Book Review of In Dialogue With Reggio Emilia: Listening, Researching, and Learning by Carlina Rinaldi

This article comprises a book review of "In dialogue with Reggio Emilia: Listening, researching, and learning" by Carlina Rinaldi. The book is about the early childhood program of Reggio Emilia, Italy as interpreted by Carlina Rinaldi, the pedagogista and Director of the municipal schools of Reggio Emilia for 30 years. Rinaldi’s most important articles, lectures, and interviews from 1984 to 2004 are collected in the 15 chapters of this text. This book review aims to highlight for readers a unique historical and cultural experience in relation to its particular philosophical and theoretical perspectives within a wider socio-cultural and political context. Moreover, this review locates theory and practice in Reggio Emilia schools as situated within its particular context

2nd Annual Faculty Research & Innovation Day Program

https://first.fanshawec.ca/cri_cripublications/1001/thumbnail.jp

2015 Research & Innovation Day Program

A one day showcase of applied research, social innovation, scholarship projects and activities.https://first.fanshawec.ca/cri_cripublications/1002/thumbnail.jp

In Search of Understanding Children's Engagement with Nature and their Learning Experiences in One Urban Kindergarten Classroom

Considering the context of large city schools, this study explores what variables in a kindergarten classroom may impact the process of children’s engagement with nature. In particular I examine the central role of children and teacher in co-constructing their own unique understanding, knowledge, and attitude towards the natural world. In this study, I examine nature-child’s connection considering the complexity of nature beyond a pre-packaged concept (Louv, 2007) and avoiding a linear identification of a cause and effect relationship between children’s learning experiences and nature, (Kellert, 2005). This qualitative case study is based on extensive classroom observations, in which 20 kindergarten children and their teacher participate. The children’s direct, indirect, and vicarious experiences with nature are documented using digital photography, video-audio recording, and collection of artifacts. I interview the classroom teacher two times and invite the parents to fill up a questionnaire about their children’s experiences with nature outside the school time. I use the techniques and procedure of the grounded theory to analyze the data. A comparative analysis of the five learning episodes demonstrates four major factors that when all woven together encourage and sustain the children’s engagement with nature. These factors are: investigating children’s meaningful and autotelic questions, encountering and experiencing nature in familiar contexts, developing emotional bonding, and having sufficient time. The findings show the crucial role of the classroom teacher in creating five main conditions to engage the children in the process of each inquiry. She offers the children many opportunities to use their prior skills and knowledge, take responsibility of their own learning, and experiment with learning as a process. She often responds positively to the children’s learning endeavours and communicates her high confidence and expectations for them. This study makes an important contribution to the field of early childhood education and environmental education by demonstrating the possibilities and challenges in actively and holistically engaging children with nature in school settings. The findings shed light on our understanding of children and teacher’s sense of ownership and motivation as two driving forces of learning.Ph

Weaving Layers of Meaning: A Collaborative Exploration of Critical Literacy and Multiliteracies

This paper discusses a collaborative inquiry that brought together three teachers with a shared interest in engaging students more fully and democratically in the teaching and learning process through critical literacy and multiliteracies. Students’ processes of making meaning of and critically analysing texts, as well as, teachers collaborative exploration of critical literacy and multiliteracies theory in a grade 3 classroom in Toronto were documented through taking notes, taking digital photos and videos, collecting students’ artefacts, and journaling. We observed the students beginning to make connections to their own experiences and other texts. This inquiry led us to believe that a multiliteracies, multi-modal approach expands the repertoire of tools and materials students use and invites them to investigate multiple point of views