Part One of a Two Part Series - ChildCareExchange.comMadison s body on a large piece of paper....

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Child Care Information Exchange 9/01 — 39

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Child Care Information Exchange � PO Box 3249, Redmond, WA 98073-3249 � (800) 221-2864

Projects and ThemesPart One of a Two Part Series

PHOTOGRAPH BY BONNIE NEUGEBAUER

Oh, No! Her Lips Fell Off! The Statue of Liberty High School Projectby Alison Lutton and Sherry Bellomo

Children, Learning, Art, and Culture by Sister Maria Sylva Ramos

Making Choices for Learning Through Relationships and Interactions by Amelia Gambetti

The Project Approach in the Early Years by Lilian G. Katz

The Power of Ordinary Moments by George Forman, Ellen Hall, and Kath Berglund

Community Involvement in Curriculum Development:Papua New Guinea’s Unique Cultural Calendar by Andrew Ikupu and Anne Glover

Training Suggestions Within Articles by Kay Albrecht

January — A Snowy Day and a Sculpture

It was a snowy day in January. Some children had bootsto go out in the snow. Others did not. The teacher thinksaloud, �What a dilemma.� The children know Mrs. Bel-lomo will not provide the solution but will listen and con-sider each of their ideas. They know she will help themtry out their ideas. They know a solution that excludespart of the group will not be acceptable.

The solution comes. �Let�s bring the snow inside foreveryone!� Mrs. Bellomo and the boot group take thewater table outside, fill it with snow, and wheel it backthrough the building into the classroom.

Pat, poke, taste, squeeze. Children pile snow on a tray.�Let�s build a snowman!� Morganna worries, �Hey, it�sgetting too high to be a snowman.� Wobble, tilt, slide.Mrs. Bellomo offers support and stimulation as the chil-dren feel snowman failure coming on. �A snow sculpturecan be anything. Sometimes you don�t know what youare sculpting until it just shows up and then there it is �your special work.� She hands out craft sticks anddemonstrates their use as a sculptor�s tool.

Pile, pat, sculpt. Grant shouts, �There it is! I see it! It�s theStatue of Liberty High School!� Grant calls everyone tosee the statue. Mrs. Bellomo gets the classroom encyclo-pedia to use as a reference, so that everyone can see whatthe Statue of Liberty looks like. The children agree. It�sher all right, but she needs some work. They study theencyclopedia. What is she holding? What is she wearing?What is that thing on her head? Can we paint lips onsnow? Experiments result in a �yes!� if the snow is hardenough and the paint is thick enough.

This children�s center is a lab school for early childhoodeducation students at Northampton Community Collegein Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. We are about two hoursfrom New York City. Grant�s mother works at LibertyHigh School so his connection between the statue and hismother�s school building made sense to us.

Hmm, if this is the Statue of Liberty, then she has to holda book. Real books prove too heavy, but eventually asolution arises in the form of a piece of paper folded likea book. The Statue of Liberty High School is declared fin-ished. Now what to do with her? Will the snow melt?Will Grant be able to show the statue to his mother at theend of the day? Mrs. Bellomo helps the children make asign, take the statue back outside on a metal cart withwheels, and set it up right by the building entrance for allthe parents to see.

On this Tuesday, Alison Lutton�s Early Childhood VisualArts class began with a trip outside to examine the Statueof Liberty High School and imagine how it might havebeen built. What questions might the children haveasked? What problems might have been posed andsolved? What do you think the children were studyingand learning about? What kind of curriculum planning


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Her Lips Fell Off!The Statue of LibertyHigh School Project

Sherry Bellomo is head teacher in apreschool classroom at NorthamptonCommunity College in Bethlehem,Pennsylvania. She also works withNCC’s Family Literacy Program andpresents teacher training workshops.Sherry has an associate’s degree inEarly Childhood Education from

Northampton Community College.

Alison Lutton is on the early childhoodeducation faculty of NorthamptonCommunity College in Bethlehem,Pennsylvania. She is a past family childcare provider and the daughter of afamily child care provider. Alison hasworked in preschools and in grouphomes for special needs children and

adults. She has served as a consultant in the developmentof the new NAFCC accreditation and to communityaccreditation projects.

by Alison Lutton and Sherry Bellomo


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orkshopdo you think this teacher does? After generating their ownideas, Mrs. Bellomo came in to tell the students her story.It was a great day. The language of the visual arts engagedchildren in creative thinking, problem solving, and collab-orative learning. Early childhood college students wereable to see textbooks and discussions about visual arts andvisual thinking transformed into thought and action byreal children. Setting to work on snow with the tools,techniques, and language of the visual arts generated anexplosion of ways to explore life and generate sharedunderstandings about self, others, and the world.

Oh, No! Her Lips Fell Off! —A Good Question to Ponder

he Statue of Liberty High School stood tall at the doorthrough Friday. As children entered the classroom onMonday they announced big trouble. �Something hap-pened to the State of Liberty High School!� All coats on!Everyone outside! Grant looked at the stature, put hishands on his cheeks, and yelled, �Oh, no! Her lips felloff!� The search began. Children and teacher looked allover the ground and walked up and down the sidewalk.Morganna began to question this strategy. �Maybe wewon�t find them. I think the wind blew them away,maybe.� Alexia was pretty sure the lips were lost becausethe snow melted. Mrs. Bellomo commented, �This is agood question to ponder.� The children decided that thestatue was in fact melting and should be brought inside�to keep her safe.�

With the statue back in the classroom, the day focused onmeasuring, hypothesizing, charting, creating newhypotheses, counting, and using the language andelements of mathematics as problem-solving tools. Mrs.Bellomo and the children checked the statue every hour.They used a turkey baster to suck up the water appearingon the tray. They charted their observations and measure-ments. They sang and acted out a song about five snow-men melting. They read a book about a boy who tried tosave a snowman for next year. They told stories abouttheir own snow adventures and created snow pictures.Mrs. Bellomo wrote down the stories and protected thepictures. By the end of the day it seemed the statue wouldsoon be transformed into numbers and words. Art becamelanguage and literature, music and movement, math andscience.

The Big, Big City — A CommunityGenerates and Sustains a Project

Architecture, geography, and social studies ruled phasetwo of the Statue of Liberty High School Project. Everyoneshared stories of visits to New York. Which building inNew York is the tallest? Is it the Statue of Liberty? Wholives in New York City? Classrooms up and down the hallloaned pictures of cities. Families, teachers, and lab stu-dents offered stories, books, music, and artifacts. Thedramatic play area became a New York bagel shop. Theblock area was humming, buzzing, and banging withchildren. Teachers wrote children�s words and encouragedchildren to sketch their block constructions. Children stud-ied maps of New York and drew maps of their own. Therecycle bin was depleted and a plea for help went home toparents. A display of art work, photos, and children�swords went up in the hall.

During week two, lab students told stories from the Statueof Liberty High School Project in their Visual Arts classand toured the hall display. Mrs. Bellomo went off for aday trip to New York with her son and his eighth gradeband.

Mrs. Bellomo returned with a bronze State of Liberty anda pile of postcards. Grant announced, �All right. We canbuild our own New York City.� They turned to theencyclopedia, maps, and postcards. Teachers and childrendiscovered how the statue was made and how she came toNew York. They talked about Ellis Island, immigrants, andlife in the big city.

Children began to build their version of New York City onthe table. They ripped up paper for water and used roundyellow stickers for windows. Uh-oh. Time for lunch andwe need the table. What will happen to the city? Thegroup decided to move it onto another table by the wall.The children set the new bronze statue on her own EllisIsland, surrounded by buildings everywhere.

The next day Grant studied the box city and announced,�We�ve got to make it bigger.� The table moved out intothe hall. New buildings were erected. Cars and peoplewere made. An airplane appeared �to take people to thestatue.� Inside the classroom, other children were makingtheir own versions of American flags, marching topatriotic songs, and role playing �Lady Liberty.� Familiesshared information about their nationalities and cultures.Children created more cities, more maps, and a hugemural of New York City. A teacher noticed Bradley tracingMadison�s body on a large piece of paper. Madison washolding a paper towel roll in her hand. This �hu-mung-gous statue� was given a backing and stuffed so she couldstand up and watch over the New York Big Box City �


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pand not melt. Excited discussions about New York Cityreached a new level. It was time for a class trip.

The trip began with a little talk from the tour guide, whohad a remarkable resemblance to Mrs. Bellomo. MissButz and Madison made sure everyone had their tickets.A work-study student and Pieter were the bus drivers.Sometimes the road got very bumpy. Everyone duckedheads through the Lincoln Tunnel, then looked up veryhigh to see the buildings. Everyone said, �oooh� and�aahhh.� The tour guide reminded children to �pick apartner and hold hands. We don�t want to lose anyone.�Mike, the boatman, (who also looked just like Mrs.Bellomo) collected tickets and took the group to EllisIsland � carefully so no one fell in the water. Everyonepeered through the fog.

Suddenly, there she was, barely visible in the mist, andlooking a lot like Miss Butz with a toilet paper roll in herhand. The boat circled, with more oohs and ahhhs. Thestatue winked! Grant was startled. His friend Bradleyoffered reassurance, �It�s okay. It�s only Miss Butz. It�snot the real Statue of Liberty.� The tour group wanderedaround town (the New York Big Box City on a table),admiring all the buildings. Of course a trip to New Yorkwould not be a trip to New York without a stop at avendor stand for hot dogs and pretzels. After a visit tothe Make Your Own Torch And Crown souvenir stand,the group returned home.

Art Leads Learning

Our early childhood program is based on Art as a Way ofLearning,® a professional development program createdthrough a partnership between Northampton Commu-nity College and Binney & Smith, Inc.

At the core of our program is the belief that art leadslearning. Human beings use multiple language systemsas tools for understanding and communicating. Theselanguage systems include verbal, gestural/kinesthetic,musical, mathematical, and visual/graphic languages.Each language has its own elements and its own struc-tural principles. None of these languages is inherentlyartistic or non-artistic. All have aesthetic potential. (Gard-ner)�The aesthetic use of a language is deeply rooted in whatwe know and feel about that knowing. Aesthetic forms ofcommunication are thus tied directly to personalexperiences and cultural contexts. Aesthetic creationsdepict the fullness of humanity and our potential tocreate change, develop new understandings, and trans-

form perspectives. Personal, expressive use of languagedemands critical and creative thinking and results in self-discovery and new knowledge.

�. . . The arts (dance, drama, music, and visual arts) arelanguages which enable children to construct andcommunicate their knowledge, skills, dispositions, andfeelings, both functionally and aesthetically.

�Children�s abilities . . . span all of their languages, andthey quite readily share ideas and feelings throughvarious artistic forms beginning at a young age. Theirsinging, dancing, dramas, and paintings demonstrate anunabashed enthusiasm for artistic communication.�

� P. Pinciotti, & R. Gordon inArt as a way of learning®. Explorations in teaching.

Bethlehem, PA: Northampton Community College, 2001.

It is natural for children to use symbolic languages, butskilled teachers create a special community of childrenand adults thinking, doing, and learning together. Goodteachers develop skills and strategies that support chil-dren�s creative and critical thinking. Learning happenswhen children use art to connect to prior knowledge,gain meaningful new information, generate new ideas,and practice valuable skills. This process occurs in spon-taneous and sporadic ways every day. It takes on a spe-cial nature when the swirl of life is focused, when thatfocus is sustained and used to organize ideas.

Our children�s program has no proscribed curriculum,but we find that the project approach works for us as away to integrate and organize the study of emergentcurriculum themes (Jones & Nimmo). Our projects arearts-based. Teachers, children, and college studentsgenerate topic webs as a graphic way to depict the ideas,concepts, and major sub-themes within a project. Theproject approach helps us to test the value of potentialtopics for study, to generate webs of concepts andpossibilities, and to assess children�s development andlearning (Katz & Chard).Art is a thinking and learning process of decision mak-ing, analyzing, imagining, reflecting, and synthesizing.Art is problems posed and solved. Art is an experiencethat stands apart from the flow of everyday life (Dewey).Sometimes the project is beautiful, sometimes not. Some-times there is a product that lasts for centuries, some-times the product is temporary, and sometimes there isno product at all. Sometimes the product melts away intime, despite all efforts to keep it safe.

We still have photos, journals, quotes, the Big Box City,

the statue that won�t melt, and the mural. Projects gener-ate archives of beautiful stuff that we want to saveforever. But this project�s true value was the degree towhich it helped us to build our teaching-learning envi-ronment. The Statue of Liberty High School galvanizedand transformed this year�s learning community ofchildren, families, early childhood students, and teachers.

Epilogue

It is a hot day in June. Hot like a desert. By mid-daysheets of paper are taped together and suspended fromclotheslines. A sign says, �tent.� Another sign taped tothe water fountain says, �oasis.� Children are talking toeach other about camels. Teachers are shuffling throughcollections of art prints. Our article is due and a tinygrain of a project is emerging that as yet has no name.We�ll see what tomorrow brings.

References

Dewey, J. (1934). Art as experience. New York: G.P. Putnam &Sons.

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind. New York: Basic Books.

Gardner, H. (1983). Artistic Intelligences. Art Education, 36,47-49.

Gardner, H. (1990). Art education and human development.Los Angeles: The Getty Center.

The Goals 2000 Arts Education Partnership. (1995). The artsand education: Partners in achieving our national educationgoals. Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts.

Jones, E., & Nimmo, J. (1994). Emergent curriculum.Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Katz, L., & Chard, S. (1989). Engaging children�s minds: Theproject approach. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Pinciotti, P., & Gorton, R. (1998). Art as a Way ofLearning:® A Business and education partnership. In R.L.Irwin & A.M Kindler (Eds.), Beyond the school: Communityand institutional partnerships in art education. Reston, VA:National Art Education Association.Pinciotti, P., & Gorton, R. (2001). Art as a way of learning.®

Explorations in teaching. Bethlehem, PA: NorthamptonCommunity College.

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Children as Problem-solvers: These authors begintheir article by talking about a classroom climatewhere children know that teachers will not providesolutions and that solutions must include everyonethat is interested. How did the social climate getthat way? After reading this article, discuss withteachers how they might create such a climate intheir classrooms. Identify some strategies worthtrying and send teachers back to see what works.When teachers are trying out new ideas, expectthat many of them won�t work. Support their con-struction of knowledge by encouraging them to keeptrying to develop strategies that do work.

Good Question!: The students in the visual artsclass came up with some good questions teachersmight borrow to explore children�s project learning(see page 41). Visit a classroom in your school withanother teacher. Pose some of the questions in thisarticle as you look at emerging project work in theclassroom.

Not All at Once: The authors of this article giveus a good picture of the timeline of this project.What is more difficult to discern is the structureof the classroom as the project unfolds. Was itdone as a large group? If not, how did the childrendistribute themselves in the various activities?When did the teachers identify supportingresources and enrich the classroom with them?These types of real questions can become road-blocks for teachers who are just experimentingwith project work. After reading this article,discuss these and other questions that come up with interested teachers.

Using Prior Knowledge: These authors talk aboutusing art to connect prior knowledge to new infor-mation, knowledge, and skills, and to stimulatecreating new information knowledge, and skills.Work with interested teachers to developstrategies for recording and collecting evidence of prior knowledge to revisit with children.

Building Your Resource Library: Consider expand-ing your resource library to support further studyof these ideas by purchasing resource books fromthe reference list.H

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Children, Learning, Art, and CultureSister Maria Sylva Ramos

Sister Sylva is an early childhood student who was enrolled inVisual Arts and Music and Movement courses during the Statueof Liberty High School project. She spent two hours a week inMrs. Bellomo’s classroom. Sr. Sylva was born in the Phillipines,lived for a few years in Italy, and has been in the United Statesfor 14 years. She has been a teacher at St. Anthony’s Conventpreschool for eight years.

“I used to think a project was an art activity, something thatstarted and ended in a day. But the total immersion in this pro-ject was incredible. It was everywhere. You heard it in the chil-dren’s talk about the twin towers, cars, the Lincoln Tunnel. Youheard it as parents and children looked at maps together.Where’s the Rockefeller Center? The twin towers? I couldn’t answer their questions. I had to go to the Internet.

“This project gave all of us a way to put everything into context. It made possible cooperative art at age four. Childrenare amazing. Their visual thinking, their imagination is more vivid than adult imagination — maybe less complex butmore vivid. Children were so proud of their city of wood scraps. It made me think about ways my childhood gave me theopportunity to respect myself, to become educated. In my culture it is important to strengthen our muscles, not just toplay with toys but to use real tools.

“Art is discovering the power of a tool in a human hand. As children we used the real tools of farming and fishing. Oursoil is clay for our artists. Touching tools is touching power. In my childhood we had paintbrushes, but we also usedtwigs and cypress leaves as brushes. We used coconut husks to make castanets and piggy banks. We all learned to makebaskets from palm leaves. We learned shapes from collections of bark, sand, shells, and stones. Everyone stays at homein the evening because it is a good time to be with your family to study, talk and make things. We had no television,radio, or telephone. But we had oceans to swim, mountains to climb, soil to farm, caves to explore, wrens and orchids inthe forest. At school we cleaned our own classrooms. We brought knives to school every day but we were not thinkingabout violence. We used our knives for gardening and our intelligence to cut schoolyard grass.

“In the United States there is so much opportunity. So much stuff. Maybe we respect things more, respect nature more.Tropical people wake up early and full of spirit. Cold countries are so different. Americans are embarrassed about so manythings. Our teachers taught us art, dance, music, farming, everything. Children need to be taught to respect tools. Handsare so much a part of a person. Mrs. Bellomo is a very intelligent, fascinating kind of teacher. Parents say early childhoodeducation is like babysitting, but they don’t live in this world each day.”

A parent interrupts Sr. Sylva to hand her a gift. It is a box of gold wrapped chocolate coins. The parent says that herchild tells stories about Sr. Sylva at home. “I just want to thank you for making this year a good experience for him tobe in a lab school.”

Sr. Sylva continues. “One day we were trying to build something very tall and wondered how do people build tall build-ings? How do they carry things up? Reese wanted to make a pulley. I told him he would have to help me figure this out.Mrs. B and I worked together. We collected heavy things and containers. We used the college faculty, books, and theInternet as resources. I wonder if there is a virtual tour of New York on the Internet? Why didn’t I think of that? Teach-ers need to be informed but also know how to use resources. I will learn this mistake. I have a lot of things to learn.”

In May, as the Statue of Liberty High School project wound down, Sr. Sylva passed the U.S. citizenship test.


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PHOTOGRAPH BY ALISON LUTTON

Loris Malaguzzi wrote in the introduction of the bookFountains:

�Carrying out a project means predicting and anticipat-ing ideas and facts (which may be modified due tochance or intentionally during the course of the project)in view of reaching an objective. It is a rigorous andhypothetical game that the children know how to con-front as a group with a high level of concentration andoften with incredible ability.

�All the children in the class participate in the generalconsultation, even when the project, which has preciseaims for exploration and study of productive and cooper-ative abilities, will be entrusted to a single and smallgroup of children (four to six) who sometimes volunteerand other times are chosen by the adults. There is always,however, a continuous flow of information between thechildren who are directly involved and their classmates.

�The choice of the project content is almost always sug-gested by the facts, discussions, and interests that emergefrom the children�s own experience, thus ensuring thatthe ideas are positively received and that interest andmotivation are high.

�The theme of the project that emerges from the initialconsultation, along with the intermediary objectives andprocedures, will be the subject of other preliminary meet-ings between the children.

�Our aim is for them to gain experience in discussing,negotiating, and organizing ideas, and to be able toproject these ideas into the suitable and possible spaces of the selected theme, without being afraid of makingmistakes, correcting, or changing.

�The execution of the project often involves expandingthe interactive and constructive processes of bringing inother children and teachers.

�Sometimes a project is simultaneously taken on by chil-dren of the same age in different schools, which offers agreat deal of potential for comparison. Or it may happen

that the project is proposed at the same time to childrenof three, four, and five in the same school, which alsoenables an analysis of the differences in processes andresults.

�The duration of a project cannot be defined a priority �it may last from two to three hours, to ten days, to two tothree months, and more. As the object of observation anddocumentation, each project is followed by two teachers.One records the children�s discussions using a taperecorder and by making her own notes, and the otheruses a camera or videocamera to record the visualimages.

�The recordings and other documentation on the chil-dren�s processes are opened to group discussion andanalysis among all the teachers and between teachers andparents.

�The design and realization of a project entrusted to groups of children is one of the fundamental educationalelements of our experience.


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Learning Through Relationshipsand Interactions

Amelia Gambetti, an educator in the ReggioEmilia Municipal Preschools for 25 years, isa distinguished contributor to this issue ofChild Care Information Exchange. As thecoordinator of Reggio Children and ReggioChildren Liason for consultancy to schools,she provides invaluable leadership andguidance to schools and universities across

America (for example, Washington, DC; St. Louis, MO; Columbus,OH; Chicago, IL; Boulder, CO; Oakland and Santa Monica, CA; St.Paul, MN; and Miami, FL). Amelia was a visiting lecturer at theUniversity of Massachusetts, Amherst from 1992-1993.

Amelia is a member of the World Forum Organizing Committee andon the Editorial Board of Innovations in Early Education: TheInternational Reggio Exchange. She has played a key role in thecreation and development of The Hundred Languages of Childrenexhibit that has brought Reggio Emilia to thousands of people.

by Amelia Gambetti

�This choice is explicitly related to constructivist theoryand practice, to a school that researches by projects, to aneducational concept that places essential value on theinteraction between children and children (in addition tochild-adult and adult-adult interaction) for the creativedevelopment of the logical, cooperative, expressive,imaginative, and symbolic languages of the child.�

I would like to follow Loris� words with some personalreflections. Such reflections come from my working formany years as a teacher in the preschools of ReggioEmilia, and my work for several years to prepare teachersin the United States. I have been witness and a participantin the development of teachers and schools who trans-formed their work in powerful and beautiful ways by re-interpreting the ideas and experiences from ReggioEmilia. If we look at the school as the context for actions,experiences, and interactions to take place, then class-rooms can be seen as systems of relationships and interac-tions.

This is how we perceive the Reggio Emilia Municipalinfant toddler centers and preschools. Each preschool hastwo, three, or four classrooms, each with 26 children andtwo teachers who are together all day (schools are openfive days a week from 7:30 am to 7:00 pm) for three years.

In a school with three classrooms of 26 children and twoteachers each, there will also be one atelierista, one cook,two full-time helpers, and three part-time helpers. Thesystem of relationships and interactions, which is builtthroughout the whole school, values each single person.All staff roles are considered equally important.

In Reggio, the structure of our organization supports thecareful observation necessary for us to perceive and tounderstand multi-faceted events and to value all the pos-sibilities that take place in our schools, as children andadults live their days together. Children can follow differ-ent interests and be involved in different small groupexperiences within their classrooms. But these experiencescan also be developed outside their classrooms, throughthe system of interactions and relationships that is con-stantly being built between adults and children, childrenand children, children and the environment, and childrenand materials.

From our beginning, we have strongly believed that it isessential to build a system of relationships based onrespect and reciprocal confidence and trust that involvesall the children and adults in the school, including thechild�s parents and family. Respect and trust are values.To build them into the life of the school requires time,consistency and continuity.

Respect and trust are essential elements for creatingcertain kinds of rhythms and harmony within the class-room and throughout the whole school. They are the basisfor continuous communication and an open dialogue ofexchanges, sharing, conflicts, negotiation, and agreements.

In the daily life in the classrooms and in the school manyare the things that take place. Children�s curiosities andinterests are developed inside a web of continuing rela-tionships. Times and spaces for small, medium, andlarge group conversations are contexts where the ideasemerge, are elaborated upon, and find a fertile ground tobe listened to and understood. To learn how to listen, howto think, and how to analyze are important competencesfor understanding the origin of the interests and of themany questions children and adults can have.

The life of a school is a situation full of complex processesthat requires time for reflection and a high level of aware-ness. It is just this reflection, this awareness, and thisanalysis that help teachers and children (sometimesparents) to make choices and to decide together what canbe developed and why.

In the daily life of the school many things happen, manyconversations take place, and many ideas, thoughts, andconcepts are part of these events and happenings. InReggio the conversations are listened to, taped, tran-scribed, read, and revisited, not only by the adults, but bychildren as well.

The action of revisiting supports a better understanding ofwhat was said before, and sometimes it can be necessaryto relaunch certain kinds of ideas. Thoughts that require adeeper analysis and then all the choices that are made arealways shared, understood, and accepted.

Whether a project takes place over a long time or even forshort term projects, the attitude and the style are alwaysthe same � conversations, sharing, exchange, differentpoints of view, listening, analysis, observation, interpre-tation, choices, and so on.

I strongly believe that in this way children and teachersbecome partners in learning. Each of them feels respectedfor the contributions they make, for the learning theycause to happen. It is like a game where together theplayers apply different strategies to reach their goals.

This is about the concept of process versus product as thegoal of learning. From my point of view it is about facili-tating construction of knowledge together, instead of amore traditional way of teaching, where the adults guide


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A Reflection by Lella Gandini

The experience with the fountains, part of the project of the Amusement Park for Birds, was a great divide — a breaking pointthat made possible for us to see deeply — while documenting for our video story, the interaction of children, teachers, materi-als, and observing all the adults involved in a constructive dialogue among themselves. George Forman and I became part ofthat dialogue as participant observers. I now feel nostalgic about that special experience, about the many times I went toReggio to follow the projects with my friends.

One time the year before, when Loris had just finished a charismatic presentation about the schools of Reggio Emilia before alarge audience in Washington, DC, which he did by telling a story with slides concerning an experience of children’s discoveriesand inventions about shadows, David Hawkins, an inspiring philosopher whom Loris much admired, asked him:

“But, Malaguzzi, where are the teachers?”

And Loris replied without hesitation, “Hawkins, they are in the shadows!”

With the project of the fountains, Loris brought the teachers out of the shadows metaphorically and concretely, but not onlythat, in cooperation with Carlina, Giovanni, Amelia, the children, the teachers, and the parents who had participated in thatproject, he showed us the complexity of relationships and dialogues, the connections between discovery and construction, thelayers and awareness of learning, and the deep meaning of making choices.

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Important Ideas: Gambetti offers many important ideasabout the process of implementing projects with youngchildren (like how all children are included in projects evenif they are implemented by one or two or a small group). Toglean these bits of knowledge that can lead to a betterunderstanding of project work, ask teachers to read thearticle, constructing their idea of what a project is, how itis implemented, and the strategies used by the teachersand children in the town of Reggio Emilia. At a staff meet-ing, discuss the ideas gleaned by different teachers, theirideas about how to apply this new knowledge, and the nextsteps that interest them.

Understanding Constructivist Ideas: The Reggio Emiliaapproach is grounded in a broad base of theory, research,and practice. Gambetti refers to constructivist theory andpractice as one of the cornerstones of the Reggio philoso-phy. To develop an understanding of constructivism andexplore it further, identify two teachers to conduct aninternet search, looking for additional information. Hint:Several American researchers have provided seminal workin constructivist theory and practice. Some names includeRita DeVries and Constance Kamii. Others have supportedor explained how constructivist ideas work. Look for workby Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Ask the teachers to puttogether a suggested reading list and share it with otherteachers. Then, conduct a dialogue with teachers abouthow these ideas might be applied to their classrooms.

the situation and consider the child as some-one who learns more through a passive thanan active attitude.

The projects that are built are based on articu-late processes that quite often have developedeven small ideas into wide contexts of action,of possibilities, of opportunities. The teachersand children, sometimes along with parents�contributions, organize study and researchgroups in which occasions to develop ideasand interests are built. All of this creates possi-bilities for projects to become rich with theideas and contributionsthat children, parents, and teachers contributeto their work together.

I like to look at the development of a project asa patient weaving of thoughts that generatesothers, where different criteria and strategiesare applied to solve problems and to overcomeobstacles that are encountered along the way.

Reference

Forman, G. & Gandini, L. (Video). The AmusementPark for Birds. Performanetics, 19 The Hollow,Amherst, MA 01002.

Piazza, G. (1995). The Fountains. Italy: ReggioChildren. H

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The Project Approach to early childhood education is onethat incorporates project work as an important part of thelarger curriculum. A project is an in-depth investigationof a topic � ideally, one worthy of the children�s timeand energy. In the course of these investigations, childrenare encouraged to formulate questions to be answered bythe investigation, to make predictions about what theanswers might be, and to compare their findings withthose predictions. The children are also encouraged torepresent their ideas, theories, hypotheses, and pre-dictions using a wide variety of media such as drawing,role-playing, and making models.

One of the major benefits of the Project Approach is thatit supports children�s intellectual development while alsoproviding contexts for the application of their growingacademic skills. The intellectual dispositions, most ofwhich are in-born in all children, include the dispositionsto be curious, to make sense of experience, and to explorethe environment. Good project work capitalizes on theseintellectual dispositions. In the course of efforts to repre-sent their theories and findings, their desire to learn andapply the basic academic skills involved in literacy andnumeracy typically emerge. The purposes and uses ofthese basic academic skills gradually become clear andmeaningful to them. In this way, project work is comple-mentary to the more formal parts of the curriculum inwhich children are aided in the acquisition of basic skills.

Phases of Project Work

Project work is usually conducted in three phases. Thefirst phase includes identifying a topic to be investigated.While the selection of the topic is the responsibility of theteacher, the selection is based on a variety of criteria (Katz& Chard, 1998) including what is likely to be of interest tomost of the participating children.

Once the topic is selected, the children are encouraged toexplore and share experiences, ideas, and informationthey have already. This sharing includes discussion aswell as producing drawings and paintings depictingmemories and thoughts related to the topic. Phase 1closes with consensus on the research questions to beaddressed by the investigation. The second phase is a period of data gathering, first-handobservations of phenomena related to the topic, inter-viewing experts, field trips, and other information-gathering strategies, depending on the ages of theparticipants. During phase 2, children work in smallgroups as well as individually on related subtopics. Inthis way each sub-group shares with their classmates theparticular questions they are going to find answers to,and solicits advice from classmates in other groups. If allthe children are engaged in the same activity, there is nogenuine reason for children to prepare and then presenttheir ideas to their classmates. During this phase theyalso begin to represent their findings using a variety of


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The Project Approachin the Early Years

Lilian G. Katz, Ph.D., is professoremerita of early childhood education at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) where she is also co-director of the ERIC Clearinghouse onElementary and Early ChildhoodEducation. She is a past president ofthe National Association for the Educa-

tion of Young Children, and has served as the chair of theboard of directors of the National Society for the Study ofEducation (USA). She is author of more than 100 publica-tions, including Talks with Teachers of Young Children: A Collection (1995), and Engaging Children's Minds: The ProjectApproach (with S. C. Chard, Second Edition, 2000).

by Lilian G. Katz


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The third and final phase includes a debriefing concern-ing what has been found out, bringing the investigationto a conclusion, and preparing reports to be sharedwithin the class as well as with other classes, parents, andothers in the community who might be interested in thechildren�s accomplishments.

The Story of a Project

Below is a brief summary of a project undertaken by agroup of preschoolers in a small town whose teacher, forvarious reasons, was not able to include field trips. Nev-ertheless, she wanted to incorporate project work as amajor part of the curriculum. So she selected a topic thatchildren could investigate first hand within the class-room. Some time was spent on the project on most daysof the week over a period of about a month. In the courseof this investigation, many of the children asked theteacher to help them represent a wide range of mathe-matical concepts. Many asked for assistance in writingcaptions for drawings, labels, and descriptions of eventsrecalled and observed.

Phase 1: The teacher began by suggesting to hergroup of four and five year olds that they ask their fami-lies, relatives, neighbors, and friends to contribute anykind of old ball to a collection they would make in theirpreschool class for an in-depth study of balls.

Within a week, the class had a collection of some 36 ballsof many different kinds. The collection included tennis,ping-pong, cricket, croquet, billiard, golf, and bowlingballs, as well as volleyballs, basketballs, a soccer ball,baseballs, a football, a beach ball, and some marbles. Abubble gum ball and cotton ball were also included. Onechild added a world globe to the collection.The children engaged in animated discussion of theirown experience of playing with balls in various contextswith adults and peers and recounted adventures thatwere also illustrated in drawings.

As the collection of balls grew, the teacher encourageddiscussion about how the balls varied. In the course ofthe discussion, she developed a topical web indicatingthe many features of the balls in the class collection thatcould be studied in detail. These features included sur-face texture, size or circumference, weight, height ofbounce, and so forth. However, there was some hesitationamong the older children in the group about whether or

not the globe was a ball.

The issue of the globe led to a discussion about whether aball was only something to be played with. This led theteacher to bring in some picture books showing the com-mon uses of ball bearings in various simple machines anda discussion of balls serving as wheels on some kinds ofdesk chairs. In the course of one of these discussions, theteacher introduced the concept of sphere and the termspherical, which many of the children enjoyed discussingand arguing about. The term circumference was also intro-duced into the discussion and recalled with relish bysome of the children. The question of whether or not the(American) football was a ball also became a focal pointfor heated debate. The issue became one of definition: isit a ball only if it is spherical, or only if it bounces? Thesediscussions provided contexts for the intellectual engage-ment of all of the children in the group.

Phase 2: In response to the teacher�s suggestions,small groups of children volunteered to undertake spe-cific investigations to answer the questions generated bythe class in discussion with their teacher and indicated onthe topic web.

Before the small group investigations were launched, thechildren made predictions of the outcomes. For example,one group took responsibility for investigating the weightof each ball in the collection. There were numerous prob-lems to be solved in this effort: what kind of scale couldbe used, and how to obtain the weight by deducting theweight of the one who held the ball from the total weightshown on the scale! Before weighing the balls the chil-dren made predictions about which would be heaviestand lightest and checked their predictions for accuracywhen the data was collected. Their predictions indicatedtheir strong association of size and weight, and theirempirical findings yielded further curiosity and discus-sion. They were not quite ready to grasp the complexityof the concept of density!

One group of children, working in pairs, used string andstruggled to ascertain the size of each of the balls by cut-ting the string to the length of the circumference. Thisprocess invariably required several attempts beforesuccessful measurement was achieved. The children thendisplayed the strings representing size, by hanging themvertically in serial order on a chart displayed on a bul-letin board. A caption prepared by two children indicatedthe differences between the predictions and findings withrespect to size.


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pAnother small group used blocks and a plank to createinclined planes of various angles down which some ofthe balls were rolled. At first, the children studied whichballs would roll the fastest and farthest down the plankand along the floor. Then they conducted the same pro-cedure on a linoleum floor, on a carpet, on grass, and ongravel surfaces outside their classroom to observe thedifferences in the distance of free roll following the rolldown the plank. In the course of this exploration anddiscussion with their teacher, the children enjoyed apply-ing the term resistance to describe the slowing down ofthe balls� roll caused by grass and gravel compared tothe linoleum and carpet surfaces. This group also com-pared their findings to their predictions.

A group of the younger children made rubbings of thesurface of each of the balls. These findings led them tolaunch a discussion of the variations of surface texture inthe collection with their classmates who were involved inother aspects of the investigation. All the childrenexpressed surprise at the wide variety of surfacesrepresented in their collection.

Another small group created a block structure severalfeet in height and, using a tape measure suspended fromthe top of it, predicted and then measured as best theycould the height of the bounce of each ball. Contrary totheir predictions, and much to their surprise, not all ofthe balls bounced!

The teacher engaged the children in a discussion of whatmight be inside each of the balls, in the course of whichshe explored with them the terms hollow, solid, empty, andfull. With the exception of the golf ball, all of the ballswere opened and their contents examined. The childrenwere unable to open the bowling ball in the classroomand had to seek the assistance of a parent volunteer.Following the close examination of the properties of theballs in the collection, the children discussed the varietyof ways in which balls are used in games. They dis-cussed which balls are struck by bats, clubs, mallets, andracquets, and which balls are caught, thrown, and movedby hands and feet. They also surveyed their parents onwhich games parents played and which games theyenjoyed watching. With the support and encouragementof their teachers the children created bar graphs and piecharts to summarize their findings.

Phase 3: In phase 3, the children completed theirinvestigation. They prepared a display of their findings,

including documentation showing them at work duringthe investigation. They concluded with an open-houseevening for their parents. They shared their work bypresenting the story of their investigation, and accompa-nying their parents around the displays ready to answerany questions they had.

In the course of work that lasted about a month, thechildren engaged in measuring, writing, drawing,creating stories, creating graphs, and pie charts. Theyexamined books about sports. Finally, they reported toparents the story of their work.

Many parts of the investigation presented difficulties.For example, getting the string around balls to measurethe circumference and ascertaining the height of theirbounce required considerable skill and persistence, bothof which were strengthened by the work undertaken. Asthe children participated in preparing displays of theirfindings, they asked the teacher to write words that theycould copy onto their drawings and charts. As they madepredictions concerning various findings, the teacherencouraged them to explain the basis for them. As thework proceeded, their readiness to share their reasoningincreased substantially.

Conclusion

This project is an example of good project work in that itprovided contexts for analyzing, hypothesizing, predict-ing, observing, recording, and representing researchfindings. It provided settings for extensive discussions,working out disagreements, arguing, and checking thefacts. It also provided contexts and pretexts for coopera-tion, individual initiative, sharing responsibilities, andmany other developing intellectual as well as socialcapacities and dispositions. Children of all cultures andlanguage backgrounds can become deeply engaged inthe kinds of intellectual explorations such items in theirown environments can provide.

Reference

Katz, L. G., & Chard, S. C. (1998). Issues in SelectingTopics for Projects. ERIC Digest/EDP-PS-98-8. Availableat no cost from ERIC/EECE.

Look for Project and Themes: Part Two in the March/April 2002 issue ofChild Care Information Exchange.


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➤The Project Approach 101: Katz presents the project approach concisely in this article. It serves as a perfectintroduction to teachers who are not yet incorporating projects into their curricula. Use this article to startthe discussion of how to incorporate projects and as a springboard to further investigation. More experiencedteachers may benefit from checking out the wonderful explanations of the steps and considering strategies,questions, ideas, and suggestions that might improve their project work with young children.

Away We Go! � Identifying Possibilities: This phase of project work often challenges teachers who are newto the project approach. To help teachers see the possibilities, ask teachers to do a short (ten minutes or so)observation in their classrooms and to bring the observations to a staff meeting. Discuss the observations ofchildren at play to discover topics that have the potential to become projects. Make a list of potential projectsand who might participate in each. Then, ask teachers to select one of the projects to conclude Phase 1 byreturning to the classroom to explore the topic further with the identified children, identifying what childrenalready know about the topic, representing their memories and thoughts in drawings or other medium, andselecting the research questions children want to explore.

Following in Another�s Footsteps: The project on balls discussed by Katz offers teachers who are learning awonderful footprint for understanding project work. To help them do so, start by analyzing this project. Hereare some questions that might start off the analysis. Ask teachers to answer the questions for themselvesafter they read the article. Then discuss them together as a group.

� Why did the teacher think a collection of balls might interest her children? What other collections mightinterest children?

� How did the teacher get the discussion going about balls? What format did she use? Where and when didthe discussions take place? How did the teacher keep up with what children were saying and discussing?

� What tasks did the teacher undertake on her own? Which ones did she do with the children?

� How many small groups were working simultaneously on different research questions? What was each group studying? Did the children or the teacher guide the work of each group? How?

� What concepts were interesting to the children? What concepts did the teacher add to support children�s specific skill acquisition?

� What resources did the teacher have to access to support this project?

Describe which activity supported each of the following skills:Analyzing; Hypothesizing; Predicting; Observing; Recording Representing; Cooperating; Sharing responsi-bilities; Developing intellectual capacities and dispositions (identify which ones); Developing social capacities and dispositions (identify which ones); Taking initiative.

Expand Your Resources: Katz opens a wonderful door for accessing free information from ERIC/EECE. So, get on-line and order the reference listed in the article. Katz is also the author of another book on projects called Young investigators: The Project Approach in the Early Years (Helm & Katz, 2001). Further, she is a contributor to Child Care Information Exchange. Check out other articles by Lilian Katz previouslyprinted in Child Care Information Exchange. �On Teaching� (2/90); �What Should Young Children Be Learning?� (12/90 and 11/94); �Looking at the Quality of Early Childhood Programs� (3/92); �The Benefits of the Mix� (11/98).

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se Beginnings Workshop to TrainTeachers by Kay Albrecht

We are teachers. We devote our professional lives to thestudy and support of young children as they ventureforth into a complex world. This world may differ fromculture to culture, but children all over the world expressgreat joy in the ordinary.

It is true, almost by definition, that ordinary moments fillmost of the child�s day. Indeed, at the end of the day theordinary moments constitute the child�s story . . .

� An infant discovers her wiggly toes;� A toddler balances food on a fork;

� A three year old pretends a shoe is a phone;

� A preschooler squeezes a popsicle out of a plasticwrapper;

� A kindergartener laughs because his opened book isupside down.

Ordinary moments are the pages in the child�s diary forthe day. If we could resist our temptation to record onlythe grand moments, we might find the authentic childliving in the in-between. If we could resist our temptationto put the children on a stage, we might find the real


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The Power of Ordinary Moments

Kath Berglundis a kinder-garten teacherand pedagogi-cal coordina-tor at Make AMess and MakeBelive school

in Boulder, Colorado. She has beenin Boulder since September, 2000.Before moving to Boulder, Kathtaught preschool in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany for a small U.S. Army-run child developmentcenter. Kath holds a mastersdegree in early childhood educa-tion from Cameron University’s(Lawton, Oklahoma) overseasprogram.

George Forman isprofessor of earlychildhood educationat the University ofMassachusetts inAmherst. He is co-editor with CarolynEdwards and Lella

Gandini of The Hundred Languages ofChildren, The Reggio Emilia Approach(first and second editions). He designsparticipatory exhibits from children'smuseums and has directed an experimen-tal preschool called The School forConstructive Play based on the develop-mental theory of Jean Piaget. He waspast president of the Jean Piaget Societyand currently is on the editorial board forEarly Childhood Research and Practice, anelectronic journal published by ERIC. Heis a frequent consultant to Make A Messand Make Believe, a Reggio inspiredpreschool in Boulder, Colorado.

by George Forman, Ellen Hall, and Kath Berglund

Ellen Hall is theco-founder, co-owner, andexecutive directorof a school foryoung childrenlocated inBoulder, Colorado.

The school, Make A Mess and MakeBelieve, serves 350 children betweenthe ages of six weeks and six yearsand their families. Through a partner-ship with the University of Colorado at Denver, Ellen has developed andteaches an Intern-Masters course ofstudy, which offers teacher apprenticesthe opportunity to receive a mastersdegree in Early Childhood Education or Educational Psychology. The Make A Mess and Make Believe school isinspired by the Reggio EmiliaApproach to Early ChildhoodEducation.


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The Power of Peter's Moment

Take the moment of Peter playing with a toy car on thefloor. Peter has just discovered that when he presses onthe car and rolls it backward, then the car will launchitself forward when he releases his grip. Where is thepower in this ordinary moment? Let�s wonder with Peteras he watches the car roll forward . . .

� Will the car roll up an incline to the platform?

� Will it speed away without rolling it backwards first?

Focusing on an ordinary moment promotes inquiry andreflection between the child and the adult and supports adialogue between them. The teacher and the child canwonder . . .

� Will the car roll all the way over to the chair?And further . . .

� Does it have enough force to knock over this little block?And even further . . .

� Can you aim the car so it will roll straight through thatpaper tunnel?

Focusing on ordinary moments allows us to slow downand be still. To look deeply into a pool one must be still.So we watch Peter rolling the car repeatedly and are suffi-ciently still to notice his subtle variations. When we slowdown and carefully study the ordinary moments ofchildren, we honor those moments. We respect themoments for what they offer us in our quest to under-stand children constructing knowledge. A child rolling acar across the floor is certainly ordinary.

The Ordinary Moment as aTheory in Action

Why should we give this moment more than a passingthought? The answer comes from what you see when youlook closely. Most deliberate acts of children flow from atheory they have about the social or physical world. Achild rolling a car can be studied to reveal the assump-tions and theories that the child holds.

Ordinary moments reveal the concepts that children useto organize their approaches to problems. It is in the ordi-nary moments that we see the application and extensionof knowledge. Peter attempts to launch his wind-up car tothe top of a plastic ramp made by elevating one end withthree flat blocks. The car does not make it all the way tothe top. First he tries again, without variation. Once againhe tries. On his fourth try he draws the car back further,as if to wind up the spring more tightly. The car stops justshort of the platform at the top of the ramp. He repeatsthe exaggerated wind-up, but it yields the same result. Atthis point he pauses, then looks at how the ramp rests onthree blocks at one end. He removes one of the endsupports, thereby decreasing the slope of the ramp. Withthe confidence of a king, he launches the car and watchesit roll to the top of the ramp and onto the platform.

Let�s decipher the concepts that organize the strategiesthat Peter used. Concepts are assumptions that the childmakes about what conditions or relations have to bepresent for something to work. The concept is not the goalitself (get the car to the top), nor the acts (eliminate onesupporting block), but the child�s understanding of thenecessity of certain conditions (less incline).

Peter held several concepts. Consider his first strategy oftrying to make the car roll up the ramp; he pulled the carback a farther distance. His assumption must have beenthat the length of the backward pull is directly related tothe distance the car will travel in the forward motion. Thisconcept can be called a direct functional relation (asopposed to an inverse relation where a decrease in A leadsto an increase in B). When this did not work, Peterchanged the slope of the ramp. His assumption must havebeen, the steeper the ramp�s slope the more effort toclimb, therefore, the lower the ramp�s slope the morelikely a given effort will get the car to the top. In this lattercase Peter is using an inverse functional relation, the lessof A (the slope), the more of B (the distance the car willtravel).

Concepts identify the child�s move from success to understand-ing. Concepts help the child to remember and to organizehis actions so that he can more effectively apply andappropriate his intelligence in future ordinary moments.

Why Identify the Concepts

Greater Continuity. There are good reasons to figure outthe children�s concepts and theories. When we understandthe concepts, we can be alert to the similarities between


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pthis ordinary moment and other moments. We makethese connections by noting the common structure of theconcepts, e.g., inverse functional relation. The ordinarymoment, while small, is a microcosm of the child�s wayof thinking, a way of thinking that he might use in othersituations, such as figuring out why the markers continu-ally roll off a tilting table.

The deeper we go into the ordinary moment, the broaderwe understand the child. When we identify the conceptsthe child uses in one context, such as in the car and theramp, we can better understand the educational value ofanother context, such as a child looking down at the legsof the table to see what is making it tilt. A deep analysisof a single episode brings with it the possibility of morebroadly understanding the child in many episodes. Wecan, therefore, say depth is breadth.

Better Conversations. We also identify the concepts hid-den in ordinary moments so that we can have higherlevel conversations with the children. What might we sayto Peter shortly after he lowered the slope of the ramp? Ifwe focus only on his success we might say, �Wow, youdid it; you made the car get to the top.� And then wemight say, �Tell me what you did to make it work.� Peterwould simply say, �I made it lower.�

But if you focus on the concept (inverse functional rela-tion) you might say, �Wow, that�s great. Can you tell mewhy lowering the ramp worked?� Peter might answer,�It's hard to get up a steep, steep hill.� And such conver-sations can lead to follow-up questions about corollaryassumptions, such as, �And the car is rather weak, is thatit?� The focus on concepts asks the child to talk to usabout theories and assumptions. The focus on successonly asks the child to list the actions, such as, �I made itlower.� We can have longer and higher level conversations withchildren when we ask them to talk about their thinkingand their reasons. When we ask them to talk about whatthey did there is not much more than details to talkabout, and they may not remember these details anyway.

The Competent and Autonomous Child

The child is in the moment and we are in the momentwith the child. Giving strength and value to ordinarymoments and believing in the power of these momentsgives strength and value to our image of the child asstrong, rich in resources, and competent. We givestrength to our image of the child by making the experi-ence of the child visible for study and communication.

Making the experiences of children�s learning visibleinsists that we slow down and allow time for experiencesto occur.

We can capture these experiences in photographs, slides,and video in order to analyze and interpret them. Werevisit the work of the children, engaging in dialoguewith our colleagues, with parents, and also with thechildren themselves. We study the work of the childrenin order to understand the ways in which they learn, inorder to offer support to the process of learning, in orderto learn along with the children.Sensing the value of an ordinary moment gives theteacher confidence to let an experience unfold. Take as anexample an ordinary moment of children encountering apumpkin, actually captured on videotape and viewed byteachers, parents, and children (Hall, Oleson, and Gam-betti, 2001). Two three-year-old children wanted to movea large pumpkin from the garden to the classroom. Withgreat effort they succeeded, by rolling the pumpkin thatwas too heavy to lift. The teachers honored this momentby videotaping it and adding a sound track to theireffort, Jimmy Cliff's song, �You can do it if you reallywant.�

The children loved watching this video and knew that itdocumented their determination, teamwork, and accom-plishment. Indeed, a few days later, when struggling toput on her jeans, one of the children paused in mid-effortto sing herself toward success, �You can do it if youreally want.� The teachers had confidence that even ordi-nary moments can become points of reference for thechildren when the unfolding moments are documentedand revisited.As teachers, we invite you to take the ordinary momentsof your day, look closely at them, uncover the conceptsthat they reveal, revisit these concepts with the children,and use your documentation of this process as evidenceof your good work.

This article is largely based on G. Forman�s keynote address bythe same name given at the 5th Annual OMEP Hong KongConference in June, 2001.


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➤

➤Important Question!: These authors appeal to teachers to discover the �power of ordinary moments� forsupporting children�s construction of knowledge. Pose this question in your center�s chat room to see whatteachers think about the idea. Some other questions to ask: What is an ordinary moment? When do mostordinary moments occur? Can the teacher�s recognition of ordinary moments lead to increasing teachersatisfaction with teaching?

Observe to Discover the Ordinary: Encourage teachers to observe for ordinary moments in the course oftheir teaching day. To practice this skill, ask teachers to do a short observation on one child in their classroom, looking for ordinary moments. Take notes to bring to a staff meeting. At the meeting, take one or more identified ordinary moments from the observations to see if you can discover the theory in action and identify the concepts children are learning. Repeat this process several times until teachers feel that they are becoming skilled in identifying ordinary moments.

Creating Better Conversations: Offer to mentor a teacher in creating better conversations. Audiotape ateacher and a child having a conversation in the classroom. With the teacher, listen to the tape, exploring the questions the teacher asked, the direction of the conversation, and the teacher�s ability to follow the child�s lead. Listen for questions that might have lead to longer or higher level conversations encouraging thechild to talk about their thinking and the reasons for her or his point of view. Pose some alternative questions that might have directed the child to talk about his or her thinking rather than what they did. Once one teacher has experienced several opportunities to create better conversations, ask him to mentoranother teacher in improving her conversations with children.

Revisiting Competence: At the heart of this idea of ordinary moments is helping children recognize and validate their own discoveries, enhancing their ability and motivation to continue to do so. How can teachersrevisit children�s recognition and validation of discoveries? With teachers, search for ways to document discoveries from ordinary moments that can be revisited.

How to U


Please see the Beginnings Workshop article in theMarch/April 2001 issue of

Child Care Information Exchange “Including Parents in the Process of Documentation”

by Ellen Hall, Vicki Oleson, and Amelia Gambetti.

For more articles on related subjects,visit our web site: www.ChildCareExchange.com.

How can early childhood educators genuinely link par-ents to curriculum development? Papua New Guinea(PNG) has found a unique way. In Papua New Guinea�selementary education program, teachers, parents, andcommunity members work together to make a CulturalCalendar which is then used as a basis for organisingchildren�s learning.

The Cultural Calendar

Teachers begin by working with their communities towrite down the different events, weather patterns, andseasons that occur throughout the year. Recording thesethings is an important activity because Papua NewGuinean communities do not have a tradition of record-ing their thoughts and activities in written form. Instead,they have a very strong oral way of keeping theirtraditions and customs alive.

A Cultural Calendar is a visual record of communityactivities. These activities are based on the seasons andnatural changes in the environment. A typical CulturalCalendar records seasons and weather patterns; agricul-tural, hunting, and fishing activities; sporting activities;religious events and feasting. Unlike the Western twelvemonth calendar, the Cultural Calendar has neither a 12month year nor a typical 28 day month; some months are

longer and can have as many as 150 days; shorter monthshave 60 days.

Figure 1: The typical four month calendar year of the Kairukugroup of people in Central Province, Papua New Guinea,where community activities throughout the year are dictatedby the DRY and WET seasons.

Putting the Cultural Calendar andthe School Calendar Together

Teachers, parents, and the curriculum committee worktogether to fit the activities and seasons from the CulturalCalendar into the School Calendar. Some activities andevents are seasonal and therefore can only be taught at


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pCommunity Involvement inCurriculum Development:

Papua New Guinea’sUnique Cultural Calendar

Anne Glover is a senior lecturer at the deLissa Institute of Early Childhood and FamilyStudies at the University of South Australia.Anne has worked in the field of Early Child-hood Education as a teacher/director/lecturer/teacher educator and consultant forthe past 25 years. In addition to her tertiaryteaching, Anne is the project director of the

Papua New Guinea Elementary Teacher Education Support Project.

Andrew Ikupu works for the PapuaNew Guinea Department of Educa-tion as the co-ordinator of thenationwide elementary educationprogram. He is currently researchinginto the area of policy developmentfor early childhood developmentacross all communities in Papua

New Guinea.

by Andrew Ikupu and Anne Glover

certain times of the year. Others are ongoing and can betaught throughout the year.

Figure 2: The integration of the Cultural Calendar with theSchool Calendar.

Organising Children’s LearningExperiences Through Themes

From the combined Cultural Calendar and School Calen-dar, the teachers and the curriculum committee identifymajor themes. Teaching activities are then drawn fromthese themes. Using a community theme approach toteaching young children means that the children�s learn-ing is not separated from their everyday lives. There islearning continuity for children, parents, and teachers.

Themes From theKairuku Cultural Calendar

Dry Season Wet Season

Hunting Water

Very Hot Rain

Bush Fire Flood

Animals Planting

Bride Price Payment Making Sago

Figure 3: Examples of themes selected from the CulturalCalendar.

Using Themes to Plan andPrepare Lessons

The elementary teacher and the curriculum committee usethe themes to make sure that children�s learning activities

are based on events they experience in their daily life. Forexample, during the wet season when it rains daily andwater is the theme, many lessons will be developedaround rain and water. Children will be given opportuni-ties to see, feel, taste, hear, and smell water and describethe sensations. They will talk and write stories aboutwater. They will mime water-based activities such as fish-ing and will measure water. They will listen to and act outstories about water � some of these stories will be told byvillage elders and some will come from the Bible. Theywill learn how water can be very beautiful and yet canalso be very dangerous. They will join in water-basedcommunity events such as building reed traps to catchfish.

The themes approach to organising children�s learningprovides scope for direct experience learning, and forparents and village elders to be involved in lesson deliv-ery. Using themes also provides for continuous learning astheme-based activities can extend from several lessons inone day to many lessons over a long period.

➤Child Care Information Exchange 9/01 — 57

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Explore the Idea: The idea of empowering parentsand teachers to identify, then transmit cultural infor-mation to the next generation is intriguing. Is thereidentifiable cultural information specific to yourschool community that deserves to be shared withchildren? Consider exploring this topic with teachersand parents. This is a perfect example of a questionthat allows teachers and parents to co-constructtheir own knowledge as they explore an idea.

Create Your Own Cultural Calendar: Share this article with your parent advisory group to explore if this approach might offer possibilities for yourschool. Convene a small group of parent and teacher volunteers to discuss the article and then, if they feel it is appropriate, to generate a cultural calendar that is unique and specific for your school. Enlist additional assistance of parents who suggest particular cultural events.

Who Knows?: Find out who holds the rich culturalknowledge in your school community. Once your cultural calendar is created, look for sources ofknowledge about the topic in teachers, parents, and the community. Find out who knows the cultureand explore how they can share their knowledge with the children, teachers, and parents in the school.

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Part One of a Two Part Series - ChildCareExchange.comMadison s body on a large piece of paper....

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Transcript of Part One of a Two Part Series - ChildCareExchange.comMadison s body on a large piece of paper....