Nursery World - Take an interest (1)

In her second article on children's dispositions, Anne O'Connor considers how early years practitioners can help children to be enthusiastic about learning Children's learning can be described in terms of 'knowledge and understanding', 'skills' and 'attitudes and dispositions', and it is important that early years practitioners incorporate all three in their planning.

In her second article on children's dispositions, Anne O'Connor considers how early years practitioners can help children to be enthusiastic about learning

Children's learning can be described in terms of 'knowledge and understanding', 'skills' and 'attitudes and dispositions', and it is important that early years practitioners incorporate all three in their planning.

A child may know how to write, but that does not mean they will be interested in writing. A child may be able to play a game, but that does not mean they will want to be involved in playing it.

Margaret Carr, in her book Assessment in Early Childhood Settings (see box), has defined five domains (areas) of learning disposition:

* Taking an interest

* Being involved

* Persisting with difficulty or uncertainty

* Communicating with others

* Taking responsibility.

Each domain can be looked at in three parts:

* 'being ready' (the child sees him/herself as someone who can participate in learning), which must be supported by

* 'being willing' (the child sees that the place they are in has opportunities and is safe for learning), and

* 'being able' (the child has the developing knowledge and abilities that support their inclination and contribute to being ready and being willing).

(See table.) 'Taking an interest' and 'being involved' are obviously closely connected with learning. Practitioners will be familiar with the dramatic increase in participation when they touch on a topic that interests the children.

Emotion - desire, curiosity and fear - plays a big part in influencing children's interest. Think of the child who adores dinosaurs or how interested all children become when someone cuts their finger. Likewise, children's schemas -patterns of behaviour that act as learning mechanisms - will partly dictate a child's current interests and choice of focus.

Thankfully, Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage acknowledges the importance of child-initiated play and the need for sustained, uninterrupted periods in which children can pursue their interests and use materials for their own purposes.

So, how do practitioners support and encourage eager learning through interest and involvement? Margaret Carr suggests considering children's interest and involvement in relation to three aspects:

* artefacts (objects, languages, storylines, etc)

* activities (ways of using the artefacts for a range of purposes, routines and practices)

* social communities (groups such as animals and shops, as well as social units such as the family and early years setting).

Artefacts

Practitioners should provide a wide variety of good-quality play resources, but they also need to bear in mind that children can just as easily be fascinated by cardboard boxes or mundane domestic objects that may trigger (or perhaps coincide with) their current interest or schema.

* Don't underestimate the potential for using objects of all kinds to stimulate and respond to children's interests.

* Use both natural and manufactured materials.

* Provide objects that reflect the local community and the wider world.

* Make sure that artefacts are readily accessible, so that children can find them easily, use them when they want and be stimulated to use them.

* Develop 'user-friendly' storage systems so that children can feel more positive about tidying up.

* Create a store of themed objects, such as a collection of wheels or shiny stones, so that you can draw on them with ease when a child becomes interested in any of the themes.

* Bring in your own favourite things, share your delight in them with the children and talk about why the items interest you.

* Let children safeguard objects that interest them particularly (and they may be attached to) so they can return to them and sustain their interest.

* Storylines, topics and themes function as artefacts too. Think of the way children grasp a topic and make it their own or continually play out a story that has become important to them. Be flexible when planning topics and be responsive to the ones that children initiate, rather than following a long-term programme set by adults.

Activities

A child may show an interest in something, but to become truly involved they must feel that it is safe to 'let themselves go' (this is also true of adults).

* Allow children to observe activities and to decide for themselves when to participate. Recognise when encouragement is wanted, and when it might have a negative effect on a child.

* Show your own interest, concentration and involvement in activities. If it is not interesting to you, is it of interest to the children? (If it is, it is likely that they have initiated it, and this fact alone should interest you!)

* Most activities gain interest for children if an adult is involved. Start doing something and they will soon join you.

* Know when to intervene sensitively, for example, when to provide technical assistance, but also recognise when adult intervention interferes with children's levels of involvement.

* Allow children to revisit an activity frequently and to explore a variety of outcomes. This is particularly important in creative activities. Don't have a fixed idea about the end product. There is nothing creative about 30 identical collages, and the activity will have done little to sustain interest.

* Let children revisit and extend activities over sustained periods of time. In a true workshop environment, work in progress remains in situ until the process is complete. This is difficult when space is limited, but try to find ways round the problem.

Social communities

Many children display a great interest in things such as zoos and stations and this is often linked closely with their schema or an early interest, such as animals and trains. This is something that most early years settings capitalise on, but often in a prescriptive way, through topics.

* Ensure that role play, small-world and construction materials are accessible and always available. Enabling children to mix resources, for example, building a shelter for the dinosaurs, allows them to follow their interests and sustain involvement.

* Help children to see their play in terms of the wider 'possible self', for example, being a builder, carer, mathematician.

* Have spontaneous small-group outings to respond to children's interests, such as to the duck pond or bus station.

* Help children to make connections with the wider world via books, maps, visitors, TV, internet and so on.

DOMAIN OF LEARNING DISPOSITIONS. Taking an interest

Being Involved

BEING WILLING. Children are developing.

A preparedness to recognise, select or construct interests in this place, to make connections between artefacts, activities and social identities across places.

Informed judgements about the safety and trustworthiness of the local environment( ie, whats around them) BEING READY. Children are developing

Interests; expectations that people, places and things can be interesting; a view of self as interested and interesting.

Readiness to be involved, pay attention, for a sustained length of time; a view of self as someone who gets involved.

BEING ABLE. Children are developing

Abilities and funds of relevant knowledge that support their interests.

Strategies for getting involved and remaining focused.