Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
260742065
EDEE 253-001
As our model depicts, children love to play and explore, which is why my image of the
child is that they are playful and absorb most information when they are playing. If a child does
not have the opportunity to play, I believe that it is depriving them from developing to their full
potential. My group and I chose to focus specifically on play because of a child’s nature to bring
laughter and amusement into everything they do. Whether it’s through learning, growing,
exploring, or social interaction, playing is such a significant part of their lives, and “play is how
children prefer to gather and process information, learn new skills, and practice old ones”
(Kostelnik, Rupiper, Soderman & Whiren, 2014, p.22). Our model represents the joy a child has
when learning through play. It also represents the way children grow and take learning into their
own hands with an “innate desire to discover, learn, and make sense of the world.” (Hewett,
2001, p. 96). Since children in preschool and kindergarten explore most of the usual school
subjects including mathematics, language arts, and music, our model was to show different ways
they can play within those topics. For example, the model incorporates giant lego blocks, which
Moreover, our views of the child are clearly represented through our model because of all
the elements of play that are included, which are the book, the shovel and dirt, the tambourine,
the baseball, etc. We hope to analyze the “space between” by understanding the influential
relationship a teacher has with students. It is difficult for adults to understand that playing is not
just for entertainment but that it can be used to facilitate learning. It is unfortunate when children
become adults, they lose their sense of wonder and play. Children depend on play as a source to
discover and familiarize themselves with the world since it leads to “negotiating skills and
1
CONCEPTUALIZING THE IMAGE OF THE YOUNG CHILD: REFLECTION
al., 2014, p.267), which are all important for young learners. Teachers have an important role in
assisting their students with quality play by giving them time and the opportunity to do so.
I believe that play is the most important thing you can give a child because it is the
essence of all other qualities. Children learn and love to play at a very young age, and doing so
helps facilitate their imagination and shape them into the kind of person they will be in the
future. It is crucial for them to have that experience with play to make deep social connections
and evolve as an honest citizen with controlled emotions since “the most natural way young
children explore the social domain is through play” (Kostelnik et al., 2014, p.286). As a teacher
in training, I am so excited when students learn through play because I feel like they are learning
and retaining the knowledge they gain and experience it through something they love to do. I do
understand that children learn through play, but from what other groups presented, I understand
that there are many other valuable ways in which a child can learn. For example, a child can also
learn from being in nature and exploring their surroundings, which relates to the Reggio Emilia
approach of using the environment since “bringing the outdoors in connects children to their
roots and gives them a sense of value and respect for their community” (Fraser, 2006, p.116).
When planning my curriculum, I will include maker spaces since they enhance student learning
experiences, which “involve[s] materials, and materials are extremely fun for kids. Kids need to
play with materials before you can expect them to do anything else” (Baggett, 2016, p. 30).
Students can work together in groups, learn individually, and use their imagination all through
the aspect of play that maker spaces introduce. I want to capture students by providing fun and
interesting ways to learn about a subject to support their creativity. I also want to help them
discover the world, and maker spaces help facilitate that through meaningful play.
2
CONCEPTUALIZING THE IMAGE OF THE YOUNG CHILD: REFLECTION
Many class presentations interpreted a child beautifully and in their own way by seeing
them as explorers, unique, thinkers, and as innovators. The group that presented children as
innovators demonstrated a child perfectly through their perspective by giving different examples
of what children had invented. I learned from this group that children can be imaginative and
have more potential than what we see. They addressed the space between by also giving an
related to the Reggio Emilia approach because they were interpreting children as researchers by
telling us that “they question what they see, hypothesize solutions, predict outcomes, experiment,
and reflect on their discoveries” (Hewett, 2001, p. 96). Another group also beautifully depicted a
child as a learner by including the six domains into their project. It is important to see a child
through those six lenses because students can comprehend the world if a teacher incorporates all
domains into their classroom but they can also develop them on their own. The six domains are
valuable when teaching a child and interpreting them as learners and noticing a child as
imaginative since they encompass those qualities as well. I believe that in the end, when we see a
child as playful, we also view them as innovative, imaginative, and many other ways since those
3
CONCEPTUALIZING THE IMAGE OF THE YOUNG CHILD: REFLECTION
References
Baggett, A. (2016). Making in the K‐3 classroom: Why, how, and wow! Constructing Modern
Kostelnik, M. J., Rupiper, M., Soderman, A. K., & Whiren, A. P. (2014). Developmentally