Preschool and outdoor environment-children´s right to participation, space, play and learning environment

Author(s):

karin engdahl

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

25. Research on Children's Rights in Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

25 SES 09, Educational Contexts and Experience of Life and Learning

Paper Session

Time:

2009-09-30

10:30-12:00

Room:

NIG, Seminarraum

Chair:

John I'Anson

Contribution

Introduction Children`s outdoor environment are of great importance for their mental healht and motor development (Engdahl, Brodin&Lindstrand, 2006). Outdoor play is described as important for childrens development. Playing and learning are crucial in the Swedish curriculum (lpfö,98) just like outdoors enviroments importance for childrens play and learning. These days children´s everydays experience of the outdoor environment largely stops within the bounds of their playground. Childrens play, learning and interaction in outdoor environment are no longer possible to the same extent as the were previously (Björklid, 2005). This study is a pilot study with a focus on preschool children's outdoor play and interaction in two different prescool.The conclusions were drawn from this study (Engdahl 2005, 2006) was that children's play and social interaction is complex, and generated further questions. Issues relating to the physical environment design is such an issue. This includes teachers vision of the role they have to support and enhance children's interaction, play and learning processes. Another important issue is that children have the opportunity to control and affect the parts of their lives. How does the children's ability when it comes to influence prescool environments design, or how and where to play? In preschool, children together with adults to actively participate in decisions related to the educational environment, (Pramling Samuelsson & Sheridan, 1999). Which connects to the UN Convention (2003) on children's rights where it points out that children have a right to make its voice heard and also have their views taken into account. From a Convention perspective we can make us self questions, about of how teachers can work with to increase the participation of children in the design of their outdoor environment, so this issue affects all European teachers who work with young children Theoretical Framework Theoretical point of departure in my studie is in Mead´s (1934/1976) interaction theories where it is empasized that development takes place in individual meetings with other people. Mead´s basic idea is that the mental phenomena of self and consciousness are social products. If humans are to act deliberately to have ability to reflect on past acts and also to anticipate their own and others actions in the future, so she must also be aware of the environment she is in (Hughes,Månsson,1998). Being able to interact and being sensitive to other´s perspective is a key element in all human communication.

Method

Methods This study has an qualitative and an etnographic approach using observations and interviews to study children's play,learning and interaction outside. The qualitative researcher is (Merriam, 1994) more interested in process than the outcome or product. It is also about meanings, ie. how people create meaning, what they feel and how they interpret experiences [...].I have chosen to observe the preschool children's play and interaction by observing them in the playground. Children Interviews are an essential part of the investigation. I have assumed that children should be seen as active and social actors. Tiller (1991) argue, that trying to describe what it means to be children of today can only go through the child itself. An interview time is a special social situation (Kaiser and Olander, 2005).In conversations with prescool children is mainly to give the child time and listen to what they want to tell.

Expected Outcomes

Conclusions Just like indoor environments, outdoor environments are important for children´s interaction, play and learning. Free play outdoors at a preschool yard gives children great opportunities to develop, explore, and discover the world around them ( Mårtensson, 2004; Sandberg &Vuorinen, 2008). When looking at different prescools and the childrens play, it is temtating to belive that the games and the interaction on the yard is similar. The observations showed that the interaction between the children in the prescool´s differed. There was a tendency for the children to play together in the first prescool. In the other prescool the children was admitted to the conflict´s. The question we may ask is how differed children can handle the conflict of wich they have been involved in and how adults can help children who are not accepted in play interaction? Another question focus that childrens outdoor environments vary between differences prescools.

References

Bauman, Z. (1990). Att tänka sociologiskt. .(Thinking sociologically) Göteborg: Bokförlaget Korpen Berg, L-E. (1998). Den sociala människan: Om den symboliska interaktionismen. (The Social Human. (Symbolic Interactionism.) I P. Månson. (Red.), Moderna samhällsteorier. Traditioner, riktningar, teoretiker. (Theories of Modernity) 153-184. Stockholm: Bokförlaget Prisma. Björklid, P. (2005). Lärande och fysisk miljö. En kunskapsöversikt om samspelet mellan lärande och fysisk miljö i skola.(Learning and physical environment. A literature survey on interaction between learning and physical environment in prescool and school). Myndigheten för Skolutveckling. Davidsson, I. (2006) The scoolyard a place of meaning.childrens perspective.In J. Brodin& P.Lindstrand(Eds) (2006). Interaction in Outdoor Play Environments-Gender, Culture and Learning. TKH-report No 47,Child and Youth Science, Stockholm Institute of Education. Engdahl, K. (2005): Vi vill leva – leva för alltid. En empirisk studie av barns lek och samspel i utomhusmiljöer. (We vant to live-live forever. An emperical study of children´s interaction and play in two prescool yards) Forskningsrapport 41, TKH-serien. Lärarhögskolan i Stockholm. Engdahl, K., Brodin, J., Lindstrand, P. (2006). Play and Interaction in two prescool yards. Jane Brodin and Peg Lindstrand (Eds.) Interaction in Outdoor Play Environments - Gender, Culture and Learning  Nr 47 (2006) . HSFR. (2002). Forskningsetiska principer inom humanistisk-samhällsvetenskaplig forskning. Stockholm: Vetenskapsrådet.(Swedish Research Council. The Scientific Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences(HSFR) Research ethics rules) Hughes, J. A., & Månsson, S-A. (1988). Kvalitativ sociologi. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Ivarsson, M.-P. (2003). Barns gemenskap i förskolan. Doktorsavhandling. (Children´s spirity of community) Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Kaiser, L& Ölander, M. (1999) Etnologiskt fältarbete.(Ethnological fieldwork Lund: Studentlitteratur. Mead, G. H. (1934/1976). Medvetandet jaget och samhället från socialbehavioristisk ståndpunkt.(Mind Self and Society. (Ed)( Charles W Morris,1934) Kalmar: Argos Förlag AB. Merriam,S.(1988) Case Study Research in Education. Jossey-Bass.Inc. Publishers, San Francisco: USA. Mårtensson, F. (2004).Landskapet i leken. En studie av utomhuslek på förskolegården. (The landscape in children´s play. A study of outdoor play in prescools.) Alnarp. Mänskliga rättigheter - Konventionen om barnets rättigheter. Regeringskansliet: UD info, 2003. Pramling Samuelsson, I., Sheridan, S. (1999). Lärandets grogrund.(The basis of Learning) Lund: Studentlitteratur. Tiller, P.O. (1991). Barneperspektivet-om å se og bli sett. Vårt perspektiv på barn – eller omvendt? Barn-nyt fra forskning om barn i Norge nr 1, Norsk Senter for barneforskning, Trondheim. Sandberg, A.Vuorinen, T. (2008). Barndomens lekmiljöer-förr och nu. In A.Sandberg(Ed) (2008) Miljöer för Lek,Lärande och Samspel). Lund:Studentlitteratur. Ärlemalm-Hagsér, E. (2006) Gender, Playing and Learning in natural outdoor environment. In J. Brodin& P.Lindstrand(Eds) (2006). Interaction in Outdoor Play Environments-Gender, Culture and Learning. TKH-report No 47,Child and Youth Science, Stockholm Institute of Education. www.codex vr.se Forskning som inkluderar barn.(Research including children) www.rb.se/sv/Barnkonventionen/Korta Versionen(The children´s rights, The Convention and the Rights of the Child.

Author Information

karin engdahl

Umeå University

(Dept. of Child and Youth Education, Special Education and Counselling

Umeå

186

Search the ECER Programme

Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
Search for authors and in the respective field.
For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.