Oxford University Museum of Natural History,

14th September 2007

Learning in the Early Years

Principles to Practice?

Dr Mary Wild , Oxford Brookes

University

for somebody rather than about

something
(Spock, 1987)

Stating the obvious?

The physical display
The printed word

Learning Styles
Visual
Auditory
Kinaesthetic

Theory of Multiple Intelligences (Gardner,1993)

The Holistic Nature of Learning

A Competent Learner
A person who
makes connections,
is creative and imaginative,
explores,
experiments,
plays.
(Birth to Three Matters, DfES, 2003)

An active learner
Piagets Theory
Constructor of own knowledge
Accommodation : How do I need to
Assimilation: How does it fit with
change what I already know
what I know?
to fit this new information?

Active engagement
Engaging:
the mind as well as the hand

(Hein, 1991: based on Dewey Experience and

Education, 1938)

Involvement
When children are involved, we know that they
address their capabilities and that they are
developing:they learn at a deeper level, they
become more competent (Laevers et al, 2005)
When adults follow childrens interests they
respect the choices children make and follow the
childs agenda, ..knowing that when a child is
involved and interested they are likely to benefit
much more from an experience than from joining
in one in which they are not particularly
interested. (Langston & Abbott, 2007)

Stages of Development:Piaget
1. Sensori-motor (0-2yrs)
Child comes to know world through his/her
physical/sensory actions

2. Pre-operational(2-7yrs)
Child now uses language and can mentally
represent thoughts but only in a limited way

3. Concrete operational (7-12yrs)

Child can begin to think logically but only in relation
to concrete problems i.e. the here and now

4. Formal operational( 12+ yrs but)

Ability to think about abstract/ hypothetical problems

A more competent child

(Donaldson, 1978)
Meaningfulness
Human sense

Social Constructivism
The importance of others in learning:

Zone of Proximal Devp (Vygotsky, 1978)

Scaffolding ( Wood, Ross & Bruner, 1976)
Guided Participation (Rogoff, 1990)
SST (Siraj-Blatchford et al, 2002)

May also be child child

Play and learning

Play indeed is the childs work, and the means whereby he
or she grows and develops
(Isaacs, 1929)
Play is the principal means of learning in early childhood
(Plowden Report, DES 1967)

Play and learning:the theory

In play a child always behaves beyond his average age..
Play contains all developmental tendencies in a condensed
form and is itself a major source of development
(Vygotsky,1978, p102)
Play is the principal business of childhood
(Bruner et al, 1976, p20)

Play and learning: the research

EPPE Research (Sylva et al , 2004)
In the most effective centres, play
environments were used to provide the basis
of instructive learning (p3)
http://kl.ioe.ac.uk/schools/ecpe/eppe/index.htm

Play and learning:the practice

There should be opportunities for
children to engage in activities
planned by adults and also
those that they plan or initiate
themselves. Children do not
make a distinction between
play and work and neither
should practitioners. Children
need time to become engrossed,
work in depth and complete
activities.

Children's Museums Movt. (USA)

Early History:1899 Brooklyn Childrens Museum; 1913
Boston;1917 Detroit; Indianapolis 1925; Duluth 1930.
Most museums are categorised according to their
collections. Only these special and particularly marvellous
places for the young are categorised according to their
audience Katz & Katz (1965)
The museum as a joint adventure (Cohen, 1989)

Children's museums: principles

to practice

Direct hands-on experience

Space frames
Learning in context
Exhibits which elicit an emotional response
(Lewin-Benham,1989)

Successful practice?
Activity ? Engagement ? Challenge?
The Eureka Moment? (Hein, 1989)

You may never know but you can know

youve made it possible

References
Bruner, J.S., Jolly, A. & Sylva, K. (1976). Play. Its Role in Development
and Learning. Harmondsworth. Penguin.
Cohen, S. (1989) Fostering Shared Learning Among Children and Adults:
The Childrens Museum. Young Children, May 1989
DfES (2003) Birth to Three Matters, A Framework to Support Children in
their Earliest Years. Crown Copyright
Donaldson, M. (1987) Childrens Minds. London. Fontana Press
Gardner, H. (1993) Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple
Intelligences: New York Basic (A revision of his original work 1984)
Hein,G.E. (1991) The Museum and the Needs of People.CECA
(International Committee of Museum Educators) Conference.
Jerusalem, October 1991 accessed at
http:/www.astc.org/info/educator/conlearn 11.03.99

Hein, G. E (1989) Learning about Learning In Museums. Hand to Hand,

Winter 1989
Isaacs, S. (1929). The Nursery Years. London. Routledge & Kegan Paul
Fisher, J. (2002). Starting From the Child. (2 nd Ed.). Maidenhead. Open
University Press.
Katz,H, & Katz, M. (1965) Museums USA: A History & Guide,. New
York. Doubleday.
Langston, A. & Abbott, L. Developing High Quality Experiences for
Babies and Toddlers. Maidenhead. Mc Graw/Open University Press
Laevers et al, 2005 Well-being and Involvement in Care Settings. A
Process-oriented Self-evaluation Instrument. Accessed sept2007 at
www.kindengezin.be/Images/ZikohandleidingENG_tcm149-50761.pdf
Lewin-Benham, A. (1989) Children's Museums: A Structure for Family
Learning. Marriage and Family Review 13, (3-4 )

Piaget, J and Inhelder, B (1966) The Psychology of the Child. London.

Routledge and Kagan Paul
Plowden, (1967). Central Advisory Council for Education
(England)Children and their primary schools : a report of the Central
Advisory Council for Education (The Plowden Report).London :
HMSO
Rogoff, B. (1990) Apprenticeship in Thinking. Oxford. Oxford University
Press
Spock, M. (1987) keynote address to Inter Activity Conference of the
American Association of Youth Museums, published in Hand to Hand,
Spring 1988
Siraj-Blatchford, I., Sylva, K., Muttock, S., Gilden, R. and Bell, D, (2002)
Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years. London.
DfES/Crown Copyright

Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I. And Taggart, B.

(2004) The Effective Provision of Pre-school Education: Final Report.
Nottingham. DfES Publications
Vygotsky. L. S. (1978) Mind in Society. The Development of Higher
Psychological Processes. Cambridge MA. Harvard University Press
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Problem Solving. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and
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