ABSTRACT
Observe any young animal or child and you will be both exhausted by their continual movement and drawn by their magnetic playfulness. Babies and young children are naturally active, interested learners, eager to interact and make sense of the world they are born into. Reflect on the competence and determination of very young children when exploring in an environment not naturally set up for play: the kitchen. This new playroom offers an abundance of new opportunities and challenges, with the possibilities for hands-on exploration both exciting and motivating. The fridge, cupboards, bin and anything else within reach are explored as a scientist, engineer or chef would test any new design. Items are opened and closed, tasted, banged, posted, taken apart and reconfigured. As parents we may not fully appreciate the science, investigation and assessment involved in tipping, banging, mixing, opening and tasting the contents of the fridge or bin, and at times wonder at our children’s dexterity and problem solving as they work out new ways of reaching items placed higher on the shelves. But this motivation and perseverance are vital tools for learning and are evident even in the youngest children. Infants and toddlers are active learners from birth and are intrinsically motivated to explore the world around them, inspecting and engaging with the people and objects in their path and gathering information in the process. Even the youngest child makes active choices and decisions, developing both cognitively and physically as he or she interacts with objects and people. This ‘playing, doing, thinking and learning’,2 as defined by Christine Stephen, is led by children’s active engagement in rich environments that are ‘affording, inviting or potentiating’ supporting the conditions for robust learning’.3 It is this desire to learn, to be interested and actively involved that is now recognised as one of the most important drivers for life-long learning. Increasingly, pedagogy underpinning practice in the early years has recognised the importance of an active play-based approach frequently described as active learning. Drawing on the previous Curriculum Guidance and the Birth to
Three Matters framework, the British Government implemented the Early Years Foundation Stage framework and accompanying guidance in 2007, placing an explicit emphasis on children as active learners from birth to five. This emphasis has now been further strengthened with active learning identified as one of the three characteristics of effective learning and teaching. However, it is important for those of us working daily with young children that we do not confuse ‘teaching’ with simply conveying our own knowledge, learning and understanding. It is much more intense and usable if the children have first-hand experiences of doing, and finding out for themselves. This chapter offers practitioners practical examples of active learning underpinned by theory in relation to physical development and motivation. It will draw on the work of several key theorists, taking account of their differing ideas and philosophies in relation to child development and the role of the adult. Previously it was believed that babies developed physically following a fixed timetable, governed by changes in the brain. However, more recent research has suggested that developmental milestones are reached through a complex interaction involving the brain, the baby’s growing awareness of its own body and the environment. This new research is contributing to ‘the emerging view of infants as active participants in their own motor-skill acquisition, in which developmental change is empowered through infants’ everyday problem-solving activities’.4 Below are some of the current universally accepted theories upon which active learning is based:
The Scottish Curriculum for Excellence further defines active learning as:
The Welsh Foundation Phase additionally supports the importance of play and active learning suggesting that it cannot be ‘emphasised strongly enough’. They also state that, ‘The curriculum and environment should be planned and structured to enable
children to be active learners. Children should have opportunities to explore their learning environment and to learn new skills as well as repeating, practising and refining skills they have already acquired. It is important that children have plenty of occasions to experiment with resources, to try to solve problems as well as selecting their own materials for an activity.’8
