Another of my assignments from my masters in Early Childhood Education at Sheffield University
Introduction
According to the
pedagogical philosophy of Reggio Emilia, documentation “mirrors (of) our knowledge in which we
can see our own ideas and images reflected” and that they” support the memory
and interactions for the children, teachers, and parents” (Rinaldi, 1998,
p.121). My interest in Reggio Emilia has developed during the course of this
master’s programme at Sheffield University – both as a result of my studies and
my professional experience. I have been using documentation more and more - to
improve my own pedagogical abilities, to see the needs of the children – as
individuals and as a group, as well as stimulating the children’s learning
processes. There is a great deal of research and literature concerning the
teachers’ use of documentation and the benefits of this (Johansson, 2009;
Kroeger and Cardy, 2006; Peaslee, Snyder and Casey, 2007; Rinaldi, 1998, 2006;
Wallin, 2003) but there is little research on how documentation is used by
children and can benefit their learning despite Rinaldi’s statement. Fleck
(2010, p 4) writes that there is significant anecdotal evidence suggesting
documentation may enhance young children’s learning and memory.
In this assignment I am going to
investigate whether documentation aids young children’s ability to learn by
their ability to remember and reflect on what they have done. I had noticed
during my use of documentation how I was able to stimulate the children’s
ability to reflect on projects we had been doing during the term by referring
to the documentation I had produced (photographs, dialogues between children,
interviews etc) and that the conversations about the subject became richer, and
their answers longer and more confident. I wanted to take a closer look at how
creating a small booklet, using photographs and text (one of the forms of
documentation described by Rinaldi (1998, p121)) describing an event at the
preschool I work at, could benefit memory and therefore the ability to reflect
on the event four days later.
In order to do
this I will review the literature on Reggio Emilia style documentation,
reflection and memory. As it has been harder to find research about how
children use documentation I will be relying on the research made on teacher’s
use of documentation. I will be using both English and Swedish resources and
will be making my own translations for the purpose of this assignment.
This will be
followed by a presentation of the methods used to collect data for my research
and my method of analysis. The results will then be presented as well as a
discussion, comparing the results with the peer-reviewed literature, the
effectiveness of my methods as well as discussing ideas stimulated by the
research.
Finally I will
conclude the assignment by raising what further research could be pursued.
Literature Review
When starting this
assignment I had assumed that there would be plenty of literature I could refer
to, and in the end I found only one paper written by Bethany Fleck (2010) that
related directly to the research I wanted to do. There was, though, no lack of
literature in the area of documentation, as the interest in the documentation
approach to learning found in the preschools in Reggio Emilia is great (Abbott
and Nutbrown, 2007; Bondesson et al, 2007; Edwards et al, 1998; Fleck, 2010;
Krechevsky and Stork, 2000; Pramling-Samuelsson et al, 2006; Wallin, 2003). As
Fleck writes (p.4) pedagogues in Reggio Emilia have noticed that documentation
enhances children’s learning by revisiting. Forman and Fyfe (1998, p 247)
describe the teacher as an aid to the child’s memory by writing down what the
children have said or taking photographs, and then using the photographs and
reading aloud the words at a later date. This, state Forman and Fyfe, helps the
children “remember what they were doing and thinking during that experience”
and to “extend their understanding” (p.247). They go on to distinguish the
difference between revisiting and remembering, where revisiting involves
emotions and establishing a meaning from the memory. This is corroborated by
Nilsson’s (2009) observations of children reflecting on their portfolios in a
Swedish preschool, stating “several of the girls’ reflections were about what
occurred around them on the actual occasion. It was not just what the children
and adults said and did, but also the emotional mood.” (p23) and that “ they
commented on…(things)…that there was not the faintest trace of in the
photographs”.
Fleck continues
(p.6) that there have been no empirical studies into how documentation might
enhance memory as there have been few quantitative analyses of the outcomes of
Reggio practices. Rinaldi explains this in a dialogue with Dahlberg and Moss
(2006, p.200) where Rinaldi feels that being asked to provide scientific proof
that they are functioning effectively tries to make them conformist. Fleck’s
research supports the claims made by Reggio pedagogues regarding the effects of
documentation aiding their ability to reflect – that the documentation “boosted
recall (indicating) a strong reminding effect “ (p. 24) and continues that her
research indicated that children are “more likely to recall events they have
previously discussed with an adult than those they have not” (p. 24). Fivush
(1994, p 358) describes four year olds ability to accurately recall events that
had occurred more than two years previously but goes on to describe this memory
as one the children could have claimed as their own even though it had probably
been the parents etc recounting the tale. Roos af Hjelmsäter (2010, p.9) writes
that children as young as two or three have the cognitive development,
including language skills, to store episodic memories, she continues that at
the age of 4-5 children can remember emotion and context and at the age of six
children develop the ability to remember in chronological order.
Episodic memories
are those of particular events, for example, a prince and princess party to
celebrate the marriage of the Swedish Crown Princess. These memories are
processed by a different area of the brain than remembering names, numbers and
facts, otherwise known as semantic memory. Then there is procedural memory that
helps you remember to button up clothes or walk. (Blakemore and Frith, 2009,
p.139). Blakemore and Frith continue that little is known about how the brain
works when we are learning, and even less about what goes on when we are
teaching. “We can learn things within a lifetime that were originally unique
inventions and the accumulated work of many generations” (p.149). They also
state that to be an effective teacher, the pedagogue needs to estimate what the
child already knows in order to be able to advance the child’s understanding.
The pedagogue also needs to gauge the interest levels of the child, and their
receptiveness to teaching. “Teachers and learners have reciprocal roles and
mutually help each other” (p.150). This brings us back to documentation,
Edwards, Gandini and Forman write that the pedagogues in Reggio Emilia believed
that systematically documenting their work with the children would provide a
“concrete and visible “memory” of what (the children) said and did in order to
serve as a jumping-off point for the next steps in learning” (1998, p.10).
Granhagen and
Hedlund (2008, p.1) describe pedagogical documentation as a form that draws
attention to the individual child, the group, the pedagogues and the preschool
environment, and that by reflecting on this pedagogical documentation the
children’s learning processes can be seen. Wallin (2003, p.82-3) sees two
different versions of documentation, one where the pedagogues have documented
the day as a form of memory with small texts under and the second as a method
to look for any patterns of learning, interactions etc. Wallin believes that
the former of these two do not describe what the children felt or thought about
the situation, but does say that this method fulfils the function as acting as
a memory for the children and provides evidence for the parents of what the
children have being doing during the day.
Methods of
documentation include tape-recorders/digital dictaphones, taking notes by hand,
taking photographs, video recording and collecting work created by the children
(Kantor and Whaley, 1998; Leask, 2007; Nutbrown and Abbot, 2007; Rinaldi, 1998,
2008; Wallin, 2003) all of these having advantages and limitations as the
students in Kroeger and Cardy’s ( 2006, p.394-5) study of trainee teachers
attitudes to documentation show. The students were given the task to analyse
the different methods of documentation and to give their opinions on them,
using the headings “Forms and Affordances”, “Limitations”, “Considerations” and
“Solutions and Further Questions”. For example, digital photographs, the
students felt, enabled “Flexible immediate records and for longer-term use for
display” (p.394) whilst taking up the cost of printing and the time taken to
select and derive meaning from the photographs. Queries were raised how a
school defines documenting and the interpretation of the photographs.
Limitations were seen in the teacher’s ability to select photographs and display
them, as well as privacy concerns – are the children happy to have their daily
life exposed? Discussions were raised about the sharing of the photographs at
meetings as well as on websites and their value for communicating with all
regardless of language and reading ability etc. (p394). It is well worth all
pedagogues to be aware of the benefits and limitations when considering what
method of documentation should be used in each circumstance. Wallin (2003,p68)
points out that not all pedagogues will feel comfortable using all techniques
of documentation and that it is worth finding out which method suits the person
and the situation so that documentation does not become a technique in itself,
and therefore more or less meaningless, but that it should remain a method to
collate information that is to be analysed. Krechevsky and Stork (2000, p.68)
concur with Wallin that the act of documentation must have a purpose and
require evaluation. It is the analysis that is important, but good
documentation, through practice, increases the accuracy of the analysis.
Rinaldi writes,
The concept of documentation as a collection of documents
used for demonstrating the truth of a fact or confirming a thesis is
historically correlated to the birth and evolution of scientific thought and to
a conceptualisation of knowledge as an objective and demonstrable entity…I find
it interesting to underscore how the concept of documentation, which has only
recently moved into the scholastic environment, and more specifically into the
pedagogical-didactic sphere, has undergone substantial modifications that
partially alter its definition. In this context, documentation is interpreted
and used for its value as a tool of recalling; that is, as a possibility for
reflection. (2008, p. 62)
Reflection is a
learning tool, one of many. Children need to participate, to experience – and
learn from that - but to also to be given the opportunity to reflect on what
they have learned to deepen their understanding, allowing the pedagogue and the
child to see how the learning process should continue. Dewey (1997, p.38)
explains that it is the pedagogues responsibility to guide the child to
reflect, using their “greater maturity of experience” to see which “direction
the experience is heading” and to help organise this. Dewy goes on to explain
that there is a difference between guiding the child with this greater
experience and imposing this experience upon the child. Malaguzzi (1998, p.84)
also mentions the importance of the pedagogue “loaning” the child their
knowledge and judgement. Bruner (1977, p.33) describes the pedagogue as a
translator, and that it is their responsibility to relate their knowledge in a
manner that is accessible to the child. Later Dewey writes that “there should
be brief intervals of time for quiet reflection provided even for the very
young” (p.63) but he believes that these periods can only be effective if
preceded by hands on learning. It appears that it is the combination of hands
on learning experiences followed by reflection that provide young children with
genuine opportunities of learning growth; documentation being a natural link
allowing children and adults to reflect upon what they have experienced. “With regard to children, documentation
offers an opportunity for revisiting, reflecting, and interpreting” (Rinaldi,
1998, p.122). Rinaldi goes on to explain how children are offered the
opportunity to organise their own learning and self-correct when necessary and
that, together with others, reflection of the documentation allows for both
self and group evaluation.
Learning by rote
has been used for centuries and includes reciting poems and songs etc, but many
believe it tends to detract the child from the meaning of the song and poems, explain Blakemore and Frith (2009, p.151ff).
They write “ Rote learning is clearly useful for learning new technical terms.
But what about recalling the right word at the right time? Effective learning
is more than just cramming one’s head full of information. We must develop our
ability to retrieve the information that is useful for a specific
situation…Many educators believe that what learners need are the tools to
access the stored information”(p.153). Documentation could be used as this tool
for young children to “access stored information” and that by reflecting upon
it gives meaning to what they have learned.
Fleck (2010, p.
26) confirms, with her study, that “documentation helps children stay focused
and contributes to the range and depth of learning, strengthening their
understanding” this she understands by the children involved in the
documentation group using significantly more on-topic words about the project
than the other two groups (worksheet group and a control group). This implies
that the documentation is helping the children retrieve the stored information.
Fleck, like Dewey and Malaguzzi, sees the importance of the pedagogue’s role
when reflecting on the documentation to “enhance the effect of documentation on
memory”(p.28).
Theory of mind or
mentalizing, the ability to understand that others can think and feel
differently from ourselves, is acquired during the early years and by age five
experiments have established that normally developing children have an
understanding of complex social situations (Blakemore and Frith, 2009, p.99).
Mentalizing is an essential part of reflection, it is the interaction with
others that can deepen their understanding and knowledge, or as Forman and Fyfe
write “negotiated learning” (1998, p.239). Rankin writes
Emphasis is placed on learning as a group and developing a
sense of “we”. Reggio Emilia educators use the phrase, “Io chi siamo” (“I am
who we are”) to express the idea that it is within this shared space of “we”
that each child can offer his or her best thinking, leading to a rich and fertile
group exchange and stimulating something new and unexpected, impossible for any
one person to create alone (1998, p.219).
The theory of “Io
chi siamo” assumes that reflection is best done together with others to
optimize the learning opportunities of the activities and experiences of the
children. This is in accordance with the Malaguzzi’s interpretation of
Vygotsky’s (1978) zone of proximal development where learning occurs best
interacting with others – both adults and other children, and where the gap
between not knowing and knowing has the potential to be filled (Malaguzzi,
1998, p.82)
Method
My position as a
preschool teacher at a nursery school in Stockholm allowed me the perfect arena
to conduct my research. I had a good relationship with both parents and
children, the latter being already familiar with reflecting together over
activities and subjects both as a whole group (nineteen 3-4 year old children)
and in small groups. The research would, therefore not make the children feel
uncomfortable; they would be with their usual teacher in their usual
environment as “having the interview as part of a routine, everyday activity
can also help to make it less unnatural” (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2010,
p.375).
The issue of
selection was my dilemma. Originally I had big plans of interviewing six groups
of five children from three different age groups – three groups having access
to documentation whilst reflecting four days later and three groups having no
access to any form of documentation. I applied Clough and Nutbrown’s (2008, p.
37) “Russion doll principle” and scaled down my research where it would not be
comparing how different ages used documentation to reflect, but simply did the
documentation aid 3-4 year olds ability to reflect. I had also reduced the
group sizes to two children. My tutor advised me to scale down my research
further and to have one child in each interview.
I was fortunate,
when asking both the children and the parents if they were interested in
participating in my research I had a 100% interest. I selected two boys, a
three year old and a four year old, and two girls, both four years of age, due
to their ability and enthusiasm to participate in similar dialogues during the
academic year. Two of each gender were chosen so that I could compare the
interviews without having to take into consideration possible gender
differences/issues. Four children were selected to allow for sickness or a
change of mind to participate. To avoid disappointment (as there was a great
deal of enthusiasm from all the children) I interviewed all the children in a
group session together with the documentation, using the dictaphone; the
interview has not been used as part of my study and was duly deleted after the
children had listened to themselves.
The two research
interviews were recorded and I took notes of their body language. These
interviews were then transcribed together with the notes taken. During the
interview I had twelve set questions to structure my interview (see appendix),
so that both were similar and also to allow for my note taking to make sense
when listening to the recorded interview. The interviews were semi structured –
allowing the children to take the interview where their memories went.
“ Researchers must
make their own decisions about how their subjects’ “confidences” are
protected…”(Clough and Nutbrown, 2007, p.96). Ethically the participants have
been given new names so that they cannot be identified, as have all the names
of children and staff mentioned in the interviews, and the research has been
kept in a box in a locked wardrobe and on my computer which requires a code to
start up.
All the children
were informed, in the presence of three other teachers, of my research the day
before the event and what it would involve and that they had a choice to
participate. On the day of the interviews the two boys were given the option of
whether they wanted to participate in the presence of another teacher, and the
interviews were conducted in the childrens’ familiar surroundings with another
teacher in the adjacent room, out of sight but able to ensure that the
interviews were not coerced. The validity of the interviews is derived from my
attempt to minimize bias and by comparing the interviews with research by Fleck
(2010) which has been shown to be valid (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2010,
p.150)
Choosing the event
was no problem at all. The Swedish Crown Princess Victoria married her Daniel
on Saturday 19th June 2010. To celebrate this we planned two weeks
of wedding and prince and princess activities, which culminated in a prince and
princess party on Thursday 17th June. All the children and staff
were to come as a prince or princess and there would be activities and a
special lunch to celebrate the day ending with a “reception” where the parents
were invited. I photographed and took notes of what the children were doing and
saying during the day, which I then used to create a booklet about the event
over the weekend.
The interviews
were then held on the Monday, four days later.
The interviews
were then transcribed, and as a courtesy, I sent the transcriptions to the
parents of the two children involved, allowing the parents to withdraw if they
felt uncomfortable with the interviews. There was only positive feedback from
the parents.
The transcribed
interviews were colour coded and then compared focussing on length, number and
length of pauses, length of responses and on topic answers. Since the
interviews were of different lengths I used percentage of the interview to be
able to more accurately see the difference and similarities between the two.
Results
The two interviews
differed in length of duration by 4.5 minutes, and, as I assumed, the interview
with Allan, who had access to the documentation, was longer. I had estimated
the interviews would take about fifteen minutes each, respecting what Cohen,
Manion and Morrison (2010, p.376) write that the duration of an interview with
young children should be fifteen minutes at the most. This difference in
interview length meant that my data could not be compared by simply counting
the number of responses as these would not reflect accurately how the
documentation affected the children’s ability to recall and reflect on the
prince and princess party. This can be seen by Allan having 24 one-word responses
and Olof having 14, and Allan’s 88 on-topic responses compared to Olof’s 41
on-topic responses. When these figures are given as a percentage of the
interview they reveal a very different picture. Despite Allan having 10 more
one-word responses than Olof it amounted to 18% of his interview, which is less
than the 22.2% of one-word responses given by Olof. This is due to Olof’s interview being filled with more
pauses, combined with the shorter length, resulting in fewer responses. The
on-topic responses is equally interesting when compared as a percentage, as
numerically Allan had more than twice as many on-topic responses but as a
percentage there was little difference, Allan 66.7% and Olof 65.1%.
The number of
pauses was an obvious difference whilst conducting the interviews, so I decided
to take a closer look at them, dividing them into four categories in order to
compare the number and quality of the pauses better (see diagram 1).
Allan had almost
twice as many pauses under two seconds than Olof, whilst he had less than half
the number of pauses over five seconds. Olof’s longest pause was three times
longer that Allan’s longest pause indicating that he was finding it harder to
retrieve the information stored in his memory. Olof’s half a minute more of
silence than Allan meant that he spent 50% more of his interview time trying to
work out what or how to respond to a question asked.
Diagram1
Interview A
|
Interview O
|
|
Number of times said ”err”
|
0
|
20
|
Number of times said ”don’t know”/asked
question due to no memory
|
0 (0%)
|
9 (14.3%)
|
Number of pauses under 2 seconds
|
26
|
14
|
Number of pauses 2-5 seconds
|
5
|
2
|
Number of pauses over 5 seconds
|
2
|
7
|
Of which - Number of pauses 10 seconds or
more
|
0
|
3
|
Longest pause
|
6 seconds
|
19 seconds
|
Total length of pauses – circa
|
58 seconds
|
90 seconds
|
Percentage of discussion as a pause
|
5.7%
|
12%
|
Its is also
interesting to see that Allan did not answer “I don’t know/ remember” or asked
any questions to remind himself, as he was able to use the booklet to help him,
whilst Olof responded nine times in this manner. This, together with the
significant number of times Olof used the sound “err” prior to a response, also
suggests that he found it harder to retrieve his memories of the event.
To try and find
out more about the relevance of the interviews I looked at the kind of
responses Allan and Olof gave, counting the number of on-topic, on-topic but
non-relevant, off-topic and incorrect answers, I omitted some of the one worded
responses in my calculations as they were too vague to categorize correctly (see
diagram 2). Interestingly, here there was little difference between the two
boys when it came to on-topic and off-topic responses when considering them as
a percentage, but varied greatly between the two when it came to on-topic
non-relevant questions, where Allan had 50% more of these kind of responses. An
on-topic non-relevant response I have defined as a response that was relevant
to the wedding day and/ the prince and princess party, but does not answer the
question that was asked. Allan got only one of his facts about the day wrong,
which he self-corrected later in the interview when he saw the relevant
photograph to remind him. Olof though, did not fair quite as well and during
the course of the interview he remembered seven items incorrectly, again
suggesting Olof found it more difficult to recollect the prince and princess
day accurately.
Diagram 2
Interview A
|
Interview O
|
|
Number of on topic answers
|
88
|
41
|
Average word count for on topic answers
|
4.8
|
5.0
|
Number of on topic non relevant answers
|
34 (25.8%)
|
8 (12.7)
|
Average word count for on topic non
relevant
|
5.2
|
1.4
|
Number off topic responses
|
9 (6.8%)
|
3 (4.8%)
|
Average word count off topic responses
|
11.7
|
15
|
Percentage of on topic responses
|
66.7%
|
65.1%
|
Longest on topic response
|
23 words
|
19 words
|
Number of incorrect on topic responses
|
1 (0.8%)– (self-corrected later)
|
7
(11.1%)
|
Another
interesting observation is that both boys had their longest response towards
the end of the interview and both were then talking about events that had
happened with their parents, although only Allan’s response had any relevance
to the wedding day/ princess party.
Finally, the notes
taken about the body language revealed that Allan showed much more enthusiasm
for the discussion on the prince and princess party, often showing me
physically what he had done (spinning on his chair, waving arms etc), whilst
Olof sat still and showed more uncertainty, his hands were near his face or in
his mouth for almost the duration of the interview.
Discussion
My research
suggests that using documentation, in this case photographs and texts
(including quotes from the children), does aid children’s memory and their
ability to reflect. Although I was disappointed at how much genuine reflection
occurred during the interviews. The following shows an example of reflection
S – Was everyone dressed up?
A – yes,… but Victor came as a knight
S – yes, he came as a knight
A – he wasn’t supposed to be
S – no, - it was supposed to be just for princes and princesses
A – yeah, .. strange (pause)
S – Do you remember…
A - he was a princess-knight
S - maybe
A - Yes, a princess-knight
We had talked with
the children and parents during the two weeks prior that the party was only for
princes and princesses as ALL the boys were, at first wanting to come as
knights, and as we had already had a swashbuckling event to celebrate St
George’s Day, our aim was to provide the children with a new experience. Allan
was very aware that Viktor had broken the “rule” by coming to preschool dressed
as a knight, but reflected on the situation in order to legitimize Viktor’s
choice of attire by assuming he was a princess-knight. I assume he chose
princess-knight rather than prince-knight as Allan himself had chosen to dress
up as a princess, as did two other boys.
But in general I
was disappointed with the level of reflection, maybe I was asking the wrong
questions, or maybe it had something to do with Rankin’s (1998, p.219) “Io chi
siamo”. If the boys had not been interviewed individually, but together with
other children, maybe there would have been more reflection. Nilsson (2009, p.
25) describes how children’s individual reflections could enrich each other’s
thoughts. In other words two separate accounts of the same event is able to
fill out the picture of the day so that all involved in the dialogue gain a
greater understanding of what happened. Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2010,
p.374) recommend group interviewing when it comes to children as it “encourages
interactions between the group rather than simply a response to an adult’s
questions”. They go on to say that group interviews can also make children feel
more at ease than individual interviews. This was quite clear in the interview
with Olof, whose body language showed that he was much more nervous than usual
to be individually interviewed. Had I interviewed small groups instead, it may
have allowed him to remember more. It would certainly allowed him to discuss
the memories of the other child/ren in the group and therefore increase the
opportunity for reflection. Krechevsky and Stork (2000, p.62) describe group
reflection in the following way
Learning
in groups enables individuals to construct new knowledge by creating new
relationships using learning strategies and outcomes of others … By working
together, adults and children attain not just group understanding, but deep
individual understanding.
The photographs
were a great attraction and served as an aid to Allan’s memory. They reminded
him of what he had done during the day, and even when he was not on the
photograph he could often tell exactly where he was at that point in time or
where he had conducted the same activity
A
– here on this table
S
– yes, it was here on this table
A
– I also played with them, Bridget too.
S
– Bridget, too.
A – I played with them on this table (he turns around and points to
the table behind him)
He had remembered
correctly that after the girls on the photographs had finished playing with the
prince and princess figurines they had been moved to a close by table so the
process of preparing for lunch could start.
It was clear that
the photographs supported Allan’s memory of the day, as Tarini and White (1998,
p.397), Kantor and Whaley (1998, p.330), Parker (2007, p.88) and Rinaldi (1998,
p.121) all state. Research also indicates photographs are a useful tool to
reinstate memory in young children (Troseth and DeLoache, 1998). The interviews
showed that Allan was able to remember his day more chronologically correct,
whilst Olof had difficulties separating the afternoon activities from those in
the morning. Olof also had trouble remembering what had happened during the day. He had no memory of his mother,
and many other parents coming to celebrate for one to two hours in the
afternoon
S
- …who were invited to the special reception?
O
– Everyone
S
– Everyone?
O
– mmm (7 second pause, dries right hand on clothes and leans on left hand)
S
– Was anyone special invited to this reception?
O
– errr….errr…I don’t know
S
– Did any mummies and daddies come?
O
– no.
Whilst Allan was
able to use the photographs, where at first glance it was obvious from his body
language that he mistook another parent initially as his father. Allan had at
first said that cake was eaten at the reception in the afternoon, as did Olof,
but changed his mind after looking at the documentation to the correct answer
of dipping fruit in chocolate sauce. The documentation offered “the
opportunity… to self-correct” (Rinaldi, 1998, p.122)
There is the
possibility that if Allan did not have access to the photographs he might not
have remembered his father, and other parents had attended the “reception” in
the afternoon.
Rinaldi (2006, p.
196) points out that when making documentation the pedagogue must be aware that
it is not the child that is being documented but the pedagogue’s knowledge,
concept and idea of the child. With this in mind I had deliberately selected
photographs where Allan was only seen once close up, and a few times in groups
to see if photograph selection would affect his memory. When the documentation
was first presented he was eager to find pictures of himself, his body language
showing great enthusiasm. When asked what his favourite activity had been in
the morning, (as there were three teacher-lead activities to experience, plus
four free-play activities) he closely inspected all the photographs of the
morning’s activities and chose the one where he was in the picture. This raises
queries as to whether it is my selection
of photographs of the day’s event or Allan’s genuine preferment of playing
royal ten-pin bowling that is being expressed in the interview. It does make clear, though, that the
pedagogue must be careful when selecting photographs, and to be clear on the intent
of the documentation. Nilsson (2009, p.32) was also concerned with the content
of the documentation, “I question, who are the portfolio’s content meant for?
Is it for the children, parents or the pedagogues? If it is the case that it is
intended for all those mentioned, how is it possible to satisfy the different
perspectives? Is this why documentation concerning children’s learning is not
always clear for the person it is about?”
An aspect of
reflection that came up in both interviews was when the boys brought their
out-of-preschool experience into the dialogue. Olof shared his experience of an
exhibition visit with his parents when we started to reflect on how Crown
Princess Victoria travelled during the day. Olof had quite correctly recalled
not only that she had travelled by boat on her wedding day, but also that
another child had said that she would arrive by boat. His experience together
with his parents helped him make sense of how the paddles moved.
Allan frequently
used out-of-preschool experiences that were always an extension of what we were
talking about, for example, the royal ten pin bowling game belonged to my own
daughters, and he remembered this, as on the day he had wondered where it came
from. This lead to a query of where my daughters were (as they sometimes come
and read to the children) and when he found out that they were at their
grandparents he proceeded to tell me something about his own grandparents,
teaching me a new word from the southern Sweden. Nilsson (2009, p.28) also
noticed the importance of out-of-preschool experiences in the learning process
of children. One can say that children never stop learning, and that giving
opportunities to reflect allows children the time to crochet together different
threads of experiences to create a new square of learning. Eventually these
squares will be sewn together to form the child’s education. Of course, this is
a complex thing to do, and guidance by pedagogues is essential.
This was a small
study, with its limitations. Had there been more time and opportunity it would
have been advantageous to interview the same boys after a similar type of event
but where Allan was interviewed without the documentation and Olof with. This
would allow me to see if the boys’ personalities had anything to do with their
abilities to recall and reflect and whether or not it was the documentation
that made the difference.
I also discovered
that there were too many structured questions, which did not allow me the
freedom to pursue the boys’ reflections appropriately in the short time of the
interview. Fifteen minutes is not a long time to extract information and
reflection from the interviewers point of view, but was more than enough for
the boys, as Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2010, p.375) had written. Had I filmed
the interviews instead it would have allowed for less structured questions and
to still document the body language accurately. I would also make sure that the
interviews occurred in a room with fewer distractions – during Allan’s
interview the doorbell rang, a parent dropped off things, and another group of
children started talking noisily just outside the open window. No distractions
occurred during Olof’s interview. The documentation proved to be an excellent
method of recapturing focus in a natural way. This can be seen in the
responses, that despite all the distraction, Allan was able to stay slightly
more focussed on the topic, and if I was to take into account the number of
repeat answers given by Olof it would widen the gap significantly.
The event was
significantly different from a normal preschool day to make it memorable. What
was very apparent from this research is that events like this should not be
placed at the end of the project to act as a reward/celebrate the children’s
knowledge gained, but that it should be placed somewhere in the middle of the
project and used as a tool for continued learning through reflection
afterwards.
Conclusion
My research has
raised more questions than it has answered. It has been more an “amuse bouche”
than anything substantial. It does though whet the appetite for further
research. I would like to compare individual reflective interviews with
interviews of small groups of 2-4 children. Would there be more reflection as
the children discussed and process each other’s experiences or would there be children
who dominate a group and prevent others from participating in the learning
process? (Rinaldi, 1998, p.122)
It would be
interesting to compare age groups – to see if there is an age where the
documentation is more beneficial due to the emotional and cognitive development
of the child (Roos af Hjelmsäter, 2010, p.9).
A closer look at
how documentation is used with pre-readers would be interesting. A comparison
between documentation on the wall, where children reflect without the aid of a
pedagogue, with documentation being discussed together with the guidance of a
pedagogue, would also provide an interesting insight on reflection and
documentation. How important is the pedagogue’s role when children use
documentation for self-reflection? And what effect do pedagogues have in their
selection of the documentation presented to the children, parents and
colleagues? (Nilsson, 2009, p.32).
Is documentation
an effective recall tool for all children? There can be those children who are
unable to sit still long enough to look and listen in order to absorb the
information, let alone reflect upon it. Can documentation reach these children
and aid their learning more effectively than in a traditional classroom or does
it exclude?
This research has
offered a glimpse that documentation can aid young children when reflecting
upon an event, by acting as a bridge between the event and the time of
reflection, allowing the child to more easily retrieve memories to reflect
upon, and improving their opportunities to learn.
Appendix
Interview
Questions
- Last week we came dressed for a party. What sort of clothes were you wearing?
- Why?
- Do you remember what sort of clothes your friends and teachers were wearing?
- Do you remember what you did in the morning?
- Which activity was your favourite? Why?
- What did you think was not so much fun? Why?
- We ate a special lunch – can you tell me about the lunch?
- Can you remind me what we did in the afternoon?
- We had a special reception in the afternoon – who was invited? What did we eat?
- Why did we have a prince and princess party?
- Did you watch the royal wedding? Did you see it on TV or did you go to wave?
- What did you think?
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