This article explores the potential for engaging 7 and 8-year-old school pupils in performative literature interpretation through process drama. Inspired by new materialism and affect theory, we focus on how literature interpretations come into being in dramatic fiction, and on how these becoming interpretations merge with the classroom. The study…

Understanding how children demonstrate creativity assists educators in designing learning experiences that foster this key competency. Frameworks such as the "A-E of Children's Creativity" assist in the analysis of children's creativity, presenting their creative thinking characteristics as five connected processes: agency, being…

For music students in the early stages of learning, the music may seem to be hidden behind the scores. To support home practising, Juntunen has created the "Playback Orchestra" method with which the students can practise with the support of the notation program playback of the full orchestra. The results of testing the method with…

Ambivalence is a relatively little advanced concept for studying young people's engagement in education. We present a case study in which a teacher of a kindergarten-first-grade classroom works within an activity called a "playworld" to engage a child who had been excluded from certain classroom practices, after having been perceived by…

The methods of the Dalcroze approach to music education--eurhythmics, solfege, and improvisation--have had a profound influence on modern music education. In particular, the overt training in kinesthetic abilities, and the assertion that the relationship between music and movement is an intimate one, is at the heart of Dalcroze's approach to…

This paper utilises a Vygotskian framework to examine the ways in which teachers shape the creation of children's artwork in educational contexts. Reflexive ethnography and a bottom up approach to discourse analysis are used to analyse a range of qualitative data including photographs, observational notes and audio recordings collected from a Year…

Children in two first-grade classes and their teachers decided to take an imaginary trip to Washington D.C. For three weeks, the first graders spent their afternoons on the project, and their simulated flight was the culminating activity of a unit on Washington, D.C. In this article, the author discusses several details of the activity,…

Outlines three methods of introducing original paintings to young children: narratives, finding a consensus, and building on a shared experience. Analyzes the childrens' verbal and artistic responses. (KM)

Imagination is central to our ability to understand reality. Parents and teachers should foster creative processes which facilitate the development of imagination in children. Expensive equipment or artistic expertise is not necessary to help children develop their imaginations. Instead, it is more important for teachers to allow children the time…

This narrative description of the author's participation in an environmental education program is intended to provide first grade teachers with ideas for incorporating multidisciplinary environmental education into the existing curriculum. Environmental education, within this publication, is broadly conceived. In addition to the more traditional…

Improvisational teaching is informed both by students' interests and ideas and teachers' deep understandings of curricular goals; it is purposeful, but not predetermined. This approach contrasts with teacher-dominated classroom discourse in which discussions are controlled by the teacher and focused on the transmission of facts.This paper examines…

Reports on a class project that used donated materials to build a replica of the George Washington Bridge. The children read books related to bridges and created "vehicles" out of milk cartons for the bridge crossing. They also created stories for their vehicles that were transcribed by older students. (MJP)

Using examples from children drawing in a year one classroom, this article examines firstly, how drawing operates as a unique mental tool, and secondly, the role of drawing in the construction and development of knowledge. Young children utilize prior knowledge and experience to negotiate and construct meaning through their interactions with…

Three terms which refer to "the child" as the center of education have come into common use during the 1926-1928 biennium. The terms "the whole child," "the child-centered school," and "creative expression," when translated into current practice, indicate significant progress in educational procedures. The actual demonstration in classroom…