Wayne G. Basler Library: ECED 2365 Final Practicum: Provocations and Invitations to Play

Resources

Perspectives and Provocations in Early Childhood Education by Vivian Maria Vasquez; Jeffrey W. Wood
Publication Date: 2012
Mandates to implement practices that are antithetical to what we embrace as supportive of young children's literacy learning are pervasive. Teachers of young children are asked to teach-to-the test in ways that take away opportunities for holistic, thoughtful, play-oriented practices that allow children to construct knowledge through contextualized and purposeful experiences. In 2009 the Early Childhood Assembly was formed by a group of early childhood educators to provide a home at the National Council for Teacher of English for all who work with young children. Perspectives and Provocations in Early Childhood Education is a publication of the ECEA. The publication is intended to support teachers of young children and those interested in studying about early literacy by putting on offer texts with a strong emphasis on promoting thoughtful practices that enhance the teaching and learning of young children within and across diverse communities. All royalties from the book go to the ECEA to help the organization advance its goals of providing scholarships for early childhood teachers to participate in conferences and professional development events.
Perspectives and Provocations in Early Childhood Education, Volume 2 by Vivian Maria Vasquez (Editor); Jeffrey Wood (Editor); Carol Branigan Felderman (Editor)
Publication Date: 2013
Mandates to implement practices that are antithetical to what we embrace as supportive of young children's literacy learning are pervasive. Teachers of young children are asked to teach-to-the test in ways that take away opportunities for holistic, thoughtful, play-oriented practices that allow children to construct knowledge through contextualized and purposeful experiences. In 2009 the Early Childhood Assembly was formed by a group of early childhood educators to provide a home at the National Council for Teacher of English for all who work with young children. Perspectives and Provocations in Early Childhood Education is a publication of the ECEA. The publication is intended to support teachers of young children and those interested in studying about early literacy by putting on offer texts with a strong emphasis on promoting thoughtful practices that enhance the teaching and learning of young children within and across diverse communities. All royalties from the book go to the ECEA to help the organization advance its goals of providing scholarships for early childhood teachers to participate in conferences and professional development events.
Provocations for Learning in Early Years Settings: A Practical Guide by Margaret Longstaffe
Publication Date: 2020
Full of practical guidance and easy-to-implement strategies on how to provoke learning and creativity in early years settings, allowing children to freely explore their environment and develop their ability to critically think.
Inclusive Education: Making Sense of Everyday Practice by Vicky Plows (Volume Editor); Ben Whitburn (Volume Editor)
Publication Date: 2017
Part 1: Provocations

Inclusive education has emerged internationally over the past thirty years as a way of developing democratic citizenship. Core to inclusive principles are that improved equity in education can only be achieved by eliminating the economic, cultural and physical barriers that currently impede learning for particular students. To strengthen inclusive practice to this end inexorably requires that we attempt to make sense of it in its current form: to examine how it is enacted in educational settings from early childhood, schools, and communities and further and higher education; to contemplate the restrictions that it might inadvertently create; and to consider its effects on members of educational communities. Contributions to this edited collection represent diverse perspectives, yet share a commitment to challenging existing forms of educational marginalisation through policy, practice, theory and pedagogy. The chapters emerged from discussions at the inaugural Inclusive Education Summit that was held at Victoria University, Australia in 2015. They present research that was conducted in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Spain and the UK--illustrating transnational interests and diverse approaches to practice. Presented in four sections--provocations, pushing boundaries, diverse voices, and reflections, the chapters explore everyday practice across a range of contexts: from educating culturally and linguistically diverse, refugee, and/or socially and economically disadvantaged students, to issues of diversity brought about by and through gender, giftedness and disability. The book will appeal to academics, students and practitioners in disciplines including: education, sociology, social work, social policy, early childhood, disability studies, and youth studies.
Nordic Childhoods in the Digital Age by Kumpulainen, Kristiina (editor) Kajamaa, Anu (editor) cc Erstad, Ola (editor) cc Mäkitalo, Åsa (editor) cc Drotner, Kirsten (editor) Jakobsdóttir, Sólveig (editor)
Publication Date: 2022
Chapter 19: Ethical Provocations for Early Childhood Education

"This book adds to the international research literature on contemporary Nordic childhoods in the context of fast-evolving technologies. It draws on the workshop program of the Nordic Research Network on Digital Childhoods funded by the Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS) during the years 2019–2021. Bringing together researchers from Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland, the book addresses pressing issues around children’s communication, learning and education in the digital age. The volume sheds light on cultural values, educational policies and conceptions of children and childhood, and child–media relationships inherent in Nordic societies. The book argues for the importance of understanding local cultures, values and communication practices that make up contemporary digital childhoods and extends current discourses on children’s screen time to bring in new insights about the nature of children’s digital engagement. This book will appeal to researchers, graduate students, educators and policy makers in the fields of childhood education, educational technology and communication."
Loose Parts: Inspiring Play in Young Children by Lisa Daly; Miriam Beloglovsky; Jenna Daly (Photographer)
Publication Date: 2014
Winner of the 2015 Brain Child Award from Tillywig & Toy Media Awards Use loose parts to spark children's creativity and innovation Loose parts are natural or synthetic found, bought, or upcycled materials that children can move, manipulate, control, and change within their play. Alluring and captivating, they capture children's curiosity, give free reign to their imagination, and motivate learning. The hundreds of inspiring photographs showcase an array of loose parts in real early childhood settings. And the overviews of concepts children can learn when using loose parts provide the foundation for incorporating loose parts into your teaching to enhance play and empower children. The possibilities are truly endless.
Loose Parts 3: Inspiring Culturally Sustainable Environments by Miriam Beloglovsky; Lisa Daly
Publication Date: 2018
Loose parts cross the boundaries of gender, age, abilities, and socioeconomic challenges. Loose Parts 3, the newest addition to the wildly popular Loose Parts series, helps teachers make a conscious effort to create culturally sustainable environments that allow children to grow and to conquer a dynamic world. Over 400 full-color photographs beautifully illustrate the ongoing need for educational pedagogy that creates a sense of belonging supports children's identities is culturally responsive and sustainable Loose Parts 3 contains inspiration and guidance on how to create culturally sensitive and culturally sustainable early childhood environments through six key terms: aesthetic, authenticity, equity, dynamic, praxis, and critical reflection. Use your environment to promote a sense of wonder, curiosity and joy, and allow children to explore their identities.
Loose Parts 4: Inspiring 21st-Century Learning by Lisa Daly; Miriam Beloglovsky
Publication Date: 2020
Loose parts are natural or synthetic found, bought, or upcycled materials--acorns, hardware, stones, aluminum foil, fabric scraps, for example--that children can move, manipulate, control, and change within their play. Loose parts capture children's curiosity, give free rein to their imagination, and encourage creativity. In the newest installment of the wildly popular, award-winning Loose Parts series, Lisa Daly and Miriam Beloglovsky focus on including families and competency building. With inspiring full-color photographs Loose Parts 4 is organized around competencies and life skills children need for success in the future: knowingness, engagement, risk, connections, leadership, innovative thinking, and creativity. Lisa and Miriam explain the value of loose parts, detail how to integrate loose parts into the environment and children's play, and specifically focus on loose parts for children in family environments--helping educators engage families and extend learning beyond the classroom.

Grounds for Learning: Schoolyard Activities as Provocations, Scaffolds and Mediators for Childhood Learning
Compelling evidence links childhood experiences in quasi-natural settings with learning and wellbeing, but, as cities grow, children's activities have been increasingly restricted to de-natured spaces that are designed or controlled by adults. In recent years, academics and education practitioners have campaigned to reverse this trend, and one result is that Australian early childhood centres and schools increasingly provide environments that enhance opportunities for children to engage with nature. These moves are also underpinned by higher-level policy initiatives.
Picture books and social change: Provocations for conversation
Children's picture books have an increasingly significant cant place in early childhood classrooms. Picture books that depict the variety of ethnic, racial, and cultural groups allow young children opportunities to develop their understandings of self, while affirming children of diverse backgrounds.
What's in a dream? Natural elements, risk and loose parts in children's dream playspace drawings
IN THIS PAPER, CHILDREN'S idealised playspace drawings, arising from their participation in planning a children's playground in a local shopping centre, are examined. This examination is conducted by engaging with theories of human/nature connection, significance of place, and children as agents in co-construction of playspaces. Analysis of the drawings--through a combination of iterative visual methods and children's narratives--highlights the value children place on being outdoors and on natural elements, loose parts and activity in their play. The playspaces imagined/drawn by the children are in stark contrast to the design of play environments in many schools and early childhood settings where safety and supervision are the dominant focus. These conflicting views are examined in the context of international discourse on playspace design, and the concluding discussion adds to the growing number of voices affirming that children should be actively engaged in the planning process and become co-constructors in spaces that are designed for their use.
Any Which Way...: Loose Parts Play in the Library
The article focuses on many ready-made toys for children come with directions, instruction sheets, or strict rules for usage, while that may be fine in some cases, many believe children can benefit from good old play with a variety of random and has unconnected items. Topics include the enter loose parts a collection of natural or man-made materials that can be used to extend children's ideas, and the Theory of Loose Parts was created by British scholar and architect Simon Nicholson in 1971.
Playing at the Schoolyard: “The Who’s, the What’s and the How Long’s” of Loose Parts
Play has a key role in children psychomotor development, and the quality of play spaces can be a facilitator of the former. The physical properties of the environment, such as equipment or material available, can influence children’s behavior. However, it is not clear how the provision of different loose parts impacts children’s play patterns. This study aimed to analyze the influence of four types of loose parts on the time, frequency and number of children using them during free play sessions. We recorded the 1st, 5th and 10th sessions delivered by playworkers in a primary school, with 14 children (Mage = 9.96 years). The available loose parts were categorized, and four types of materials were chosen: tarpaulin/fabrics, cardboard boxes, plastic crates and plastic tubes. The influence of these materials on the time spent using them, frequency of use and number and sex of users (dependent variables) was analyzed. Some tendencies emerged, such as the popularity of tarpaulin/fabrics, but results showed no significant differences between materials. This could mean that the specific physical qualities of each loose part were not determiners of the behavioral domains analyzed. These findings suggest that all types of materials studied can be meaningful for children to engage with in diverse play opportunities.
Educator perceptions on the benefits and challenges of loose parts play in the outdoor environments of childcare centres.
It is important to consider physical activity and movement in early life to ensure children establish and maintain healthy physical activity patterns. Recent evidence has highlighted the importance of outdoor play and the childcare environment. Active outdoor play, especially free play, supports independence, self-regulation and allows children to explore their world and make decisions. Loose parts or open-ended materials are natural or synthetic resources that can be used in more than one way, allowing children to experiment through play. Incorporating loose parts into play environments creates opportunity for new play experiences. Despite growing evidence supporting loose parts play, the perspectives of childcare providers on the benefits and challenges of this type of play have been overlooked. The purpose of this study was to identify the benefits and challenges of incorporating loose parts play into the outdoor environments of childcare centres, from the perspectives of educators who took part in the Physical Literacy in the Early Years (PLEY) project. PLEY is a larger, mixed methods intervention study with the goal of evaluating a loose parts intervention in early childcare settings. This portion of the project used qualitative description to explore educators' perspectives. Data were collected using focus groups (n = 15) with early childhood educators (n = 3-5 in each group). Thematic analysis was used to identify five themes relating to benefits, and four themes relating to challenges. Benefit themes included: loose parts enable children to take risks; loose parts spark creativity and imagination; loose parts contribute to problem-solving abilities; loose parts cultivate independence and confidence; and loose parts build relationships and leadership. Challenges included: apprehension of loose parts; loose parts as a novelty; sustainability of loose parts; and loose parts present challenges with storage. Overall, we found educators perceived outdoor loose parts play to have multiple social and cognitive benefits for preschool-aged children that are critical for optimal growth and development, and overall health and wellness.