Children Meaning Making And The Arts

This Australian text is about children’s voices – their minds, feelings, souls. It’s about how children’s voices are liberated through the arts, and how children make and communicate meaning through still and moving images, sounds, textures, gestures and the use of many other signs. It is also about how teachers, parents, peers and the community influence children’s early development, and how quality arts education in early childhood is an essential component of lifelong learning. The authors are teachers and researchers who are respected for their contributions to early childhood arts education. All of them have addressed their topics via practical examples, which are embedded in current philosophies and theories, often stemming from original research and firsthand interactions with children.

Making Meaning is a synthesis of theory, research, and practice that explicitly presents art as a meaning making process. This book provokes readers to examine their current understandings of language, literacy and learning through the lens of the various arts-based perspectives offered in this volume; provides a starting point for constructing broader, multimodal views of what it might mean to “make meaning”; and underscores why understanding arts-based learning as a meaning-making process is especially critical to early childhood education in the face of narrowly-focused, test-driven curricular reforms. Each contributor integrates this theory and research with stories of how passionate teachers, teacher-educators, and pre-service teachers, along with administrators, artists, and professionals from a variety of fields have transcended disciplinary boundaries to engage the arts as a meaning-making process for young children and for themselves.

How should we understand children’s creativity? This fascinating collection of international research offers fresh perspectives on children’s creative processes and the expression of their creative imagination through dramatic play, stories, artwork, dance, music and conversation. Drawing on a range of research evidence from innovative educational initiatives in a wide variety of countries, Exploring Children’s Creative Narratives develops new theoretical and practical insights that challenge traditional thinking about children’s creativity. The chapters, written by well-respected international contributors: offer new conceptual and interpretive frameworks for understanding children’s creativity contest conventional discourses about the origins and nature of creativity challenge the view that young children’s creativity can only be judged in terms of their creative output explore the significance children themselves attribute to their creative activity argue the need for a radical reappraisal of the influence of the sociocultural context on children’s creative expression discuss the implications of this research in relation to teacher education and curriculum design. This broad yet coherent compilation of research on creativity in childhood is essential reading for students, researchers and policy makers in early childhood as well as for Early Years professionals with a particular interest in creativity.

This new Australian text covers all the diverse fields within arts education for the young child, and provides a current introduction to both theory and practice in arts education in the early years of childhood. Author from QUT.

Investigating children’s learning through dance and drawing-telling, Dance-Play and Drawing-Telling as Semiotic Tools for Young Children’s Learning provides a unique insight into how these activities can help children to critically reflect on their own learning. Promoting the concept of dance and drawing-telling as highly effective semiotic tools for meaning-making, the book enlivens thinking about the extraordinary capacities of young children, and argues for the incorporation of dance and drawing in mainstream early childhood curriculum. Throughout the book, numerous practice examples show how children use movement, sound, images, props and language to imaginatively re-conceptualize their everyday experiences into bodily-kinesthetic and spatial-temporal concepts. These examples illustrate children’s competence when given the opportunity to learn through dance and drawing-telling, as well as the important role that teachers play in scaffolding children’s learning. Based on award-winning research, this insightful and informative book makes a sought after contribution to the field of dance education and seeks to reaffirm dance as a powerful learning modality that supports young children’s expressive non-verbal communication. Encouraging the reader to consider the significance of multi-modal teaching and learning, it is essential reading for researchers in the dance, drawing and education spheres; postgraduate students taking courses in early childhood; play and dance therapists; and all early childhood teachers who have a specific interest in arts education.

Do you want to understand young children's development in greater depth? Would you like to see how they view the world around them, and what they think the future might look like? Creativity in early childhood is an area of fascination for all those working with young children, and this book investigates why children create, and what their creations mean. Chapters describe the processes and depict the outcomes of meaning-making, and of making room for children's voices through the open-ended activity of drawing. Issues examined include: - the increasingly popular use of multi-modal texts; - links between creativity and literacy; - the importance of art in early childhood; - concrete examples of children's meaning-making, from the author's research. We see how non-verbal and verbal communication is used to convey meaning, and how children's voices emerge; the important role imagination and narrative play in the early and continuing development of children is emphasized throughout the book. Ideal for students of early childhood, and for anyone working with young children, this book is a revelatory guide to the mind of the young child.

This volume focuses on very young children’s (aged 0-8) rights in a digital world. It gathers current research from around the globe that focuses on young children’s rights as agental citizens to the provision of and participation in digital devices and content—as well as their right to protection from harm. The UN Digital Rights Framework of 2014 addresses children’s needs, agency and vulnerability to harm in today’s digital world and implies roles and responsibilities for a variety of social actors including the state, families, schools, commercial entities, researchers and children themselves. This volume presents a broad range of research, including chapters on parental supervision and control, the changing forms of play, early childhood education, media and cultural studies, law, design, health, special-needs education, and engineering. Implicit within this book is the acknowledgement that children of various ages, abilities, socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds should have equal access to, and positive / non-harmful experiences with, new digital technologies and content—as well as adult support and expertise that enhances these experiences. This passionate book celebrates the diversity of young children’s activities in the digital world. It interrogates these through four intersecting lenses: their rights, play experiences, contextualised design, and best practice. Balancing children’s eager engagement with digital content alongside adult responsibilities for education, privacy and protection, the volume provides a fitting showcase for work of global relevance. Professor Lelia Green Professor of Communications Edith Cowan University Perth, Western Australia This compelling text provides a critical resource to inform our understanding of the intersection of the digital world and children’s rights. Ilene R. Berson, Ph.D. Professor of Early Childhood Education Affiliate Faculty, Learning Design & Technology Area Coordinator, Early Childhood Coordinator, Early Childhood Ph.D. Program University of South Florida College of Education A truly international collection that investigates young children’s engagement with digital technologies. Identifying issues of public interest around digital practices, this highly readable book is a valuable resource for researchers, parents and policy makers. Professor Susan Danby Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child and, Faculty of Education School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education QUT Kelvin Grove, Queensland

Providing a distillation of knowledge in the various disciplines of arts education (dance, drama, music, literature and poetry and visual arts), this essential handbook synthesizes existing research literature, reflects on the past, and contributes to shaping the future of the respective and integrated disciplines of arts education. While research can at times seem distant from practice, the Handbook aims to maintain connection with the live practice of art and of education, capturing the vibrancy and best thinking in the field of theory and practice. The Handbook is organized into 13 sections, each focusing on a major area or issue in arts education research.

This thought-provoking book will provide masters students, teachers and researchers with a toolkit and theoretical framework for teaching literacy through children's literature. It features innovative ideas for developing student and teacher experiences with literature and popular culture texts in the classroom, providing practical examples and teaching aids throughout. Taking a collaborative approach, Curtin explores how teachers and learners can engage with literature and its authors for the development of literacy in classroom practice. Connecting reader and writer identities and worlds through interviews with and suggested classroom activities from authors themselves, this text combines author, teacher and learner perspectives in the development of creative pedagogies that extend understandings of literacy beyond reading, writing and text. Exploring fairy-tales, comic books and graphic novels, children living in literature (i.e., texts which portray children, their lives and experiences), popular culture, young adult fiction, and non-fiction and digital texts such as blogs etc, this text develops a sociocultural understanding of literacy as a lived and contextually dependent practice where meaning is derived through relationships between people, settings and culture. Different contexts for literacy are explored, including reading and writing strategically (to learn about literacy and literature), widely (for personal purposes) and deeply (to transform understanding) (Short, 2011). This text will be an invaluable resource for teachers, researchers or anyone interested in reading and writing stories. The author interviews will also be of particular interest to older learners themselves as a way to develop their understanding of their own reading and writing practices. Pedagogies can be adapted to any age group, ranging from the early years to young adult.

This book brings together selected papers from a conference focusing on Redesigning Pedagogy, organized by the Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice, National Institute of Education, Singapore. The papers are organised around seven key themes: Literacy Education, Relations of Power, Reflection, Meaning Making, Evaluation, and Mathematics and Science

A focus on the developmental progress of children before the age of eight helps to inform their future successes, including their personality, social behavior, and intellectual capacity. However, it is difficult for experts to pinpoint best learning and parenting practices for young children. Early Childhood Development: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is an innovative reference source for the latest research on the cognitive, socio-emotional, physical, and linguistic development of children in settings such as homes, community-based centers, health facilities, and school. Highlighting a range of topics such as cognitive development, parental involvement, and school readiness, this multi-volume book is designed for educators, healthcare professionals, parents, academicians, and researchers interested in all aspects of early childhood development.

This market-leading practical text helps student teachers develop their confidence, understanding and skills to effectively and authentically teach arts. With a strong balance between theory and practice, Delivering Authentic Arts Education outlines the true nature of the key learning area of arts education and its importance in the curriculum, emphasising the arts as forms of creative activity, meaning-making and expression in a cultural context. Initial chapters discuss how to recognise and build on existing artistic abilities and pedagogical skills, how to encourage children’s creativity, how to lead arts appreciation experiences, and the general principles of planning and assessment. Part 2 specifically examines the five arts areas: dance, drama, media arts, music and visual arts. The final part of the text, Units of Inquiry, contains valuable sample learning activities and resources that demonstrate how to plan an effective lesson within a unit of inquiry.

This extensive Handbook addresses a range of contemporary issues related to arts education across the world. It is divided into six sections; Contextualising Arts Education, Globally and Locally; Arts Education, Curriculum, Policy and Schooling; Arts Education Across the Life Span; Arts Education for Social Justice: Indigenous and Community Practice; Health, Wellbeing and Arts Education and Arts-Based and Research-Informed Arts Education. The Handbook explores global debates within education in the areas of dance, drama, music, media and visual arts. Presenting wide-ranging research from pedagogies of adaptation developed in Uganda to ethnomusicology in Malaysia and community participatory arts to wellbeing in Canada the Handbook highlights the universal need for arts education and in particular the importance of indigenous (including both traditional and contemporary practice) arts education. With contributions from internationally renowned scholars and practitioners and building on the World Alliance for Arts Education Global Summit in 2014, the Handbook creates an essential resource for arts education practices in and out of school alongside institutional, traditional and contemporary contexts. Students, teachers and practitioners across the arts disciplines will find the text invaluable for developing further opportunities to promote and study arts education.

This International Handbook brings together leading writers on Arts in Education to provide a much-needed, authoritative guide to the main debates in the field and an informed account of contemporary developments in policy and practice. Providing a detailed overview of key concepts and practical challenges, the book combines theoretical insight with specific examples of innovative projects drawing on theoretical, historical and empirical research perspectives to inform understanding. The range of content highlights the breadth of the field, addressing such issues as the importance of community arts and partnership as well as school education, and providing insight into developments in multiple and connecting arts as well as traditional art forms. Topics such as assessment, creativity, cultural diversity, special needs, the arts in early childhood, adult education, arts based research, are all addressed by recognised authorities in each area. The collection of chapters also serves to define the field of arts education, recognising its diversity but highlighting the common elements that provide its identity. The collection addresses generic issues common to all the arts while acknowledging differences and recognising the dangers of over-generalisation. It also includes specific chapters on each of the art forms (visual art, dance, drama, literature, music, media arts) providing a cutting-edge analysis of key contemporary issues in each subject. Bringing together specially commissioned pieces by a range of international authors, this Handbook will make an important contribution to the field of Arts Education.

Meaning Making in Early Childhood Research asks readers to rethink research in early childhood education through qualitative research practices reflective of arts-based pedagogies. This collection explores how educators and researchers can move toward practices of meaning making in early childhood education. The text’s narrative style provides an intimate portrait of engaging in research that challenges assumptions and thinking in a variety of international contexts, and each chapter offers a way to engage in meaning making based on the experiences of young children, their families, and educators.

Good Question is a textbook intended for children and youth, teachers and researchers interested in doing collaborative research in their community. The volume starts out as comic book research methods textbook that intends to introduce children and youth to the fundamental structure of the research process, its elements and steps as well as with the research activities associated with the different aspects of research practice in general and arts-based/image-based research in particular. This unique approach allows children and youth to learn the "e;craft of research"e; in a play-ful way and to become knowledgeable and competent co-researchers with adults, contributing to all phases of the study's design. The volume encourages teachers and researchers to see the important role of play in teaching children and young people about the research process, and gives them the tools to engage children and youth in playful arts-based/image-based inquiries. The complexity of exploring collaborative research required an innovative way of overcoming the linearity of a paper-bound print text and the way we read it. The volume is intentionally organized in three sections, starting with the comic book because it invites an openness to layered, non-linear (research) literacy. The volume also includes an anthology of research examples of conducting arts-based/image-based research with children, and several theoretical essays focused on play as research and collaborative arts-based/image-based research.The later sections featuring research examples and theory, though heavily illustrated, have been peer reviewed and formatted more in the academic tradition. Thus, Good Question represents an attempt to make sense of children's play-ful engagement in arts-based/image-based inquiry activities with adults as research. By playing with the forms and traditions of the comic book, the research methods textbook, and the academic book together we have attempted to respectfully disassemble and reassemble book form. We invite readers to discover those 'research conventions' that are capable of establishing what is gathered and presented here as collaborative research with children. We imagine this volume contributing to the quest "e;for new ways of living together, of generating...more and more incisive and inclusive dialogues"e; (Greene, 1994, p. 459) as both a personal and a collective endeavor.

Strong Foundations: Evidence informing practice in early childhood education and care celebrates the progress made by the Australian early childhood education and care profession since the implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework. Recognising this progress, Associate Professor Anna Kilderry and Honorary Professor Bridie Raban lead a team of 34 notable contributors from 13 universities and institutions throughout Australia, who focus on the challenges of access, equity and quality that remain across the sector. With a Foreword by Professor Alison Elliott, Strong Foundations brings together knowledge and insights from research in education, health, social care, child safety, science, mathematics and the arts. The critical importance of health, wellbeing and safety in the first five years of children's lives is reflected in a particular focus on supporting positive lifestyle choices, on social and emotional development and on the role that adults play in keeping children safe. The book addresses policy requirements from the Early Years Learning Framework, the National Quality Standard and Quality Improvement Plans, highlighting links between research and practice, and making connections to the five EYLF Learning Outcomes. With an emphasis on professional practice expectations, Strong Foundations showcases evidence from Australian and international research and provides case studies of early childhood educators applying evidence-informed actions in a wide variety of education and care settings. Strong Foundations translates high-quality, peer-reviewed research into everyday practice and supports early childhood educators in improving long-term outcomes for children, families and communities.