ABSTRACT

This study is aimed at uncovering the development of children’s attitudes at Tunas Harapan preschoolin Salatiga, Central Java, through thematic-integrative learning with the Beyond Centers and CircleTime (BCCT) approach which was shown to be effective learning model for improving children’sphysical, emotional, and academic performances. Involving teachers and parents, the modelstimulates the rise of creativity and accommodates individual differences so that all children canexperience learning as a knowledge foundation. The study solicited nine children of Berlian grade 1,two teachers, the principal, five parents, and a staff member. Data collection included interviews,observations, and documents. The findings reveal the model emphasizes playing and mutualinteractions between the children and the preschool environment. The teacher simultaneouslyconnected the topics with the surroundings drawing out the curiosity of the children to help them gainknowledge. The topics were selected through a variety of games based on their interests so that theywould eagerly play to build positive attitudes.

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