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| Before |
The children approached me today and asked if they could change the layout of the playground equipment. I wanted to encourage their critical thinking and problem solving skills so I posed the question; how can we design the new playground? After much thought J suggested we “draw a picture to show where everything should go”. A few other children joined our group and pretty soon we had a collection of architects designing and discussing how the equipment would fit into the playground. Each child took turns at drawing where they wanted the different equipment to go. After half an hour our playground was ready to move. Once the revamped playground was set up the children had so much fun.
I loved watching the enjoyment the children seemed to achieve from this type of technology, designing their new playground not only showed their innovative abilities but also being in the outdoors, breathing in all that fresh air is great for their overall wellbeing (Ministry of Education, 1996; Greenfield, 2007). I was remarkably impressed with the creativity that these pre-schoolers possessed when thinking through the process of where they wanted the equipment to go (Petty, 1997). Although initially the main focus for the children was drawing up plans, the emphasis soon became centred on discussion amongst themselves about whether the ladder or monkey bars should be attached to a box. The children displayed independent thinking and showed the ability to recall on prior knowledge about the process and problem-solving skills when involved in this learning experience (Ministry of Education, 1996; Ministry of Education, 2007; Santrock, 2009;Smorti, 1999). I was happy with my role as the facilitator and was amazed at their ability to critically think about what they were going to do when I asked open-ended questions (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009) I could almost hear their active brains ticking over like the workings of a clock. I believe when children are given the freedom to adapt or modify things in the environment they are learning innovations which sit at the core of technological practice (Ministry of Education, 2007). The children worked really well as a team as they collectively planned, set up and trialled their masterpiece they had created and developed new strategies to problem-solve for themselves (Ministry of Education, 1996). They were so excited about what they accomplished, it warmed my heart to be a witness to their creative and confident decision making. I love it when children play an active part in the curriculum as it shows they really feel comfortable and empowered to participate in the environment. Children also know that when their ideas and thoughts are valued they gain a sense of belonging (Ministry of Education, 1996).
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| Discussing design |
This experience provided children with the opportunity to take charge of their learning and gain empowerment when they were encouraged to use critical thinking when trying to find solutions in designing the new playground (Athur, Beecher, Death, Dockett & Farmer, 2008; Ministry of Education, 1996; Smorti, 1999; Stephenson; 2010). Practical resources such as planks, the climbing wall, monkey bars and ladder supported the development of creative innovation as children used what was available around the centre to create what they envisaged (Ministry of Education, 1996; Ministry of Education, 2007; Smorti, 1999). While working cooperatively alongside their peers children used the concepts of ‘AKO’ and scaffolding. The numerous discussion and debating that took place while enterprising their design of the playground reaffirmed for me how technology is found everywhere we look (Santrock, 2009; Tamati, 2005). While the children were planning their new playground it became clear they were developing technological knowledge about the different methods of communicating their ideas through math concepts of distance and inventive processes (Copley, 2010; Ministry of Education, 1996; Smorti, 1999).
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| Team work |
References
Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, S. (2008). Programming and planning in early childhood settings (4th ed.). Victoria, Australia: Thompson.
Copley, J. (2010). The young child and mathematics. (2nd ed.).Washington, United States of America: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Greenfield, C. (2007). What is it about the monkey bars? Early childhood Folio, 11:2007, 31-35.
MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G. (2009). Techniques for teaching young children: Choices in theory and practice. New South Wales, Australia: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki, he whāriki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum Retrieved from
http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/the new zealand curriculum.
Petty, G. (1997). The creative process. In How to be better at creativity (pp. 15-21). London, UK: Kogan Page.
Tamati, A. (2005). “Mā tōu rourou, mā tōku rourou” the concept of AKO:
co-construction of knowledge from a Kaupapa Māori perspective. Early childhood Education.
Santrock, J.W. (2009). Lifespan development (12th ed., International). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Smorti, S. (1999, Autumn) Technology in early childhood. Early Education, 19.
Stephenson, A. (2010). Unravelling children’s “freedom of choice”. Early Childhood Folio 14 (2), 26-30.
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| The new design |
Kia ora Quirina, I know the children you teach have regular opportunities to contribute their ideas to decisions being made around the centre – I think they are very lucky to have a teacher like you who understands how valuable this can be for their learning and development :). I agree with you that technology such as this playground equipment, which is flexible enough to be used in a number of ways, supports the kind of creative processes which are essential to the development of technological thinking (Johnston, 2005). I can see using ‘pen and paper’ for the planning process worked really well and these resources are obviously very accessible and easy for young children to manage. It occurred to me that a possible next step could be using coloured blocks or meccano to represent the different components so the children could try out their ideas by making a small physical model before moving the real equipment around? Just putting it out there :)x
ReplyDeleteJohnston, J. ( 2005). Early explorations in science (2nd ed.). London, United Kingdom: McGraw Hill.
LOVE IT!! You are a great role model for developing our future leaders. With allowing the children to design and choose where to place the equipment you are giving the children leadership roles which will empower them as individuals with competent personas.
ReplyDeleteWhy not try and get them involved in planning and redesigning the indoor area? Every centre needs a spring clean every now and then, just because its Autumn doesn't mean you can't do it :0)
A fresh look with young architects at the heart of the design layout. Miranda has a great idea with the children making smaller models so that they can use different technological perceptions and also their fine motor skills to visibly create a floor area of interest. Enjoy the move Q.
Thanks for the comments guys. I have used your suggestion Miranda for my next blog. Watch this space. Rosie great minds think alike, the children have already redesigned our family and reading area last month, and it looks fabulous and they seem to play in it more often. We did a self review on it and our Professional services manager loved it. Mwah!!!!!
ReplyDeleteChildren love the outdoors and through their curiosity and enthusiasm for learning you have been able to support the children with their challenge to achieve a new look play-ground (Torquati, Gabriel, Jones-Branch, and Leeper-Miller, 2010). Children have some good ideas, and it’s more meaningful when they draw a plan and implement it. Children enjoy being hands-on and through curiosity and enthusiasm children love to be part of the outdoors. It can be a great socialising experience for children as they share their ideas and knowledge amongst their peers. Children do get bored coming to the same learning environment every-day and it is important for us as educators to support and encourage children to come up with new ideas, in how to make improvements. The boxes are a great resource to have in a learning environment, children can do so much with them which helps develop their cognitive skills. Having them draw a plan is special too; perhaps they could like Rosie mentioned, make a plan to do re-plan the indoor area. All these plans could be turned into a book for the children to share with their parents/whānau, which will encourage them to revisit and further extend upon at a later date.
ReplyDeleteTorquati, J., Gabriel, M., Jones-Branch, J., & Leeper-Miller, J (2010). Environmental education: A natural way to nurture children’s development and learning. Young children, 65(6),98-104.
Hi Q.
ReplyDeleteI love the photos showing the children lifting the equipment together; it supported your discussion and enabled me to visualize how the children used various forms of technology to critically think design, and work collaboratively to re-arrange their playground. I agree that when children are given opportunities to adapt and change their environment, it gives them a sense of empowerment and belonging; knowing that they can achieve new and innovative ways of thinking and doing (Ministry of Education, 1996). I have also come to learn that technology comes in myriad forms of shape and size and is everywhere we look and not just in technological digital form such as computers, iPods and cameras.
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki, He Whāriki Mātauranga mo nga Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.