Outcome 2.1 Connecting thinking and theory

Connecting children’s learning and educator practice to theory is important and necessary.  Knowing and being able to articulate the how and why is a requirement of the National Quality Framework, making links supports reflective practice and continuous improvement, and ensures things don’t happen just because “we’ve always done it that way”. 


Perceptual-sensorial thinking


From birth children explore and understand the world with increasing complexity by using their senses – sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.  Accompanying this is a child’s growth and physical development with changes to movement, motion that are understood from a Maturational Theory perspective to occur automatically and universally as the norm.  From these multiple sources children begin to develop perceptions about themselves, others and their world.  Brain development research had identified critical periods where this development is best achieved. 

This diagram shows the critical periods described here as plasticity and the links to development.


Adapted from Hensch, T.K. (2005) http://dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=39360

Memory
Being able to process, file and recall experiences, knowledge and skills is a critical component of all learning.  Memory is understood and described in information processing theory as encoding, storing and retrieving information. Coding and encoding patterns, symbols and concepts are fundamental to literacy and numeracy learning.  From very early babies are laying memories that will later become procedural or implicit often embodied and expressed unconsciously.   Waldof Steiner pedagogy supports the teaching of everyday activities like sewing for example that is practiced over and over until the task can be undertaken without thinking.  Sometimes referred to as muscle memory - the body just knows what to do. Being read to and playing outside are examples of ways children can experience and lay the foundation for literacy and numeracy learning.  This picture shows so many numerical concepts e.g. classification, patterning, sorting, shapes, size, & colour.


 

Representational-symbolic
Enactive, iconic and symbolic representations identified by Bruner offer important frame to understand and support children’s literacy and numeracy.  This theory is based on the child as an active participant in learning and with a supportive teacher to scaffold learning children’s understanding and skills with become deeper.  Constructivist theorists like Vygotsky add to this understanding by situating learning in a socio-cultural context.  This interactive dynamic process reinforces the role of relationships and culture in learning.


 http://bruners-stages.wikispaces.com/Bruner's+Stages+of+Representation

At the heart of Reggio Emilia philosophy is making children’s learning visible through representation of ideas, thoughts, feelings and knowledge.  Loris Malaguzzi’s poem Hundred Languages reminds us that there are many ways to express yourself.  It’s our job as educators to notice and honour the language each child brings.


Communicative-linguistic
Attachment theory tells us we come into the work with an innate biological drive to connect with others.  Being able to communicate is fundamental and integral to this capacity to connect.  Communication allows us to express ourselves and experience others.  All behavior is communication and it amazes me that with the knowledge gained from brain research and other theories behavior is not recognized and supported as such.  Instead drawing on behaviourist theory western society and education systems separate behavior and use reinforcement and punishment to teach socially acceptable behaviour. Learning to communicate pre-linguistically with subtle cues continues for life and the experiences in the early years sets the tone for how communication is learnt later.  Behaviourist approaches however are used as we develop language.  The baby vocalizes, the adult copies to reinforce the sound.  As with all behaviourist approaches what we chose to respond to in either a positive or negative way is very subjective. 



This interesting table connects theoretical perspectives of development and instruction to the use of digital images.  As photographic evidence is increasingly being used to record and assess children’s learning this chart could prove to be a useful resource to shape and structure the taking and use of these photos.  While the list does not include all the theoretical perspectives that underpin the EYLF the chart could be used as a starting point and be added to as educators and teams explored other theories. 


http://edfd528ictpresentation.wordpress.com/digital-cameras/




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