A number of new entrant teachers I’ve spoken to lately have been exploring how they can best support inquiry learning with children new to school. Some have found the more traditional inquiry methods don’t seem to work so well with this younger group of children. So, they are interested in finding alternatives to supporting children’s thinking and creativity, while encouraging them to delve more deeply into ideas, concepts, and topics. At the same time, they are interested in supporting children’s transitions to school by making more connections to their prior-to-school experiences from early childhood education and home.
The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) gives some guidance here. It states:
The transition from early childhood education to school is supported when the school:
- Fosters a child’s relationships with teachers and other children and affirms their identity;
- Builds on the learning experiences that the child brings with them;
- Considers the child’s whole experience of school;
- Is welcoming of family and whānau.
This new stage in children’s learning builds upon and makes connections with early childhood learning and experiences. (MOE, 2007, p 41)
Building on and making connections
Let’s break down these ideas from The NZC a little, particularly the ideas about learning building on, from, and connecting with, prior learning and experiences. What are the experiences and learning children bring with them?
For many children, part of this prior-to-school experience and learning has occurred through their participation in early childhood education. But, what does this mean?
If we assume a child has participated regularly over an extended period of time in a quality early childhood education setting, we might expect they have experienced an environment where play is the valued mode of learning. It’s highly likely that their interests, goals, and strengths, developing learning dispositions and working theories will be central influences for programme design on a day-to-day basis.
They will have experienced a modern learning environment — most early childhood settings have never known any other way. Every day they will have had significant periods of uninterrupted time with other children and with teachers. This time will have allowed opportunities to develop short and long-term, personal and group projects and inquiries that will have emerged in response to both spontaneous and planned experiences.
Inquiries and projects in ECE
Examples of inquiries and projects I’ve seen in early childhood education settings include:
- Investigating whether or not volcanoes erupt on purpose
- What lives under the ground
- How water travels and where it goes (PDF)
- What’s inside a rock
- How to catch the wind.
These investigations aren’t topics selected by the teachers in advance, but rather, responses to the everyday wonderings of children that emerge through rich play tasks. Teachers have the critical role of both fostering and encouraging these inquiries — by way of their minute-by-minute interactions with the children, as they listen carefully to children’s emerging ideas, questions, ‘soft-spots’, and fascinations — as well as planning possible opportunities and possibilities to stretch the ideas and grow the learning.
Not every child’s experience
While I know many early childhood teachers would concur with this view of how teaching and learning happens in their place, this is only a snap-shot of what a child might experience in a quality early childhood education setting. However, it’s important to acknowledge that this won’t be the experience of all young children starting school. Nevertheless, building on children’s known modes of learning, and on what children find interesting, will go some of the way to supporting continuity for children and engagement.
Some suggestions
So, with all that in mind, I have a couple of suggestions as to what entrant teachers might like to try out in their classrooms:
Suggestion 1 – Embrace play as a legitimate and powerful mode of learning
Sometimes play is described as informal learning, but be assured play is learning, and there’s a plethora of evidence to say this is so. Of course this isn’t a new idea but many countries around the world value this form of learning for young children (over other more formal forms of learning) for much later in a child’s life than we in New Zealand do.
A recent article featured in the New Zealand Herald, “All work and no play”, illustrated the interest by some schools and parents in this country to introduce formal learning to three and four-year-olds. This position contrasts sharply with that of the Too much, too soon campaign in the UK that includes calls from leading academics to wait until children are seven years old to start formal learning. Interestingly, this campaign draws on the research of Dr Sebastian Suggate whose Otago University study found children who learnt to read at five years old were no more successful at reading than children who started reading at age seven.
Play is real learning, too
Play isn’t some sort of soft approach before the ‘real’ learning begins. That idea is a hangover from education’s industrial era. Play has been consistently described across time as central to cognitive, language, cultural, and social development. Lev Vygotsky said that ‘In play a child always behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behaviour; in play it is as though he were a head taller than himself. As in the focus of a magnifying glass, play contains all developmental tendencies in a condensed form and is itself a major source of development.’ (Vygotsky, 1978, p 102). He believed it was incorrect to conceive play as being without purpose. He considered that play as supporting the development of a child’s cultural knowledge that helped frame future learning of the child (Drewery & Claiborne, 2013).
I’m really confident that play is also the preferred mode of learning for young children. They get it. Play is what young children do. It’s what they know, and they are good at it.
More space, more time
There is some significant work happening in schools where teachers are creating greater space and time for play in their classrooms. However, my challenge to new entrant teachers, in particular, is to take it further. What I mean by this is, teachers should dedicate more regular times to it and use these opportunities for rich and complex learning.
Often, times for free-choice play (outside of morning tea and lunch time) are activity-based and provided in a small window of time, and are limited to the likes of one morning a week. This play is much more contained and constrained than what young children coming to school are used to. I acknowledge it’s not easy to find more space and time, especially with so many expectations on both children and teachers. But, I’ve seen plenty of teachers push back on these pressures, and they report having happier, more engaged children. They’ve also had less behaviour issues to deal with. Interestingly, these teachers are more energised and happier too.
While ideally there would be more regular and longer periods of time for children to become involved in complex, creative play, I believe it’s almost more important to be aware of who is designing what goes on during this time. More often than not this play is set up around adult-determined activities. While many of these activities are familiar to children, they don’t necessarily encourage the more complex inquiries that children are used to. Which is where my next suggestion comes in.
Suggestions 2 – Let children’s ideas and interests do more of the driving.
While many children enjoy learning through tabletop activities or choosing from a range of choices on offer, there are richer possibilities for how this time and play might be used. When adults listen to children’s working theories, interests, and passions, and use these to design complex and connected-learning opportunities, they effectively put children in the driver’s seat: the authentic ideas of children become the important questions to be explored.
By allowing children space and time to play they will show you what they know, what they are capable of, and what they want to learn about. Through play, they explore and express their ideas, interests, and passions — but you need to listen to these carefully to know what to pick up on. Here you will find a bottomless pit of material for designing richer, more authentic, interest-centred inquiries and projects where children are engaged in complex thinking, expression, and exploration. Trust me. You’ll be overwhelmed with a choice of what to delve into with children, and believe me when I say that the ideas they are interested in exploring are more interesting and compelling than any topic or activity we could dream up.
To get to this space, some teachers will need to become more attuned to children’s interests and passions. It will mean allowing children to hold a bit more of the power.
Examples from ECE
If you’d like to get a sense of some projects and inquiries of children in early childhood education settings, go to these links:
- Starting with photos [see page 14] (PDF)
- The mosaic project [see page 22] (PDF)
- So, what is camping? [see page 25] (PDF)
- Exploring local history [see page 10] (PDF)
- From costume designer to movie director [see page 24] (PDF)
- A business venture [see page 22] (PDF)
References
Drewery, W. & Claiborne, L. (2013). Human Development: Family, place, culture. Sydney: McCaw-Hill Education (Australia).
Ministry of Education (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum: The English-medium teaching and learning in years 1-13. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind and Society. USA: Harvard University Press.
Would you like help in developing and implementing
a Powerful Play programme in your school?
Keryn Davis
Latest posts by Keryn Davis (see all)
- Powerful play: Continuity and inquiry for children starting school - April 24, 2014
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- Research is only for academics…or is it? - February 3, 2011
well articulated article Keryn, hope it makes a difference to schools.
Thanks for your feedback Jan. I'm lucky enough to be working with an innovative and completely inspiring team of new entrant teachers at the moment who are really putting the research into action. We'll be sharing this work as it progresses across the year. Next term we'll be taking a careful look at how this approach to ‘doing’ school makes a difference in terms of transition to school for children. We’ll also be looking at particular aspects of learning (such as oral language, and Key Competency development) by some of the children when involved in play and child-led inquiry when compared to teacher-led aspects of the programme.
Thank you for the insightful reading. I am a new entrant teacher working on a personal goal to improve the transition between ECE and school within my classroom. I would love some direction and advice with this if that would be possible. I am highly interested incorporating inquiry learning also at this level. Thank you, Clare Gierc.
Great! Let's talk Clare. I'll be in touch.
Keryn one of our N.E. teachers attended a workshop last year and on return to school shared her learning, we have a strong transition to school programme and inquiry model through the school but I am keen to develop this further with our team of up to 9 N.E. teachers this year. Would be keen to talk. Jackie Procter DP
So interesting to read and a lot for me to consider. I have just started with a class of 15 new entrants – my first time teaching them – and I am thinking carefully about how to approach inquiry learning. Very interested in any other readings / ideas on this topic. Thanks Julie.
I'm pleased you've found this useful Julie. I'm planning to have a summary of the Re-thinking, re-designing NE classrooms project findings out around mid March. I'll make this available online (and I'll link it here) and I'll also write another blog post then too. I'm planning to publish a series of short videos relating to this work too.
In the meantime you might be interested in finding out more about the curriculum for the first 3 years of school for children in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland has made a major shift towards a greater emphasis on dispositional learning (like our key competencies) and play as learning/inquiry for children in these years of school.
These changes were based on a big study where a play-based programme was trialled in 100 ‘disadvantaged’ schools for 950 year 1 (4 – 5 years of age) and year 2 (5 – 6 years of age). The study associated with this initiative tracked children's progress into years 3 and 4. They also had a control group of 950 children who had experienced more traditional classroom programmes at the same age.
The researchers here used an observation tool to evaluate the effectiveness of the play-based programme for children in terms of 9 areas: motivation, concentration, confidence, independence, physical well-being, multiple skill acquisition, higher-order thinking skills, social interaction and respect.
They found children in the play-based programmes significantly outscored children in the traditional programmes in 8 areas. The 9th (weakest area) was higher-order thinking. The children experiencing the play-based programme still scored higher than the control group in terms of higher-order thinking, and were challenged more than those in the traditional programme, however the advantage was not as significant as the other 8 areas.
There were all sorts of reasons for this – perhaps I'll write a blog about that – but in a nut shell the researchers felt this probably had a lot to do with teachers who weren't yet sure about their role in play – so weren't giving children quite the stretch in their thinking that they could have been giving them.
Anyway, the children in the play-based programme group continued to outscore their control group peers in those 9 areas at Y3 and Y4. So this early experience was having a lasting impact on learning.
Interestingly they made changes to their reading programmes too, and while the play-based group scored lower at Y3 (when they entered a more formal classroom), than their control groups peers, they very quickly reached the reading levels of their control group. These results matched those of the Otago study I've mentioned in my blog post. Interesting stuff for us to think about in this country given when other countries choose to introduce formal reading instruction.
Here's a link to the NI curriculum http://www.nicurriculum.org.uk/
It's all good food for thought!
It would be great to hear what's working well for your NE children Jackie, and areas you'd like to play around with. I'll drop you a line and we can talk some more.
Hi Julie, I teach at Te karaka Area School and we have set up a foundation class with similar ideas. I would like you to read my blog about some of our journey at http://www.tkaslessons.blogspot.co.nz/2014/12/learning-through-play-tara-oneill.html
I was so excited to read your blog and to know there is someone else out there thinking the same way. This journey is not without difficulty and there are lots of issues around National Standards. I would be very interested in discussing this further.
Kia ora Julie,
It's been great to connect via the Learning through Play FB page. Hopefully more readers of this blog post will join the group.
[…] Next we were taken through some inspiring examples from her own research where play had been first introduced as a special hour at the beginning of the day, for “proper” school to commence afterwards. She explained how the positive results from this specially timetabled hour of play had led the schools to extend it and use elements of play throughout the day, making the most of opportunities that arose. Learners naturally started to organise, lead others and collaborate. I highly recommend you read more about her work here. […]
Hurrah!
Hi Keryn
I am a New Entrant teacher at Nelson Park School, Napier and I cannot wait to read your research findings on Re-thinking and re-designing NE classrooms. I have really enjoyed reading this article and would love to talk to you further about the role of play in providing young children with more power over their learning. I am from Northern Ireland originally and it has been very interesting to read about the Foundation Stage again. I was very lucky to do my teaching practice in one of the schools that trialled the play-based programme originally. I would be very keen to discuss these things with you at some stage but understand how busy you must be. Kind Regards Sarah
Sarah! We need to talk. I can't believe a whole term has gone by. Can we get together on Skype next week?
Hi Keryn,
I have been a N.E. teacher for a number of years and would love to read your research as I am currently looking into play-based learning for my teaching as inquiry. Would you be able to send me the link please? I would also love the opportunity to talk to you about how we can make changes at Kaiapoi North. Kind Regards, Mel
Kia ora Mel,
I'm hoping to get a new project up and running soon. I'll certainly be in touch as I'm keen to establish a small group of teachers who are keen to trial some new ideas and really step things up. The link to the New Entrant classrooms in the re-making research project will be ready to go live in the next couple of weeks. I'll be sure to post the link here for you.
Regards
Keryn
[…] in and following the guidelines laid out by the teacher. It’s heartening to read stories like this one that show things are changing but these examples still exist as a minority in […]
Hi Keryn, I have been looking into play based learning as my teacher inquiry over the last few months. I enjoyed reading your post. I would love to read your research findings. If you need another guinea pig I'd love to be involved…I teach Year 0/1 in Blenheim.
Kia ora Mel,
Yes, I do need more "guinea pigs"! If you are keen to get in touch – or anyone else for that matter – I'm starting work on a new project next term. It will start off really slowly but I'm keen to get some people together to talk through ideas and try some ideas in their classrooms.
Drop me a line keryn.davis@core-ed.org
Keryn
Hi Keryn
wow, this has really struck a chord with me. After reading this (thanks Facebook) I would love to know and learn more about this approach. I teach NE/yr 1 and can totally see the benefits in this. I would love to get in touch to talk more about your findings,and where to next.
Great Paula. As I've said above to Mel, I'm trying to get traction with some new thinking/approaches. I'd love to keep you in the loop if you are keen.
Keryn
[…] http://blog.core-ed.org/blog/2014/04/powerful-play-continuity-and-inquiry-for-children-starting-scho… […]
[…] Powerful play: Continuity and inquiry for children starting school — Keryn Davis […]
Hi Keryn,
I teach at a small country school in Central Hawkes Bay and have been considering how I can incorporate more play into my classroom. I teach Y0-2 and am struggling with the idea of how to involve play but also cover all areas of the curriculum and assessment requirements plus observe the children in play enough so I am able to build a clear picture of what interests them to assist in facilitating further learning.
Feeling slightly overwhelmed…
Kia ora,
Your feelings of feeling overwhelmed at the idea of incorporating play are understandable! You certainly aren't alone.
To help, I'd suggest to read this research report on the work at Mairehau Primary School in Christchurch http://www.core-ed.org/sites/core-ed.org/files/CORE-Research-Report-New-Entrants-in-the-Re-making-v1.1.pdf
I also suggest that you start small. Commit an hour a week to begin with and then see how you can grow it.
Here's some questions that might be helpful for you to answer first – just to help you weigh it all up:
– Imagine you had a play based programme up an running – What would be the outcomes for learners? What is the learning you would hope to see? Make a list and see how many you can name.
– Which aspects of the curriculum do these outcomes relate to? – How much curriculum 'coverage' does your list represent? How worthwhile does it appear now?
How does this level of 'coverage' compare to other aspects of your current programme? Imagine what might be covered in a term, or a year? How does it feel now?
– If you were to do this, what could you let go of to create room for play based learning? (Many teachers I work with let go of Topic for a start – could you do the same?).
Please keep in touch.
I'd love to hear how you get on.
Ngā mihi Keryn
Hi Keryn, I'just reading your blog and findig it really interesting. But when openig the linksit takes me to the education.govt.nz page….should I go somehwhere on this site? Or is it just me being a bit dense?! Would love to keep track of this. Thanks, Tracey
Thanks Tracey. It's not you! It seems these links have been lost since the MOE changed its website. I'll arrange for them to be updated.
Ngā mihi
Keryn
[…] more emphasis on play-based education. This earlier CORE blog post on powerful play goes into more […]
[…] Keryn Davis’s post: Powerful play: Continuity and inquiry for children starting school […]
Hi Keryn,
Were you able to get the links updated? My DP has just given me this article as we are moving more strongly into play based learning.
Hi Helen,
Sorry it has taken so long to update the links. These are all up to date now.
Ngā mihi
Keryn
Yes, please update the links. Really keen to see them.
Kia ora Catherine,
All up to date now. Sorry it has taken so long!
Ngā mihi
Keryn
Thank you very much for providing this information. We set up a play-based learning approach in our school at the beginning of the year, and are reflecting and refining all of the time.
I’d be interested to know your thoughts about how much input teachers should have during play.
Thank you.
Hi Keryn,
I am a teacher in a special school in Chch and see this as a real area of need for my class of new entrants, mostly with a diagnosis of ASD. I was just wondering if you have had much experience of implementing play into a special education setting? I am really keen to learn more / do more / research more but am wondering where to start! Any advice or support gratefully received.
Thanks
[…] http://blog.core-ed.org/blog/2014/04/powerful-play-continuity-and-inquiry-for-children-starting-scho… […]
[…] have moved away from play in primary schools. However, NZ educational researcher Keryn Davis emphasises […]