Froebel Trust

A suggestion is put forward that in the early years of schooling art history teaching might be tackled with the help of user‐friendly aids. The aids are everyday games and playthings which have been “doctored” to include an art history over‐lay and therefore in their new guise have a role in art education. Art is brought down from the ivory‐tower‐somewhere‐out‐there right into the ordinary play activites of the classroom. It is hoped it will encourage children to enjoy looking at art and be curious to question and interested enough to talk about it. It is argued that through familiarization with art images in a non‐pressurized play‐"work” environment the foundations for learning art history are laid. This background is invaluable for supporting a child's learning‐‐largely in relation to knowledge and understanding of the art National Curriculum but also in the wider cross curriculum framework.

This paper attempts to identify that a dance programme can be positively used to promote language development with young children. It shows that within teacher/child interaction, teacher led lessons, and child/child interaction there are rich sources of language opportunities. It supports the case that however well prepared the teacher is for the lesson, however clear are the explorations of bodily, spatial and dynamic ideas, s/he must also be prepared to allow movement to service the possibilities for language development. Movement knowledge arranged in sequence for the purposes of instruction/ transmission of knowledge, ensuring a uniform progression through a predetermined sequence, is of paramount importance. In the teacher/class situation that predominates in dance lessons there is a temptation to allow the teaching style to remain didactic thus seriously reducing opportunities for open ended interaction. Gordon Wells (1981) in discussing the collaborative styles of learning and teaching states that ...

Discussion of the benefits of pre‐school provision and the relative merits of the different kinds of institutional provision available ‐‐ playgroup, day nursery, nursery class and early school entry ‐‐ has tended to focus on the possible cognitive benefits of such provision. It is however possible to draw conclusions, both of a general nature and ones more specifically related to the growth of autonomy in young children. Such conclusions can be used when planning the kinds of experiences we may wish to provide for children upon entry to school. The present paper focusses on the sort of structures that can be created during the early years of children's schooling such that the development of autonomy may be fostered. Consideration is given to the importance of: organisational structures created by the school; tasks and activities in which children engage; relationships within the classroom and school.

The apparently limited classroom application of theories of learning led to an emphasis on detailed observational studies of teachers in action which produced data concerning management and teaching techniques of more obvious use to practising teachers. However, it is argued here that research into children's conceptual development is an essential complement to this initiative. Such research demonstrates the range and quality of children's concepts in areas of learning central to the school curriculum; it describes techniques for disclosing children's concepts; and it identifies the developing pattern of children's thinking which can be used to good effect in arranging appropriate and challenging learning experiences. The importance of clarity of intentions in bringing a sense of purpose and direction to the activities of learning and teaching is also emphasized.

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsSheila Roberts Sheila Roberts, head of the mathematics department at the Froebel Institute College of Education, has conducted courses in both East and West Africa concerned with the universal problems of teaching mathematics. Here she takes a look at a ‘progressive’ infant classroom and draws out the mathematical implications of the activities being pursued. Along with Miss Biggs she attempts to evaluate the ‘gospel’ of discovery in mathematics so effectively propagated in the 1960's.

(1969). The primary school: Experience and tradition—IV. Learning for Living: Vol. 8, No. 5, pp. 26-28.