applications in at least one year to six months in advance. Application is made to Mr.s Bishop in care of the SUSC Family Life Department, De-partment, Most children attend at-tend for one or two terms, but some have remained for throe terms Some 14 students were selected se-lected to attend a special summer sum-mer course which is currently being used as a laboratory for summer school students studying study-ing special problems of preschool pre-school children. |