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The afternoon session at the Summer Institute was an overview of children's learning in early childhood education (ECE). As part of the overview, participants engaged in a hands-on group experience with open-ended materials, often referred to in ECE as “loose parts.” The purpose was for participants to experience engagement with materials according to their interests and ideas about how to use the materials, as part of a group. This experience was a basis for developing and/or extending an understanding of how young children learn from play and hands-on experiences.
Young children are curious and when allowed to follow their interests, they engage in play and use materials at their own individual developmental levels, often “pushing” themselves to reach new understanding, knowledge, and skills. Participants at the Summer Institute were given the opportunity to use the materials. After using the materials, groups discussed and related their experiences to how open-ended materials can allow for differing levels of challenges, cooperation with others, and engagement in the following areas: social/emotional learning, physical/motor development, language/literacy, math, science, and creativity.
ECE classrooms are designed to support play and engagement with materials. The classrooms are set up in interest areas such as blocks, dramatic play, library, art, and puzzles. The daily schedule is a balance of teacher-directed and child-initiated activities (play). ECE teachers support children's learning through planned teacher-directed activities such as story time or small group activities as well as observe and interact during play to extend children's learning.
Understanding each child and their individual developmental levels is a key teacher role in ECE. When children play and use materials, similar to what was done by participants at the Summer Institute, they tend to use all areas of development. For young children, they do so at their own developmental levels.
Play is complex and it may not seem as if children are learning, however they often are building deeper understanding of concepts. I have a fond memory of a group children (five years old) who created a bakery shop. The baked goods were made out of play dough. There was a toy cash register, money and signs created by children and bakery shop workers and customers. That was all fun, with many things happening in all areas of development, however it is a comment I overheard that stands out to me.
I asked if I could buy something and Stacy said “yes” and handed me a little piece of paper with “3” written on it. I asked what the paper was for (purposely saying nothing about what was written on it) and she said “You are the 3 one.” Another person, Jacob, quickly responded in a somewhat irritated tone: “Third one! It is third, not three!” Stacy understood what third meant, but did not have the vocabulary. Jacob knew the concept and the vocabulary and provided the correct word. Other children heard the conversation. Given my many observations of children's play, I think the “3” could have meant different things, one of which is that I was allowed to purchase three items. The meaning children assign to such things the paper with the “3” and other items used as symbols depends on children's understanding and developmental levels and their experiences in the world.
Often children seek a deeper, conceptual understanding through play. It is difficult to directly teach this conceptual understanding. The play allows them to cognitively work through the concepts and meaning. The deep understanding sets a foundation for future success.
You may find the video below of interest. In the TED talk, Nancy Carlsson-Paige describes children's learning from play, specifically how they gain conceptual knowledge that goes beyond rote memorization. The conceptual knowledge is a foundation from with children can build more complex understanding and skill.
Jennifer
When education does wrong: Dr. Nancy Carlsson Paige at TEDxTheCalhounSchool:
