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What Are They Thinking?
September 25, 2014
Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold.
-Joseph Chilton Pearce
-Joseph Chilton Pearce
"Children are constantly trying to figure out how the world around them works," writes Deb Curtis and Margie Carter in Learning Together with Young Children. They continue...
"In fact, when you observe them closely, behind children's actions you can see them pursuing their theories about how the world works. The ongoing quest they have to uncover and rearrange the world in order to understand it can be a source of great motivation for deeper learning. When you tap into children's thirst for understanding by helping them uncover their theories and make them visible, the work becomes fascinating for both you and the children. You can ask children to explain their theories, offer materials to help children tell the story of their theories, or suggest they change media to re-represent a theory to expand their thinking. As you work with children to help them pursue their theories, you will gain new insight from their unique perspectives."
Many curriculum books treat teaching as something you do to or for children. Deb Curtis and Margie Carter, bestselling authors in the early learning field, believe teaching is a collaborative process in which you reexamine your own philosophy and practices while facilitating children's learning.
Each chapter in this curriculum framework includes a conceptual overview followed by classroom stories and vibrant photos to illustrate the concepts.
You will learn to create materials and a classroom culture reflecting your values; teach through observation, reflection, inquiry and action; and encourage children to represent their learning in multiple ways, including songs, stories, and drama.
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Comments (1)
Displaying 1 CommentOttawa, Ontario, Canada
Hello CCIE
A comment on Exchange online Thursday Sept 25 -
The work/research/writing of colleagues Deb Curtis and Margie Carter is an important contribution to the growth of understanding of early childhood educators. Please continue to cite them!
This thought: when reading today's posting, the depth of its significance may not be grasped if educators do understand what is a child's theory. George Forman, Lilian Katz, and Reggio educators, in addition to Curtis and Carter, have written extensively about making children's thinking visible. In my teaching however when I pose this idea many too many educators do not understand the concept of a child's THEORY about how the world works.
My thought is that your readers can be better served when a quote like today's is expanded to somehow reveal, through a scenario or another quote, an example of an educator naming a child's theory and acting on it. Thank you!
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