Makerspaces in early childhood education : principles of pedagogy and practice

The aim of the study reported in this paper was to identify the value that makerspaces can have in early childhood education (ECE). Drawing on data from research on makerspaces in four early childhood settings in a northern city in England, part of an international project on makerspaces in the early years (“Makerspaces in the Early Years: Enhancing Digital Literacy and Creativity” or MakEY), we identify three key principles that are integral to this provision: maker agency, maker funds of knowledge, and postdigital maker play. The paper identifies that makerspaces lead to the development of skills and knowledge that will become increasingly important in societies that are becoming highly technologized

Addressing the ‘whys’ of UK children’s YouTube use: a purposes approach

Despite the widespread use of YouTube by children, there has been limited research undertaken on the “why” questions of their use. Past theoretical approaches have framed these questions in terms of broader individual needs and their relation to media use, though this work has mainly focused on adults and adolescents. This article presents relevant findings from a mixed methods study of children’s (aged 0–16) uses of social media in the United Kingdom to consider instead the “purposes” of children’s YouTube use, drawing on: (1) an online family survey; (2) family case studies; (3) child focus groups; and (4) child telephone interviews. “Purpose” is theorized in the article in relation to the ways children themselves make sense of and articulate the reasons they use YouTube or, in the case of parents and carers, for allowing, facilitating, or encouraging their children to use YouTube. Parents tended to frame the purposes of children’s YouTube use more instrumentally, focusing on perceived educational benefits and their own convenience needs. While sharing a focus on instrumental purposes, children sometimes emphasized broader dimensions of purpose, with an increased focus on humor, sensory, and hedonic dimensions. Children’s responses also emphasized the autotelic nature of play. The study foregrounded the extent to which the purposes of others (such as commercial entities) are served by children’s YouTube use. Seven child-centered, parent-centered, and “other” purposes for children’s YouTube use are discussed: cognitive, corporeal, cultural, collaborative, creative, commercial, and convenience

A pedagogy of friendship: young children's friendships and how schools can support them?

Children’s friendships are often neglected by teachers and researchers. This phenomenological study conducted with seven children aged five and six years explores young children’s perceptions of their everyday friendship experiences. This multi-method study used role play interviews, drawings and persona doll scenarios to consider children’s everyday experiences of friendship in school. The paper discusses the importance of socio-cultural aspects of children’s friendship including: imaginary friends; losing friends; protecting time and space to develop friendships and children’s routines and practices as they form and maintain friendships. Data and findings are discussed, leading to an original conceptual framework: a ‘Pedagogy of Friendship’. This is designed to help children make meaning from their friendship experiences and also provide practitioners with the opportunity to nurture and scaffold children through their friendship experiences in schools. We suggest that there is a need to raise the profile of children’s friendships in early childhood education and generate an educational perspective on friendship. Finally we conclude that listening to children’s views of friendship indicates that the application of the framework of a ‘Pedagogy of Friendship’ would be beneficial to children’s all round learning and development. Keywords - children's perceptions, phenomenology, friendship, key stage one, Pedagogy of Friendshi

Understanding and supporting block play: video observation research on preschoolers’ block play to identify features associated with the development of abstract thinking

This article reports on a study conducted to investigate the development of abstract thinking in preschool children (ages from 3 years to 4 years old) in a nursery school in England. Adopting a social influence approach, the researcher engaged in 'close listening' to document children's ideas expressed in various representations through video observation. The aim was to identify behaviours connected with features of the functional dependency relationship – a cognitive function that connects symbolic representations with abstract thinking. The article presents three episodes to demonstrate three dominating features, which are i) child/child sharing of thinking and adult and child sharing of thinking; ii) pause for reflection; and iii) satisfaction as a result of self-directed play. These features were identified as signs of learning, and were highlighted as phenomena that can help practitioners to understand the value of quality play and so provide adequate time and space for young children and plan for a meaningful learning environment. The study has also revealed the importance of block play in promoting abstract thinking. Keywords: abstract thinking; functional dependency relationship; social influence approach; block play; preschool; video observation; qualitative researc

Exploring T and S parameters in Vector Meson Dominance Models of Strong Electroweak Symmetry Breaking

We revisit the electroweak precision tests for Higgsless models of strong EWSB. We use the Vector Meson Dominance approach and express S and T via couplings characterizing vector and axial spin-1 resonances of the strong sector. These couplings are constrained by the elastic unitarity and by requiring a good UV behavior of various formfactors. We pay particular attention to the one-loop contribution of resonances to T (beyond the chiral log), and to how it can improve the fit. We also make contact with the recent studies of Conformal Technicolor. We explain why the second Weinberg sum rule never converges in these models, and formulate a condition necessary for preserving the custodial symmetry in the IR.Comment: 35 pages, 7 figures; v3: refs added, to appear in JHE

An ecological perspective on children’s play with digital technologies in South Africa and the United Kingdom

This paper reports a mixed-methods study of the play of children (3–11) with digital technologies in South Africa (SA) and the United Kingdom (UK), discussing the interrelatedness of access to devices and the Internet, contextual realities, and adult-child relations. An adapted ecological model [Bronfenbrenner (1979) The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press] guided analysis. Parents and carers in the UK were more likely than their SA counterparts to report children's engagement in object, construction and transgressive digital play, correlating with access differences, especially to tablet devices. However, play incorporating technologies was extensive, even in contexts in SA with limited access to a wide range of devices or readily available internet. Despite relying primarily on smartphones, children in SA were more likely to create digital content unassisted than those in the UK. The qualitative data complicate understandings of particular play types, including transgressive digital play

A funds of knowledge approach to examining play interests: listening to children’s and parents’ perspectives.

Children’s interests are widely recognised as pivotal to meaningful learning and play in the early years. However, less is known about how children’s diverse interests may contribute to relationships within peer cultures. This article builds upon previous studies to argue that participation in sociocultural activity generates interests informed by funds of knowledge that children reconstruct in their play. It reports findings from an interpretive study that used filmed footage of children’s play as a provocation to explore the perspectives of children, parents and teachers. The article presents original insights regarding some ways in which mutually constituted funds of knowledge afford opportunities for children to co-construct meaning within peer cultures. The findings also indicate that interests arising from diverse funds of knowledge may contribute to the interplay of power, agency and status during play. This raises some issues regarding how matters of inclusion and exclusion are understood and responded to within early years settings. The article recommends that teachers and researchers engage critically with children’s individual and collective funds of knowledge in order to better understand the complexities of play cultures

Towards mentoring as feminist praxis in early childhood education and care in England

Following our contribution to a study of mentoring in seven European countries, we explored epistemological and ontological inconsistencies within mainstream mentoring systems and their regulated practice in England. We considered how feminist mentoring praxis can unsettle conceptualisations of mentoring relationships and challenge inequity in the early education systems and the practice of teaching young children. Predominantly female, early childhood educators suffer from low status in England, and their working lives may be controlled and policed through inequitable systems. On entering the workforce, trainees encounter a reductionist policy milieu where mentoring structures and normative assessment arrangements contribute to inequity. Mentors play pivotal roles in inducting trainees into their worlds of work with young children. Mentoring relationships can determine whether trainees accept the status quo. Principles derived from feminist praxis enable mentors to practise an ‘engaged pedagogy’, co-constructing knowledge, subverting hierarchies and contesting taken-for-granted aspects of policy and practice

Curriculum in early childhood education: critical questions about content, coherence, and control

A continuing struggle over curriculum in early childhood education is evident in contemporary research and debate at national and international levels. This reflects the dominant influence of developmental psychology in international discourses, and in policy frameworks that determine approaches to curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. Focusing on early childhood education, we argue that this struggle generates critical questions about three significant themes within curriculum theory: content, coherence, and control. We outline two positions from which these themes can be understood: Developmental and Educational Psychology and contemporary policy frameworks. We argue that within and between these positions, curriculum content, coherence, and control are viewed in different and sometimes oppositional ways. Following this analysis, we propose that a focus on ‘working theories’ as a third position offers possibilities for addressing some of these continuing struggles, by exploring different implications for how content, coherence, and control might be understood. We conclude that asking critical questions of curriculum in early childhood education is a necessary endeavour to develop alternative theoretical frameworks for understanding the ways in which curriculum can be considered alongside pedagogy, assessment, play, and learning