scholarly journals Exploring the Taken-for-Granted Advantage of Outdoor Play in Norwegian Early Childhood Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 129-144
Author(s):  
Liv Torunn Grindheim
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Outdoor Play ◽  
Connection To Nature ◽  
Cultural Formation ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Cultural Perspectives ◽  
Nature And Culture

AbstractIt is claimed that nature is given temporal and cultural dimensions in Norway, in a transgression of the distinction between nature and culture. The overall emphasis on nature in the Nordic countries may represent an unconscious taken-for-granted understanding of nature as the best place for children’s play, learning and cultural formation. Understandings of a strong Norwegian cultural connection to nature, and thereby outdoor life, as an important arena for children’s cultural formation may be challenged by changes in Early Childhood Education (ECE) institutions and the contemporary society. Such changes can force conflicts that help in depicting what is taken for granted. This chapter is therefore structured around the research question: What conflicts can be found between ECE teachers’ values and motives for outdoor play versus contextual conditions and demands in personal, institutional and cultural perspectives and in the perception of nature? By exploring conflicts between contextual conditions and demands and ECE teachers’ values and motives, the aim is to get a broader insight into perspectives and conditions for children’s cultural formation. The analysis draws on 15 interviews with ECE teachers, political documents and earlier research. The analysis reveals that nature as a valued arena for cultural formation, through play, may not be as apparent as expected in Norwegian ECE.

scholarly journals Associations between Children’s Risky Play and ECEC Outdoor Play Spaces and Materials

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 3354
Author(s):  
Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter ◽  
Ole Johan Sando ◽  
Rasmus Kleppe
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Outdoor Play ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Functional Play ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Risky Play ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Play Materials

Children spend a large amount of time each day in early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions, and the ECEC play environments are important for children’s play opportunities. This includes children’s opportunities to engage in risky play. This study examined the relationship between the outdoor play environment and the occurrence of children’s risky play in ECEC institutions. Children (n = 80) were observed in two-minute sequences during periods of the day when they were free to choose what to do. The data consists of 935 randomly recorded two-minute videos, which were coded second by second for several categories of risky play as well as where and with what materials the play occurred. Results revealed that risky play (all categories in total) was positively associated with fixed equipment for functional play, nature and other fixed structures, while analysis of play materials showed that risky play was positively associated with wheeled toys. The results can support practitioners in developing their outdoor areas to provide varied and exciting play opportunities.

scholarly journals Dancing as Moments of Belonging: A Phenomenological Study Exploring Dancing as a Relevant Activity for Social and Cultural Sustainability in Early Childhood Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 8080
Author(s):  
Maria Grindheim ◽  
Liv Torunn Grindheim
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Sustainable Living ◽  
Aesthetic Experiences ◽  
Cultural Sustainability ◽  
Childhood Education

Individuals’ capacities to contribute to more sustainable living are deeply influenced by their early life experiences. Hence, there is a need to discover which experiences are relevant to young children’s contemporary and future contributions to more sustainable living. Perceiving children as aesthetically oriented to the world and their sense of belonging as a core experience for social and cultural sustainability, and using the example of dancing, we investigate how such a sense of belonging can be supported through aesthetic first-person experiences. This article is therefore structured around the following research question: How can adults’ experiences of themselves, others and their sense of belonging—when dancing—inform explorations of ways to foster embodied and aesthetic belonging for social and cultural sustainability in early childhood education (ECE)? Drawing on a phenomenological study, we analyse interviews with four dancers, who differ in age, gender and dance genre. Our analysis reveals their experiences when dancing as being in a meditative state, having a sense of freedom and feeling body and mind as one, described as an overall “different”, resilient way of being and belonging in a social context. Our findings indicate that facilitating moments of sensible and bodily awareness can support a non-verbal understanding of oneself and others, as well as arguments for promoting aesthetic experiences while dancing as relevant to sustainable practices in ECE.

Beyond uniform reproduction: Exploring children’s imaginative play through the lenses of their teacher

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liv Torunn Grindheim
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Role Play ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Basic Material ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Cultural Formation ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Imaginative Play ◽  
Children's Development

The voices of both early childhood education teachers and children tend to be weak in the choir of agents that constitute the aims and practices of early childhood education. In this article, a video that a teacher made of four children playing dragons, followed by open-ended interviews exploring why she found this particular activity of interest and then open-ended interviews with the involved children while watching and commenting on the video, forms the basic material for discussing how children’s imaginative play can inform what might be valuable activities in early childhood education. The theoretical framework and concepts for analysis draw on an understanding of cultural formation and a cultural-historical approach that outlines children’s development through participation in activities framed by contextual conditions. By tracing conflicts caused by differences in the involved children’s values and motives while meeting conditions and demands in their context, at the personal, institutional and societal levels, the exploration of friendship, danger, space, institutional rooms and what good play ‘is’ are depicted in children’s imaginative role play. From this, imaginative play is seen as being endowed with valuable activities in early childhood education and forms a contrast to the emphasis on future academic competences that are far removed from the children’s experiences.

scholarly journals Caracterización de los movimientos retóricos de Documentos Recepcionales (Tesis) en la Licenciatura en Educación Preescolar / Rhetorical Moves: Analysis of Recepcional Documents (Thesis) in a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomás Alfredo Moreno de León ◽  
Esperanza De León Arellano
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Teaching Strategies ◽  
Research Question ◽  
School Management ◽  
Genre Analysis ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Object Of Study

ABSTRACTThis paper is an investigation about the discursive genre analysis, which was based on receptianal documents elaborated by students of a higher education. The design followed by the research was case study. The Paltridge (2001) method was used to analyze 18 of 96 DRs, where 3 thematical lines were identified as well as 5 lines of investigation: 1) language; 2) socializations; 3) mathematical thoughts; 4) teaching strategies; and 5) school management, along with 7 rhetorical moves. The result showed that not all of the DRs had the same rhetorical moves, and for the 18 DRs covered too general of thematic which was not limited by the object of study nor the context in which the investigation would be done; also, 9 of the DRs lacked of a research question, while the rest of the papers presented from 3 to 20 of them. Therefore, one of the areas of opportunity for tutors of students who are doing DRs is that they receive training in the different areas and point of focus for the teaching of academic writing.RESUMENEste trabajo es una investigación sobre el análisis de género discursivo donde se caracterizaron los Documentos Recepcionales (DRs) elaborados por las alumnas de una Institución de Educación Superior (IES). El diseño que siguió la investigación fue el estudio de caso (Neiman y Quaranta, 2006). Se recurrió al modelo de Paltridge (2001) para caracterizar 18 de 96 DRs donde se identificaron tres líneas temáticas (SEP, 1999), posteriormente se encontraron cinco líneas de investigación: (1) lenguaje; (2) socialización; (3) pensamiento matemático; (4) estrategias de enseñanza; y (5) gestión escolar y siete movimientos retóricos. Sin embargo, no todos los DRs contaban con los mismos movimientos retóricos, por otro lado cuatro de los dieciocho DRs abordaron temas muy generales en los que no se delimitaban los sujetos a estudiar, ni el contexto en el que realizaría la investigación, además nueve de los DRs no contenía ninguna pregunta de investigación, mientras que el resto de los trabajos presentaban entre tres a veinte. Por lo tanto, una de las áreas de oportunidad de las tutoras de las futuras docentes es que reciban una capacitación en las diferentes teorías y enfoques para la enseñanza de la escritura académica. Contacto principal: [email protected]

scholarly journals Fagsamtaler i barnehagen

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Turid Jansen ◽  
Liv Gjems ◽  
Kristin Rydjord Tholin
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Educational Policy ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Educational Activities ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Children's Participation

Title: Issues of Educational Policy and Educational Activities in Norwegian kindergartensAbstract: The intention with this article is to develop knowledge about the potential in conversations about different subjects in early childhood education (ECE). The Research question is ”How can ECE teachers engage children to take active participants in conversations about different subjects”. Through language people share experiences and develop understanding for events and phenomena. We-observed spontaneous and planned conversations between children and ECE teachers. The observations reveal that the teachers ask many questions in subject conversations, and mainly talk to one child at a time. The children rarely asked questions to each other. The ECE teachers choices of pedagogical material are of importance for the children’s participation.

scholarly journals Debugging in Programming as a Multimodal Practice in Early Childhood Education Settings

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mia Heikkilä ◽  
Linda Mannila
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Multimodal Learning ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
School Year ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
Analysis Process ◽  
Learning Programming

The aim of this article is to broadly elaborate on how programming can be understood as a new teaching scope in preschools, focusing specifically on debugging as one of the phases involved in learning to program. The research question How can debugging as part of teaching and learning programming be understood as multimodal learning? has guided the analysis and the presentation of the data. In this study, and its analysis process, we have combined a multimodal understanding of teaching and learning practices with understandings of programming and how it is practiced. Consequently, the multidisciplinary approach in this study, combining theories from social sciences with theories and concepts from computer science, is central throughout the article. This is therefore also a creative, explorative process as there are no clear norms to follow when conducting multidisciplinary analyses. The data consist of video recordings of teaching sessions with children and a teacher engaged in programming activities. The video material was recorded in a preschool setting during the school year 2017–2018 and consists of 25 sessions of programming activities with children, who were four or five years old. The results show how debugging in early childhood education is a multimodal activity socially established by use of speech, pointing and gaze. Our findings also indicate that artefacts are central to learning debugging, and a term ‘instructional artefacts’ is therefore added. Finally, the material shows how basic programming concepts and principles can be explored with young children.

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