Chloe, age three years and six months, is in her second year at nursery. We have noticed her transporting objects around the nursery in various ways over a long time.
Chloe is making trajectories (travelling) from one point in space to an end point. She carries things and sometimes places different objects in heaps at the end point. Her transporting appeared to be a dominant pattern of action, but when staff looked more closely they saw a whole cluster of schemas.
The cluster of child schemas are:
* Trajectories - moving in or creating lines in space
* Transporting - carrying objects from one place to another
* Containing - putting themselves or objects into containers
* Enveloping - covering them- selves, objects or space.
For staff, identifying clusters of schemas helps in the planning of present and future learning.
Home context
Chloe lives with her mother, Arlene, and brother, Ryan (seven years).
Arlene says that Chloe transports her dolls around the house in a buggy (container) and will put her clothes in a buggy to carry them upstairs. She sometimes dumps them in a heap when she reaches her destination. Chloe also likes to dress up (envelopment) and particularly enjoys wearing high heels.
Nursery context
At nursery Chloe has a strong friendship with Connor. They often dress up together - ballet tutus are their favourite outfits (envelopment). Chloe also enjoys playing at the sink or water tray, filling and emptying bottles and placing them in a line.
Observation of Chloe
Chloe and Connor were videoed using hosepipes in the 'beach area'. They make water travel in different trajectories to produce different effects.
* Chloe holds the hosepipe with two hands and directs water into a Pers- pex bucket containing a small amount of sand. The water forms a trajectory suitable for filling a container.
* Chloe puts her finger in the flow of the water at the end of the hosepipe. This increases the water pressure.
* She moves the hosepipe nearer and makes the water swirl in the bucket.
The water is fastest as it emerges from the hose, so by moving the hosepipe nearer to the wall of the bucket Chloe creates a faster pace, resulting in the swirl of water.
* The water swirls faster and the sand can be seen swirling around in the water. Chloe watches, then repeats her actions with the next bucket in the line.
Supporting exploration
Nursery staff support Chloe's actions by providing a rich environment for exploration. We encourage Chloe's friendships by having enough resources so children can work alongside each other. Staff are ready to subtly intervene with resources and language to support Chloe's actions.
We record the language Chloe uses. Early in the observation, she says 'I fill mine up to the top like that', raising her arm above her head. Later on, she looks along the line of buckets and says 'We've got two ones, haven't we? One, two, three, four.'
What Chloe is learning
* Holding the hosepipe with two hands apart, so that the hose forms a straight line, would indicate that Chloe knows the water will take the path of least resistance. A bend in the hose would slow the flow of water.
* Chloe deliberately places her finger in the flow. She has learned that reducing the size of the hole and holding the hosepipe nearer to the bucket will increase the pressure of the water and make the contents of the bucket rise and swirl.
* Chloe's language indicates an interest in height and length. The line of buckets has a beginning and an end with points in between. This kind of activity heralds the use of later measuring tools as Chloe gains a sense of counting and measuring. Two months later Chloe talks about how big she is in comparison to another child. 'Look at the size of me - I'm bigger'.
Arlene links this with conversations they have about eating her dinner to grow bigger.
* Chloe has an interest in speed. Arlene says that recently Chloe has been walking to nursery and talking about the speed of the traffic. Her nursery worker says Chloe asks her to sing songs quickly or slowly.
* Chloe has shown an interest in the speeds of traffic and water flow. Now, with her request for songs, she is being playful with the speed of sound.
Schemas can be explored through:
* Senses and movement. Chloe sees the effect of her actions when she places her finger in the flow of water.
* Functional dependency relation- ships. Chloe deliberately places her finger at the edge of the hosepipe. The water pressure is functionally dependent on the size of the opening.
* Symbolic representation. When Chloe looks along the line of buckets and counts '1,2,3,4' she shows that she is able to represent a group of similar objects (classification). She is also able to represent their order in the line by using the number system.
* Thought, which occurs when chil- dren discuss events in the absence of concrete reminders. Chloe talks about the speed of the vehicles. NW Written by Cath Arnold, deputy director of Pen Green Centre for Under Fives and Families in Corby, Northants
Further reading
* Pen Green Centre, 'Take cover', Nursery World, 19 February 2004
* Arnold, C (1999), Child Development and Learning 2-5 years: Georgia's Story, Paul Chapman
* Arnold, C (2003), Observing Harry: Child Development and Learning 0-5 years, Open University Press
* Athey, C (1990), Extending Thought in Young Children: A Parent-Teacher Partnership, Paul Chapman, London
* Bruce, T (second edition, 1997), Early Childhood Education, Paul Chapman
* Meade, A with Cubey, P (1995), Thinking Children, New Zealand Council for Educational Research
* Nutbrown, C (1999), Threads of Thinking, Paul Chapman
* Whalley, M (ed) (1997), Working with Parents, Hodder & Stoughton
* Whalley, M (Ed) (2001), Involving parents in their children's learning, Paul Chapman
About this series
'A schema is a pattern of repeated actions. Clusters of schemas develop into later concepts.' (Chris Athey, 2003)
These articles have been written by the Pen Green Team as a result of monthly seminars with Chris Athey, during which individual children's learning is reflected on and discussed at length.
The articles are a brief introduction to schemas, which are just one lens through which children's development and learning can be viewed.
Recognising and extending 'schemas' or 'patterns' of behaviour in young children provides a framework which helps parents and staff plan an exciting and challenging learning environment to support children's development.
Schemas can be regarded as a window into children's learning.
Generally, when children are playing schematically they are intrinsically motivated to learn, resulting in long periods of concentration. Through their schemas, children are 'fitting' various experiences into their current thinking.
If we closely observe children's actions we will spot patterns of repeated actions (schemas). They can help practitioners to extend their provision to meet the individual learning needs of the children in their care.
Note: children's occasional actions and fleeting interests should not be identified as schemas.
