Looking at Learning Through Children’s Eyes

Abstract

As an early childhood educator I found that children’s learning was often teacher centred and led, with predetermined outcomes to be reached through a single pathway. Having been taught the importance of using children’s ideas in our planning, I wondered why is it not equally important to acknowledge their changing interests, and whether learning outcomes are really improved if kept the same for all children. To challenge my beliefs I revisited a previously successful learning experience centring around a children’s book on Indigenous life. After sharing the book with four to five year olds, I left natural material outside for them to access in their own way and time. As a result, some of them tried to make their own paint brushes by bashing the ends of sticks with a hammer to fan out the ends, and some began painting rocks they had collected while others tried to crush them, mixing the dust with water to make their own paint. I could not have predicted their interests, but by promoting children’s voice in the planning process, saying and doing less from my own perspective, I was able to hear and see more of the children’s, in a non-biased way. I also found greater potential to scaffold individual children’s thinking and understanding, generating a higher level of cognitive challenge, stimulation and engagement than I had previously experienced, which I believe resulted from the learning context being created through the children’s voice.