You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Early Learning and Development offers new models of 'conceptual play' practice and theory.
This Open Access book examines children’s participation in dialectical reciprocity with place-based institutional practices by presenting empirical research from Australia, Brazil, China, Poland, Norway and Wales. Underpinned by cultural-historical theory, the analysis reveals how outdoors and nature form unique conditions for children's play, formal and informal learning and cultural formation. The analysis also surfaces how inequalities exist in societies and communities, which often limit and constrain families' and children's access to and participation in outdoor spaces and nature. The findings highlight how institutional practices are shaped by pedagogical content, teachers' training, institutional regulations and societal perceptions of nature, children and suitable, sustainable education for young children. Due to crises, such as climate change and the recent pandemic, specific focus on the outdoors and nature in cultural formation is timely for the cultural-historical theoretical tradition. In doing so, the book provides empirical and theoretical support for policy makers, researchers, educators and families to enhance, increase and sustain outdoor and nature education.
This book takes a detailed look at the complex area of young children's play as it is understood in the early twenty-first century, and in particular at the relationships between play, learning and teaching which are enacted in early childhood settings, across countries as different as England and the USA, Sweden and the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.
Play is crucial to the learning and development of children in the early years. The third edition of Play in the Early Years is a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of play for children from birth to 8 years old. Drawing on classical and contemporary theories, this text examines social, cultural and institutional approaches to play, and explores a range of strategies for successfully integrating play into early years settings and primary classrooms. This edition features a new chapter on conceptual playworlds, which demonstrates what conceptual playworlds look like to infants and toddlers, pre-schoolers, and children transitioning into school. The text features classroom vignettes and photographs designed to help students connect theory to practice, and reflection questions and research activities encourage in-depth reflection and extend learning. Highly regarded by early childhood researchers and practitioners alike, Play in the Early Years remains an essential resource for pre-service students.
This book takes a detailed look at the complex area of young children's play as it is understood in the early twenty-first century, and in particular at the relationships between play, learning and teaching which are enacted in early childhood settings, across countries as different as England and the USA, Sweden and the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand. It examines contemporary thinking about the role of play in the early years from a range of perspectives, and offers new ways to understand and define the relationship between learning and play. Its contributors bring together theory, practice and research evidence to make their arguments, which are illustrated through a range of international, cross-cultural examples. Contributors: Jo Ailwood, Joy Cullen, Brian Edmiston, Marilyn Fleer, Helen Hedges, Barbara Jordan, Anna Kilderry, Annica Lofdahl, Alex Moran, Andrea Nolan, Bert van Oers, Ann Merete Otterstad, Jeannette Rhedding-Jones, Sue Rogers, Annette Sandberg, Tuula Vuorinen.
This work discusses the complexity of child development. It provides a critique of alternative perspectives of research and development and shows how to do research with the concepts of cultural-historical theory.
Theorising Play in the Early Years is a theoretical and empirical exploration of the concept of pedagogy and play in early childhood education. The book provides an in-depth examination of classical and contemporary theories of play, with a focus on post-developmental perspectives and Vygotskian theory. In this book, Marilyn Fleer draws on a range of cross-cultural research in order to challenge Western perspectives and to move beyond a universal view of the construct of play. Culture and context are central to the understanding of how play is valued, expressed and used as a pedagogical approach in early childhood education across the international community. Designed as a companion to the textbook Play in the Early Years, but also useful on its own, Theorising Play in the Early Years provides indispensible support to academics and TAFE lecturers in early childhood education in their course development and research.
Provides a comprehensive introduction to curriculum theories and approaches in early childhood and early primary settings.
The early years of life are fast gaining prominence around the world. It is well documented that investment in early childhood results in exceptionally high returns in multiple arenas; greater than those resulting from enterprise focused on later periods in people’s lives. This book presents current early years research that reflects the transdisciplinary nature of childhood. The first in the Children and Childhoods series, this volume examines multiple perspectives, places and practices that constitute early childhood. The many facets of how children and childhoods are seen, where they are enacted and how they are played out are explained through explorations of playgrounds, hospitals, museums, child care centres and other locations. Similarly diverse are the methodologies that underpin these investigations. Children, practitioners, families and researchers all contribute to this cornucopia of children and childhoods.