Renewing the cultural and environmental commons: creating communities of mutual care, solidarity and reciprocity

This dissertation explores the growing social, economic, and environmental crisis and the resulting culture of fragmentation, destruction and moral disconnection. Utilizing a semi-autobiographical approach that grounds my research in the context of my living network of relations, I investigate what it means to be an educator and activist engaged in healing and repairing the world. Exploring the balance between theory and practice, and differentiation and bonding, my focus is on the catalyzing experiences that have the potential to ignite a fundamental shift in consciousness, agency, and imaginative possibilities. Moving between my own storied life and the larger theoretical questions raised, I explore ways of knowing and learning that have the potential to create a shift from empire to earth democracy, from destructiveness to nurturing mutually responsible communities of care. The voices of my students are included to elucidate a path toward open-ended, inclusive, intersubjective and lovingly relational communities

"Sowing the seed" : a bio-ecological exploratory case study of the forest school approach to learning and teaching in the Irish primary school curriculum

While emergent research notes an increasing awareness regarding the importance of time spent in nature for personal well-being during the Covid-19 pandemic, recent literature describes children's disconnection from the natural environment. Education is a determining factor in shaping a child’s perception of nature, however, research highlights that Irish primary school teachers lack knowledge and confidence in bringing children outdoors to learn. Forest School, a semi-structured approach to learning and teaching outdoors, guided by six underpinning principles, can provide pedagogical guidance for educators. Previous studies outline social, emotional, and academic learning outcomes during Forest School, however, research in the context of the Irish Primary School Curriculum is limited. Therefore, the aim of this research was to critically examine if this approach to learning and teaching outdoors is appropriate to deliver the vision, aims, principles, broad objectives, subject content objectives, concepts and skill development, and assessment of the Irish Primary School Curriculum. An exploration of educational theory and pedagogical processes underpinning both the Irish Primary School Curriculum and Forest School approach promote developmental approaches to learning which occur in stimulating environments that correspond with the child’s learning needs. In addition to this, both approaches highlight the need for a balance of child and adult-led assessment methods, high standards of qualification, participation in continuing professional development, acknowledgement of school policy and procedures, careful planning and preparation, and emergent, experiential problem-, and inquiry-based learning opportunities that allow for child-led discoveries and questions. However, the Irish primary school curriculum provides mixed messages regarding its child-centredness, while the unstructured, play-based, and child-led nature of Forest School results in mixed opinions regarding how this approach should be delivered. Thus, this research sought to capture the lived experience of participants and uncover their reality of learning and teaching outdoors during Forest School within the vision, aims, principles, broad objectives, subject content objectives, concepts and skill development, and assessment of the Irish Primary School Curriculum. Semi-structured, non-participant observations of sixty-eight children and semi-structured journey interviews were conducted with fifty-five children in four primary school class levels over the course of an academic year. These in-depth semi-structured interviews incorporated children’s pedagogical documentation to promote stimulated recall with five class teachers. Themes of Learning with, in and through the Environment during Forest School, Challenges of Learning and Teaching Outdoors in the Context of the Irish Primary School Curriculum, and Inclusion for Children with Special Educational Needs during Forest School emerged through deductive thematic analysis. Although the findings commend child-led choice through adult-facilitated teaching in emergent, play-based learning during Forest School, challenges in achieving the many curricular subject content objectives within the Irish Primary School Curriculum were apparent. While the forthcoming restructured curriculum, currently in draft format, aims to address this through the provision of broad learning outcomes, professional collaboration between class teachers and forest school leaders and the incorporation of child-led assessment methods to create inclusive approaches to learning and teaching is required to ensure rich learning experiences for children. Moreover, a need to overcome financial and access issues must also be addressed to successfully incorporate Forest School into the Irish Primary School Curriculum.N

Outdoor Learning and Play

This Open Access book examines children’s participation in dialectical reciprocity with place-based institutional practices by presenting empirical research from Australia, Brazil, China, Poland, Norway and Wales. Underpinned by cultural-historical theory, the analysis reveals how outdoors and nature form unique conditions for children's play, formal and informal learning and cultural formation. The analysis also surfaces how inequalities exist in societies and communities, which often limit and constrain families' and children's access to and participation in outdoor spaces and nature. The findings highlight how institutional practices are shaped by pedagogical content, teachers' training, institutional regulations and societal perceptions of nature, children and suitable, sustainable education for young children. Due to crises, such as climate change and the recent pandemic, specific focus on the outdoors and nature in cultural formation is timely for the cultural-historical theoretical tradition. In doing so, the book provides empirical and theoretical support for policy makers, researchers, educators and families to enhance, increase and sustain outdoor and nature education

Opening doors: a collective case study of integrating technology in the preschool through 3rd grade classroom in a developmentally appropriate way

Children today are growing up in a technology-saturated world and yet early childhood teachers do not typically include technology in their classrooms, or if they do, they include it inappropriately. The literature states that integrating technology in early education can yield many benefits, but many teachers of young children avoid using technology because they do not know how to incorporate it appropriately. This dissertation is an exploratory observational study of early childhood teachers (preschool through third grade) who integrate technology in their programs in developmentally appropriate ways. This study involved three classroom teachers who were identified as model teachers at integrating technology in their classrooms: a preschool teacher and two kindergarten teachers. The study was guided by the recommendations from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children\u27s Media at Saint Vincent College (2012) position statement for early childhood teachers in the appropriate use of technology and digital media in the early childhood classroom. In this exploratory collective case study, visits to the classrooms were conducted several times and observations were performed. Checklists and field notes were used to record the findings. The teachers were interviewed before and after the observations to create a clearer picture of the classroom practices. This resulted in three cases that can serve as examples for teachers on how to integrate technology in the early childhood classroom in a developmentally appropriately way for young children. This study also provides recommendations for teachers who want to provide children with digital learning tools that can extend, enrich, and scaffold their learning. This study contributes four conclusions and five recommendations to guide teachers in integrating technology in a developmentally appropriate way for young children