At the end of World War II, Malaguzzi heard about a group of women who were building a school from the debris found around the area and financing it with the sale of abandoned German tanks. His involvement with these women became the beginning of what is now known as The Reggio Emilia Approach. The parents did not want ordinary schools, instead, they wanted schools where children could obtain and develop skills of critical thinking and collaboration, which is critical to rebuilding and ensuring a democratic society. At the time, the mayor of the city discussed that the Fascist experience taught the citizens’ of Reggio Emilia that individuals who conformed were dangerous. This is why the parents stressed the importance of critical thinking for their children. They asked Malaguzzi to teach their children and he explained that it will be a learning process for him as well, as this experience was new for him too. Malaguzzi stressed the importance of leaving room for learning, by observing children and reflecting. During the learning the process, Malaguzzi went to Rome to study psychology, where he took inspiration from such thinkers as Vygotsky, Piaget, Dewey and Bruner. But he did not stop there – he continued to research and enter dialogues with others in a variety of fields of learning - absorbing all the information and applying the theories and ideas that suited the needs of the preschools and the children in Reggio Emilia. The various theorists and theories guided Malaguzzi in the development of his pedagogical philosophy.
To evaluate the theoretical perspectives that guide the teaching and learning practices of Reggio Emilia inspired schools.
Loris Malaguzzi
Reggio Schools
News of the new movement of education in Reggio Emilia soon got around. Because Malaguzzi was interested in this new wave of educational settings, he began volunteering part time, and ended up staying. After leaving his teaching position in the public schools, Malaguzzi studied psychology in Rome, where he took inspiration from such theorists such as Vygotsky, Dewey, Piaget, and Bruner. Bruner and Vygotsky’s recognition of the child’s natural problem-solving capacities, and of the role of culture in developing the mind, fit in well with Malaguzzi’s own perceptions. John Dewey believed that true education should stimulate and encourage a child to become and view themselves from the standpoint of the well being of the group in which they belongs.
http://www.communityplaythings.co.uk/learning-library/articles/reggio-emilia
Loris Malaguzzi
In 1946, Loris Malaguzzi, a young Italian educator, with a group of parents, established the first of many Reggio Schools. Malaguzzi, a constructivist, fought against the modern ideals of objectivism. He believed that each person constructed their own knowledge through their experiences. Malaguzzi was influenced by many educational theorists and philosophers of the early to mid 1900’s. The network of sources pertaining to his inspiration, spread across various generations, and reflects the choices and decisions he made throughout his career.
Loris Malaguzzi International Centre
The Loris Malaguzzi Centre, opened in February in 2006. The development of the Malaguzzi Centre has a partnership with Reggio Children and the Istituzione of the Municipal Infant-toddler Centers and Preschools of Reggio Emilia. It is a designated meeting place where professional development and research for individuals in Reggio Emilia, Italy. This Centre is an international place open to all ages, to ideas, different cultures, and to imagination. It is a place of possibility, both necessary and useful for the concept of a city defined by their value to change.
The Loris Malaguzzi Center is a large space in which research, innovation, and experimentation are carried out on educational content and processes pertaining to the various fields of knowledge and knowing. This centre is useful and necessary to the city and changing the neighbourhood. It is a place that keeps the central focus on children and their potentials, that aims to offer opportunities for creativity to children, youth, and families, and new opportunities to the international educational community and to all those who embrace and pursue learning and innovation.
http://www.reggiochildren.it/centro-internazionale-loris-malaguzzi/?lang=en
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Watch the video by pressing play of clicking on the link below.
Centro Internazionale Loris Malaguzzi
Theories of Influence
Malaguzzi was greatly influenced by five educational theorists: John Dewey, Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygostsky and Barbara Biber.
Erik Erikson (1902-1994)
Erikson was a developmental psychologist influenced by Freud’s theories. He developed his own theory using eight stages of psychosocial development. Each stage of development is based on a psychosocial crisis, which Erikson believed that in order to move to the next stage, the child must resolve that specified crisis. Erikson also had a very positive image of the child as part of a community both in his or her home and school environment. He saw children learning by doing and also through their play.
Barbara Biber (1904 – 1993)
Biber was an educator and psychologist who believed in the child as a whole being. She combined the views of Erikson and Piaget’s psychosocial and cognitive concepts into a holistic image of the child. She believed that relationships were vital to the child’s education. Biber believes that the best early childhood programs foster emotional and intellectual development, a strong self-images, encourages responsibility to others, and supporting imagination and curiosity. Biber also had a positive image of the child and considered the educators a mediators, supporting and leading the learning of the individual child. Malaguzzi incorporated this image of the teacher into his schools, however, Reggio schools believes the teacher should facilitate the learning, not lead it.
John Dewey (1859 – 1952)
Dewey was a pragmatist who believed in democracy to be used a method of social inquiry, communication between members of the society, view all individuals as equal. He had a very positive image of children, in which he believed that a child should be given materials to foster imagination from their own experiences. He believed that children learned through play and that they needed to be considered part of their family and society in which they lived.
Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980)
Piaget framed four stages of thinking (intellectual development) that he believed children followed sequentially. Piaget was a constructivist who believed that the ability to think was developed prior to language development. Piaget also believed that children learned by doing and exploring in an active environmental setting, and that children learned from each other. intellectual development came from life experiences. Piaget was the first to pay attention to the abilities of the children opposed to focusing on what skills they lacked. Like Erikson, Piaget held a positive image of the child.
Lev Vygotsky (1896 – 1934)
Vygotsky was the founder of cultural-historical psychology, and was a constructivist like Dewey. He believed that thinking and language developed at the same time, not sequentially which was suggested by Piaget. He also believed that learning was entertained between a social context and through social contact, as long as the interaction took place where others could support the learning process. Vygotsky created, what is called, the zone of proximal development. He thought that children had two levels of performance, one that was independent, and the other that required some assistance. The level of performance between these two levels was the zone of proximal development. Vygotsky had a positive image of the child as a social being who was intelligent, strong, creative, and competent.
Democracy and Education
Reggio Emilia’s approach to education is derived from Dewey’s philosophy. The ideas of democracy and social change are frequently discussed in Dewey’s writings on education. Dewey makes a strong case for the importance of education not only as a place to gain knowledge, but also as a place to learn how to live. In his eyes, the purpose of education should not revolve around predetermined outcomes and skills, but instead the realization of one’s own potential, and the ability to use skills for the greater good. In addition to helping students realize their full potential, Dewey acknowledges the influence education and schooling has on creating social change. He believes that, “Education is a regulation of the process of coming to share in the social consciousness; and that the adjustment of individual activity on the basis of this social consciousness is the only sure method of social reconstruction”.
In addition to his ideas regarding what education is and what effects it should have on society, Dewey also had specific notions regarding how education should take place within the classroom. In The Child and the Curriculum (1902), Dewey discusses two opposing school philosophies pertaining to educational pedagogy. The first is centred on the curriculum, and focuses almost entirely on subjects to be taught. Dewey argues that children become inactive regarding this method, which is a major defect in this framework. In this method, the child is viewed as an immature being who is to be matured. He argues that in order for education to be most effective, knowledge must be presented in a way that allows the student to relate the information to prior experiences, thus deepening the connection with this new knowledge.
Dewey advocated for an educational structure that creates a balance between delivering knowledge while also taking into consideration the interests and experiences of the children. Dewey became well known for his theories pertaining to hand on learning and experiential education, which relates to experiential learning. Dewey’s ideas and theories influenced many others, as various researchers give him recognition for influencing Project Based Learning, placing children and students to take a more active role in investigations and research. This key concept is also valued in the Reggio Emilia approach.
John Dewey
Piaget's Theory Differs From Others In Several Ways:
Jean Piaget was employed at the Binet Institute in the 1920s, where his job was to develop French versions of questions on English intelligence tests. Piaget was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development. His contributions include a theory of cognitive child development, detailed observational studies of cognition in children, and a series of simple but creative tests to reveal different cognitive abilities.
Before Piaget’s work, the common assumption in psychology was that children are not as competent thinkers as adults. Piaget showed that young children think in remarkably different ways compared to adults. According to Piaget, children are born with a basic mental structure, in which all subsequent learning and knowledge is based on this mental structure.
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It is concerned with children, rather than all learners.
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It focuses on development, rather than learning, so it does not address learning of information or specific behaviours.
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It presents distinctive stages of development, identified by qualitative differences, rather than an increase in number and complexity of behaviours, concepts, or ideas.
The goal of the theory is to explain the processes by which the infant, and then the child, develops into an individual who can reason and think using hypotheses. To Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of mental processes as a result of biological maturation and environmental experience. Children construct an understanding of the world around them, then experience conflict between what they already know and what they discover in their environment.
Three Basic Components To Piaget's Cognitive Theory:
1. Schemes
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building blocks of knowledge
2. Adaptation processes that enable the transition from one stage to another
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equilibrium, assimilation, and accommodation
3. Stages of Development
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sensorimotor
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preoperational
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concrete operational
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formal operational
Jean Piaget
Tools of Intellectual Adaptation
Lev Vygotsky’s theory is based on a socio-constructivist model, which states that children and adults co-construct their theories and knowledge through the relationships that they build with other people and their surrounding environment. It also draws on the work of others such as Jean Piaget, Howard Gardner and Jerome Bruner. It promotes an image of the child as a strong, capable protagonist in his or her own learning, and, importantly, as a subject of rights
The work of Lev Vygotsky has become the foundation of much research and theory in cognitive development over time, especially of what has become known as the Social Development Theory. Vygotsky's theories stress the pivotal role of social interaction in the development of cognition, as he believed that the community plays a primary role in the process of "making meaning." Unlike Piaget's notion that children's' development precedes their learning, Vygotsky argued that learning is a universal aspect pertaining to the process of developing psychological functions. In other words, social learning tends to precede development. Vygotsky has developed a sociocultural approach to cognitive development. He developed his theories at around the same time as Jean Piaget was starting to develop his theories, but he passed away at thirty-eight years young, so his theories are incomplete.
Like Piaget, Vygotsky claimed that infants are born with the basic materials/abilities for intellectual development (Piaget focused on motor reflexes and sensory abilities).
Lev Vygotsky refers to Elementary Mental Functions:
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Attention
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Sensation
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Perception
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Memory
Interaction within the sociocultural environment influence the development of a deeper innovation and effectiveness of mental processes, which is referred to as higher mental functioning. Vygotsky refers to the tools we use for intellectual adaptation provides children with strategies for make the basic mental functions more effective and adaptable, which are culturally determined. Therefore, Vygotsky sees cognitive functions as being affected by the beliefs, values and tools of intellectual adaptation of the culture in which a person develops, making it socio-culturally determined. In addition, the tools of intellectual adaptation differ from culture to culture.
Social Influences on Cognitive Development
Similar to Piaget, Vygotsky believes that young children are curious and actively involved in their own learning, as well as the discovery and development of new meanings and understandings. However, Vygotsky placed more emphasis and importance on social interactions, contributing to the process of development, whereas Piaget emphasized self-initiated discovery.
According to Vygotsky, learning occurs through social interactions with a skillful educator. This educator may model behaviours and provide verbal instructions for children. Vygotsky refers to this as cooperative or collaborative dialogue. The child searchers for the understanding of actions or instructions provided by the teacher, then internalizes the information, using it to guide or regulate their own performance. In order to gain a complete understanding of Vygotsky's theories on cognitive development, the understanding of the two main principles of Vygotsky's work: the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), is crucial.
More Knowledgeable Other
The more knowledgeable other (MKO) refers to someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner. When you hear the term the more knowledgeable other, one assumes that this individual is either the teacher or older adult, but this is not always the case. Many times, a child's peers or an adult's children may be the individuals with more knowledge or experience on a specified topic. The key to MKOs is that they must have more knowledge about the topic being learned than the learner does.
Zone of Proximal Development
The concept of the More Knowledgeable Other is related to the second important principle of Vygotsky's work, the Zone of Proximal Development. This important concept views the difference between what a child can achieve independently and what a child can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a skilled partner. Vygotsky sees the Zone of Proximal Development as the area in between, where the child needs a little more instruction or guidance, allowing the child to develop skills they will then use on their own, developing their higher mental functioning. Vygotsky also views interaction with peers as an effective way of developing skills and strategies. He suggests that teachers use cooperative learning strategies where less competent children develop with help from more skillful children, within the zone of proximal development.
Language Development
Vygotsky’s theory hypothesized that language and thought are both intertwined and influenced by each other. Meaning changes and develops as the child’s understandings changes. Language and thought are also joined from a child’s own experience and cultural surroundings, so what a child from one culture learns and understands about an object is not the same understanding that a child from another culture has about the same object.
The Role of Play
Vygotsky’s theory also emphasized the important role play has on language and development. Unlike Piaget, Vygotsky saw aspects in imaginative play that extended beyond logical and mathematical thinking and expression. He pointed out that play, combined with language, provides children with the opportunity to test out creative ideas and new roles. By imitating adults, children go beyond their current level of development, becoming free to act in ways that they are not yet capable of outside of play. So in this way, play is a method for learning to experiment and take risks.
http://www.mindlikechild.com/2012/12/meet-a-theorist-lev-vygotsky.html
Lev Vygotsky
Piaget & Vygotsky in 90 Seconds
Press play to watch the video or click on the link below.
Constructivism suggests that by reflecting on ones experiences, they develop their own understanding of the world. Each of us generates our own mental models to make sense of our experiences. Learning is seen as a process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences. Constructivist teaching focuses on creating, experiential and engaging activities for children, involving the concept of play experiences. Each child constructing their own reality leaving no room for objective reality pertaining to this paradigm. Malaguzzi believed that the child’s culture, relationships and social setting were key components to their learning. He said that schools were a “sort of construction in motion, continuously adjusting”.
The Reggio Approach sees the child as a protagonist, an active constructor of their own knowledge. The teacher is also seen as a protagonist who engages in the same processes with colleagues, making individual and collective interpretations. Social constructivism is shown in the teachers' respect for the children's need to create their own questions and choices. The Reggio Approach makes the connection between children as co-constructors of knowledge and the importance of reciprocal communication and as a key element of learning.
Education is based on communication within teacher-teacher, child-child, teacher-child, parent-child, parent-teacher and parent-parent relationships. This creates a rich learning environment for all those involved. In the Reggio Approach the teacher is a researcher and the school is seen as a place of research, as well as a place of participation and shared construction of value and meaning.
Malaguzzi respected the work of all the theorists but did not agree with every guiding factor of their beliefs and principles. However there are common elements to each of the theories, such as, a positive image of the child, the idea that children learn by being active participants, and the belief that play is an important part of learning and early development.
Lella Gandini, a colleague of Malaguzzi’s, documented the following dialogue in an interview with Malaguzzi in 1993:
Our theories come from different fields and we meditate on them as well as on the events that take place in our very hands. ... we do indeed have a solid core in our approach in Reggio Emilia that comes directly from the theories and experiences of active education and finds realization in particular images of the child, teacher, school, family, and community. Together these produce a culture and society that connect, actively and creatively, both individual and social growth (p. 81).
As a social constructivist, Malaguzzi followed the principles of a constructivist paradigm, such as John Dewey, who argued that education must be experienced based, pertaining to the open-mindedness and discipline.
Key Concepts
Malaguzzi decided upon limiting class size to twenty as well as there being two teachers in every classroom rather than the traditional one, that teachers should work collectively and without hierarchy.
Malaguzzi was the driving force of the key concepts of the Reggio Emilia approach, which alludes to the children as having rights rather than needs, children as collaborators with the teacher in their own education and development, which is also views as valuing interactions and pedagogy of listening, the environment as the third teacher, the importance of documentation, learning through play, emphasizing creative expressions, and the involvement of parents.
Malaguzzi said that children have the right to achieve and expand their potential, as he believed children are rich and competent, and not beings with needs but beings with rights.
Play
Malaguzzi stated that as educators, each child needs to be able to play with the things that is centred around the interests of the children, and it is important to note that, curiosity is a necessary attribute. He also says that teachers need to be able to try something new based on the ideas that are collected from the children. Malaguzzi is not only advocating for play as a method of learning for children, but also as a method of learning for the adults around them.
Hundred languages
Malaguzzi wrote a poem as part of the exhibition of the children’s work entitled “The Hundred Languages of Children” that reveals his thoughts that children do not think and learn in just one way, but have many approaches and ideas of the world, and that schools and cultures are robbing them of their expressions by telling them how to think and how to learn. Learning is multidimensional. The interaction of Swedish teachers together with those of Reggio Emilia resulted in an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm called “The Hundred Languages of Children”. The title of the exhibition also being the title of a poem written by Loris Malaguzzi, describing how children start life with a hundred languages.
http://interactionimagination.blogspot.ca/2013/03/the-relevance-of-loris-malaguzzi-in.html
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The Story of Loris Malaguzzi
Loris Malaguzzi was a philosopher but he was also an elementary school teacher and taught middle school. He had a degree in pedagogy but also in psychology, and worked as a psychologist for twenty years in the Municipal Psycho-Pedagogical Medical Center, which he founded. He rode his bicycle to Reggio Emilia, as he was inspired by a group of individuals building a school with no money and only from the debris from the war. He was also a consultant for the Italian Ministry of Education.
Lella, who worked with Malaguzzi, written about Malaguzzi’s interactions with David Hawkins, and facilitated the first conversation between the two. Malaguzzi and Hawkins shared insight in their views and ideologies over a coffee date. They both share stories and educational practices, as well as their own experiences within the educational sector. The chapter, entitled Meeting of Minds Malaguzzi and Hawkins, is a brief narrative describing David Hawkins as an inspirational and enlightening source of Malaguzzi’s work. Lella explains both believed in the importance of the process of learning. Malaguzzi absorbed David’s insights pertaining to the competence of children when solving problems, and the practitioners role as being an observer.
http://tecribresearch.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/the-story-of-loris-malaguzzi-part-1/
Malaguzzi and Hawkins: The Meeting of Minds
Inspiring our thoughts are the ideas of others, specifically Loris Malaguzzi and David Hawkins. David Hawkins and Loris Malaguzzi were colleagues. Both were social constructivist in orientation as they supported learning by exploration within a social context. Their work can inspire us to think deeply about the environments that we provide for learning.
http://tecribresearch.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/messing-about-in-denver/
CLICK ON THE IMAGE to view the PowerPoint presentation from the Acorn School located in Richmond Hill. Or click on the link below.
http://acornschool.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/philosophical-parallels.pdf
An interview woth Loris Malaguzzi himself. Press play to watch the video or click on the link below.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE to view this blog post outlining the initial meeting and stories of Loris Malaguzzi and David Hawkins, or click on the links provided
http://tecribresearch.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/the-story-of-loris-malaguzzi-part-1/
http://tecribresearch.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/the-story-of-loris-malaguzzi-part-2/
Reggio Emilia Educators and David and Frances Hawkins
Practitioners of Reggio Emilia, and educators around the world who are inspired by the educational philosophy and pedagogy of the schools in Reggio Emilia, value the image of children as curious, competent, and capable, and as children who are able to co-construct knowledge through their relationships with Others. The image of a competent child coincides with the image of a competent teacher, who supports, encourages, deepens, and extends the child’s physical and social investigations. Many of the fundamental concepts of The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education, encompasses the images of capable children and educators, that is inspired by the work of David Hawkins. Loris Malaguzzi, designer of the philosophy and pedagogy of the schools in Reggio Emilia, views Hawkins’ writing as one of the most influential. Hawkins visited Reggio Emilia on two occasions; in 1990 for the first international conference, and in 1992 to visit the schools.
David Hawkins, whose areas of expertise spanned over an array of domains, including the physical, social, and sciences, mathematics, philosophy, and economics, whereas Frances Hawkins, early childhood teacher, author, and consultant, proffered their vast knowledge and experience to educators not only in Italy and the United States, but also in England, New Zealand, Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda. The idea of the capacity of children and their teachers to learn and to teach is intertwined through projects that they inspired.
We have learned from the educators in Reggio Emilia that the process of observation, documentation, and interpretation is subjective. The teacher makes the choice as to what they are going to observe and how they will gather observations as documentation. The teacher bases their observations, documentations, and interpretations on the theories of children’s meaning making, which will, through the process, be seen or not. This requires that the teacher become aware of her own evolving knowledge. The teacher’s awareness of their own knowing, supports the continuous and permanent professional development.
Project-Based Learning
Project-based learning is a constructivist pedagogy focused on bringing out deep learning by allowing learners to use an inquiry-based approach to engage in issues and questions that are relevant to their own lives. One expression of the constructivist paradigm utilized by the Reggio schools is long-term projects. Long-term projects that stress continuous practical activity are an obvious vehicle for some of the issues that Dewey outlined in his philosophy, such as combining of experiences and thinking. The teacher’s role in a project-based setting is to guide students through a problem-solving process which includes identifying the problem, developing a plan, testing the plan against reality, and reflecting on the plan. Students develop the problem and discuss ideas about solving the problem, then solve the problems in a social setting working in collaborative groups. One difference from the Reggio approach in this model is that the teacher is a guide, whereas in Reggio the teacher is a co-learner.
John Dewey first proposed the concept of project learning as he was inspired to encourage a method of education combining pragmatic philosophy, and mastery of content with enquiry through creative experiences for children. He envisioned all this, seeking a new relationship between educational and sociocultural research. Malaguzzi built on this inspiration and believed a constructivist approach to education was ideal. He utilized the concepts of the constructivist paradigm and project-based learning in his approach.
https://umanitoba.ca/faculties/education/media/Wells-09.pdf
Long-term projects
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Supporting and enriching children's learning through in-depth, short-term and long-term project work, in which responding, recording, playing, exploring, hypothesis building and testing, and provoking occurs.
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Projects are child-cantered, following their interest, returning again and again to add new insights.
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Throughout a project, teachers help children make decisions about the direction of study, the ways in which the group will research the topic, the representational medium that will demonstrate and showcase the topic.
Projects Inspired by Students
One of the biggest differences between early childhood education in Italy and early childhood education in North America is that the original Reggio schools do not have mandated curriculum objectives. Instead of basing lessons on a mandated curriculum, Reggio educators question what the environment can teach children. This approach to education challenges children to respond to the natural world, their cultural heritages, and to their inner worlds. Reggio educators constantly look for opportunity in the classroom that can introduce new concepts to children. Loris Malaguzzi believes that Reggio educators "need to be open to what takes place and be able to change their plans and go with what life might throw at them that very moment both inside the child and inside themselves". Teachers in this type of environment have to be comfortable with the constantly changing nature of life.
Once a class starts exploring a certain idea, Reggio educators follow through with this theme over weeks and sometimes months. There are no specific disciplines in Reggio schools and so a certain idea may be explored using many different languages. This idea is consistent with the connective aspect of the Reggio philosophy. Just as life is multidimensional, so are the concepts that the children use to learn in school. Reggio educators also try to make learning relevant to the children's lives and to the community that they live in.
Just as Reggio schools do not have a mandated curriculum, they also do not use standardized testing or formal assessment. Documentation is key in Reggio Emilia, and teachers use documentation as a way to record students' progress. There are no report cards and so documentation is strictly an instrument for reflection and democracy.
One last element of the Reggio philosophy that is important is that projects in a Reggio classroom, projects are never done in isolation. Reggio educators stress that learning is relational and that students can learn a lot from each other when they combine their intelligence in groups.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE to view the Branches blog about project-based learning, or click on the link below.
Progettazionne
Progettazionne is a verb, stemming from the Italian word, which implies a meaning of projection or ‘to project’. Carlina Rinladi writes about project work (progettazionne) with children in the municipal schools of Reggio Emilia in the following terms:
“It evokes the idea of a dynamic process, a journey that involves the uncertainity and chance that always arises in relationships with others. Project work grows in many directions, with no predefined progression, no outcomes decided before the journey begins. It means being sensitive to the unpredictable results of children;s investuigation and research. The course of a project can thus be short, medium or long, continuous or discontinuous, and is always open to modifications and changes of direction.”
http://www.coetail.com/clairwain/2012/05/06/progettazionne/
What makes a good project?
Malaguzzi suggests,
“The teachers need only to observe and listen to the children, as they continuously suggest to us what interests them, and what they would like to explore in a deeper way. A good project has a few essential elements. First, it must produce or trigger an initial motivation to warm up the children. Each project has a sort of prologue phase, in which information and ideas are offered and shared within the group. This will be used later to help the children to expand their intentions along with the adults intentions, suggesting a final objective.”
Project Based Learning at High Tech High was just one of many examples of where student’s interest is captured and serious thinking provoked, as the students acquire and apply new knowledge in a problem-solving context.
Press play to watch the video, or click on the link below.
Projects
Projects provide the backbone of the children and teachers’ learning experiences. They are based on the belief that learning by doing is of great importance and that to discuss in groups and to revisit ideas and experiences is the leading way of gaining better understanding and learning. Ideas for projects originated in the continuum of the experience of children and teachers, as they construct knowledge together. Projects can last from a few days to several months. They may start either from a chance event, an idea or a problem posed by one or more children, or an experience initiated directly by teachers.
Pedagogy of Listening
According Malaguzzi, the interaction between children and children, children and adults, and adults and adults is an essential part of the Just listening to a teacher is not a sufficient way to learn and to develop. A child should participate in their own development for it to have any relevance, not only on an individual level but also by listening to peers and learning from them. The teacher should listen to the child in order to develop as a teacher, listen to the parents to further understand, and listen to each other to stimulate professional development. When describing documentation and assessment, the concept that listening is an active verb, that it is an emotion and based on curiosity, that it should be done not just with our ears but with all of our senses, that it is not an easy thing to do and should be done without prejudice, and it is the premise for any learning relationship.
This approach to teaching and learning based on collaboration and mentoring stems from Vygotsky’s theories (zone of proximal development), and requires the teachers to look at their own pedagogical practice. Therefore a curriculum is created not by the state but by the teachers in collaboration with the children. Malaguzzi said, “its not so much that we need to think of a child who develops himself by himself but rather of a child who develops himself interacting with others”. This is why the meeting place of the piazza is so important. This is where the children can exchange ideas with each other, as well as in the small activity groups together with a teacher. Another important inspiration for Malaguzzi has been John Dewey, including his view that learning is an active process and not merely the transmission of pre-packaged knowledge. This is seen in the teachers listening to the children’s interests and developing projects together, learning simultaneously during the process.
http://interactionimagination.blogspot.ca/2013/03/the-relevance-of-loris-malaguzzi-in.html
This is a term that was coined by Carla Rinaldi Pedagogical adviser to Reggio Children. The Pedagogy of Listening underpins the Pedagogy of Relationships. There are two broad aspects to this approach, but both involve relationships with the social and physical environments. One aspect relates to learning and teaching, and involves children's and adult's to search for meaning and understandings through listening. The second encompasses a political approach, which involves a democratic dialogue with families, the broader community, and culture.
Listening to children’s theories enhances the possibility of discovering how children think and how they both question and develop a relationship with reality. This possibility is increased when it occurs within a group context that allows for the experience of others to be shared and debated.
http://www.reggioaustralia.org.au/component/content/article/59
It's Time for a Discussion!
Click on the title (It's) to open a new document to view the discussion question.
