"What is the Goal for this?" This is a wonderful and thoughtful question and I am so happy an inquisitive parent thought to ask it. The answer will take some investigation. I will ask all of you to look closely at your children and ask yourself, "What is his/her goal and how can I help him/her to further explore it?" A good friend told me a story about her daughter and crayons. She said that for months she has been frustrated by her daughter using her crayons all over the house. Drawing on chairs, tables, the walls, sand, and even her mother! However, she finally realized that her daughter was not being naughty or impulsive. She is instead investigating how her crayon will show up on different surfaces. This is a meaningful and purposeful experiment and she must test her theories repeatedly. Why does it show up on the wall and not the sand?
I'm not suggesting Mom encourage her daughter to continue to draw all over the living room walls, children must have boundaries. But...now that Mom understands what theories her daughter is investigating, how can Mom set up the environment to promote this learning?
This is called inquiry based learning. We listen and look closely at children to understand what they are investigating. Then we give them an appropriate arena to test their ideas. And to build on that, we also give them puzzles to solve that will challenge their thinking!
So, in reflecting back on a little girl playing with shaving cream who says, "More, more!" and continues to push the button that squirts the cream. Let's wonder together...what is her goal? Is she exploring concepts of quantity? Is she puzzled by the shaving cream decreasing in quantity the longer she rubs it in her hands? Is she relishing the feel and smell of it and curious by it's fluffiness? Next time, we will listen very closely and watch very closely in order to "hear" her goals. What is so fantastic is that as the parent you have the ability to understand your child much more quickly than an outsider and then we can brainstorm together "possibilities" to offer the children to test their theories against.
I set up this particular class purposefully in the hope that parents/caregivers would feel comfortable to socialize and get to know our new members. I was happy to see this happening but also I was thrilled to see parents/caregivers also listening to and responding to their children's investigations. I had initially set the funnels out for a printing experience with paint. However, a Mom who was understanding what her child's intention was, helped him to bring a funnel over to the rock salt table in order for him to investigate the movement of the salt through the funnel. What could have been a missed opportunity for learning was instead nurtured and now documented. Now, what are the next steps. Perhaps, she can look at these photos with her son and they can serve as a memory of the experience to him. She could ask him "What happened when you put the rock salt into the funnel?" Did it come out the way you thought it would? Why do you think that happened?" This information will help us know what theories he is investigating and how we can help him to further explore them either at home or at school.
As the children painted more and more on the mural paper, it began to get wet and then holes began to appear. The children could then see the window underneath. Some painted through these holes and some painted the window above the paper.
Mom reminds her little one to paint on the paper and not the window. This seems to be a very reasonable request. However, he clearly communicates back to her that he cannot see his paint on the paper anymore (becasuse it is so full of paint already). Now, this is a very reasonable problem! His goal is to see the marks his paintbrush makes and it is not possible on what is currently available to him. Overhearing this conversation, I quickly offer a new piece of paper. He happily accepts!
However, as I tape the paper up on the wall, he quickly becomes sidetracked by the tape. Now, he want to explore this new medium. We explain to him that we must provide the tape already torn off (because of safety reasons) but then he asks for piece after piece. He explores it's stickiness and tests how it attaches to the paper, his fingers, and the window. He also tries painting directly on the tape to see the results. Reflecting back on the experience, I see that the tape is a medium of interest and should be further explored by all the children. Perhaps, as a group we can discuss ways to provide this kind of experience for the children. But, I also see that I did not remind this little guy of his first investigation which was to see the marks his paintbrush could make on a fresh piece of paper. Hmmm...all important learning for everyone!
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