Our mutual investigation this year at Bear Park Kohimarama “Awakening Relationships with Sustainable Communities” provoked us as kaiako to consider how we support tamariki to develop their strong sense of identity and contribute their unique ideas within a group as well as developing the range of skills and capacities needed to collaborate as a community of learners. Such things include listening to diverse perspectives and being open to multiple possibilities, working together towards a common goal, negotiating, sharing resources and problem solving to find solutions that meet everyone’s differing needs.
To begin our research in our Morepork room we were interested in finding out more about how our tamariki expressed themselves and contributed their individual ideas and working theories within our group. We considered the resources in our environment and agreed that the multiple possibilities that open ended recycled/reused materials offered the best potentials for tamariki to develop connections and communicate their thinking.
In the months prior we had noticed that our Morepork tamariki had been showing a strong interest in using the pieces of fabric on offer in imaginative ways in their dramatic play so we decided to extend on this by offering a wider range of contrasting textures, sizes, colour and opacity. Alongside this we introduced a selection of recycled resources to provoke ideas, creativity and critical thinking amongst our community of learners.
At this point we chose to keep our intent very open, simply observing how tamariki explored the different materials, fostering their curiosity and joining them in their discoveries in our role as a co researcher. We observed how the children engaged with the materials, the strategies of learning that they used in their exploration, the different ways that they used the materials to communicate their ideas and how they interacted with one another during these experiences. The observations we documented were crucial for giving value to the learning, which our toddler children communicate both verbally and non-verbally, as well as for informing the pathways and possibilities for our investigative journey.
As we observed we noticed how each tamariki began to deeply explore their ideas and follow their own avenues of research through their unique encounters with the materials. It was intriguing to see how materials ‘spoke’ to children in different ways.
Some were perhaps encountering a material for the first time and we could see how the novelty of getting to know something new ignited their innate curiosity and desire to make connections with the world around them through all of their senses. Other tamariki took a different approach to their research, opting to spend time closely observing their peers as they explored, perhaps to develop a broader understanding of the multiple possibilities that the materials posed before embarking on their own research.
Our Morepork’s revisited the materials on offer and continued to explore their working theories, such as using larger pieces of fabric for full bodied participation and discovering how it could be moved in conjunction with their body. They enjoyed looking at each other through sheer fabric or peering through the little holes in a more open weave piece of netting. Many draped themselves in the fabric like a piece of clothing or favoured fully enclosing themselves within it, feeling the contrasting range of textures on their skin.
As a group they negotiated the space that large lengths of fabric created underneath, or lay on top of it, developing understandings of spatial concepts and sharing in one another’s discoveries as they playfully explored.
At times tamariki inspired their peers to share in their experiences through their sense of wonder and joy and an individual idea soon became a collaborative pursuit.
The well known game of peek a boo naturally became an avenue for making connections with one another and developing understandings of reciprocity as they took turns to ‘surprise’ their peer.
As our investigation progressed and we continued to offer uninterrupted time to freely explore we could see how our Morepork’s interactions become more intentional and purposeful as their knowledge of the material’s characteristics and potential grew. They showed increasingly creative and complex theories, now confidently communicating their ideas both verbally and non verbally to the group.
As we engaged alongside the children we were continuously invited into their experiences and they were eager to share their discoveries marvelling in the unique properties of these abstract, open ended materials. As teachers this affirmed how within this environment tamariki are constructing a strong view of themselves as a confident capable explorer, a powerful protagonist who takes the lead in their learning and researches to find out what they want to know.
It was also wonderful to see how the materials become a vehicle for our tamariki to make connections with one another and strengthen relationships as they shared strategies of exploration, collaborated and creatively expressed their ideas. Provocations of recycled materials were quickly connected by skilful constructors to became a vehicle big enough for a group of friends or creatively pieced together to form new outfits for a special occasion, all of which required skills of listening to different perspectives, working through challenge, negotiation, focus, thinking outside the box and problem solving towards a shared goal.
As we have continued our investigative journey, we can see that tamariki are growing in their understanding that they have differing ideas and ways of communicating, sharing their thinking verbally and non-verbally with peers and kaiako. Through these experiences children are developing a culture of listening actively to verbal and non-verbal cues, being respectful of their differing opinions and open to multiple possibilities. We can see that these attitudes, skills and dispositions fostered within our Morepork group instils an inclusive culture that enables a community of learners to thrive both as an individual and as a collective.
Morepork Kaiako, Bear Park Kohimarama
