Qualitative Studies of Exploration in Childhood Education: Cultures of Play and Learning in Transition

This book uses the concept of exploration as a way of understanding transitions in children between the ages of 5 to 18 years old. Written by an international group of scholars from Australia, Brazil, China, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, India, Norway and the UK, the chapters offer a diverse set of case studies. The topics and themes covered include transitions in outdoor playtime, the transition to daycare, compassion in kindergarten, learning with fathers, transitions of Chinese traditional culture and disability. The chapters are organised into two parts, the first part covering macro transitions and the second covering micro-genetic transitions. The contributors show how both macro and micro-genetic transitions influence children’s everyday lives, and how these different transitions open up new possibilities for play, learning and development. The contributors draw on Vygotsky’s cultural historical theory and the understanding that children’s cultural formation takes form in a dialectic relation between children’s interests and motives and the institutional settings they participate in.

Table of Contents:
Notes on Contributors Preface Acknowledgements Series Editor’s Introduction 1. Cultures of Play and Learning in Transition, Mariane Hedegaard (Copenhagen University, Denmark), Marilyn Fleer (Monash University, Australia), Hanne Værum Sørensen (University College Aarhus, Denmark) and Elin Eriksen Ødegaard (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway) Part I: Macro Transitions Within and Across Educational Cultures: Children’s Explorations as a New Conception in Transitions 2. Ideas for a Radical-Local Approach to Care and Support for Children’s Playful Exploration in Preschool and Transition to School, Mariane Hedegaard (Copenhagen University, Denmark) and Naussúng Lyberth (Nuuk Muncipality, Greenland) 3. A Pedagogy of Collaborative Exploration: A Case Study of the Transition from a Monocultural Entity in National Celebration Rituals to a Multi-Layered Informed Pedagogy Practice Elin Eriksen Ødegaard (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway) 4. Play Exploration And Active Learning In A Chinese Kindergarten: An Educational Experiment Into How Teachers Meet The New Societal Demands Of The Educational Reform And Transition Into New Play Practices, Liang Li and Marilyn Fleer (Monash University, Australia) 5. Children with Disabilities Growing Up and Exploring Life as Adults: Socio-Cultural Challenges Around the Transition to Adulthood, Louise Bøttcher (Aarhus University, Denmark) Part II: Children’s Explorations During Micro-Genetic Transitions Within Activity Settings 6. Crisis As Micro-Genetic Developmental Transitions: Using Explorative Activities In Micro Transitions To Recognize Opportunities For Development Between Young Children And Their Fathers - A Cross-National Study, Rita Chawla-Duggan (University of Bath, UK) and Rajani Konantambigi (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India) 7. Babies in Motion Within Daycare Transition: (Co)construction of Locomotor Exploration in a Brazilian Case Study, Natalia Meireles Santos da Costa and Katia de Souza Amorim (University of São Paulo, Brazil) 8. Transitional Activities: Children’s Projects in Finnish Pre-Primary Education, Jaako Hillpö (University of Helsinki, Finland), Anna Rainio (University of Helsinki, Finland) and Teemu Suorsa (University of Oulu, Finland) 9. Moth Funeral: Exploring Issues of Life and Death in Early Childhood Education, Lasse Lipponen, Jaakko Hilppö and Antti Rajala (University of Helsinki, Finland) 10. Mirco-Transitions in Outdoor Playtime in Kindergarten: Opportunities and Resistances, Åsta Birkeland (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway), Hanne Værum Sørensen (University College Aarhus, Denmark) and He Min (East China Normal University, China) References Index