Collective Imagining: The Early Genesis and Development of a sense of Collectiveness during Infancy

On entering formal education, infants face the demand of participating in collective educational rou¬tines and learning experiences. However, in this age period, the sense of collectiveness is still in an embry¬onic form. This study explored how infants enter into and experience the need for collectiveness and how teachers create the conditions for the development of a sense of collectiveness during infancy. Our educa¬tional experiment drew on a Conceptual PlayWorld, as a collective model of practice for the development of play and imagination. Thirteen infants (0,5—2 years old) participated in the study. Visual methods were used for digital data collection and analysis. It was found that, being in the imaginary situation as play part¬ners, teachers introduced to the infants’ environment the demand to align with the collective, consistently facilitated and sustained infants’ motive orientation to the collective. The use of props, the embodiment of the experience and the shift from physical objects and concrete spaces to a shared intellectual and abstract space appeared to be critical. The findings inform everyday practice and policy opening up a new area of understanding about the concept of collective imagining, as an important concept for the development of a collective orientation for infants.

Methodological Challenges of Studying Children in a Living Laboratory: Case example of Conceptual PlayLab

Digital technologies have created possibilities in research unavailable when Vygotsky first introduced his cultural-historical approach for studying children’s development. More needs to be known about the relations between methodology and method when using digital tools in the early developmental period (1-5 years). In this paper we introduce the concept of a living laboratory to capture the research dynamics of this cultural age period in family homes and preschool settings under conditions of an educational experiment. We discuss Vygotsky’s theoretical concepts as foundational for theorising the use of digital tools for researching in a living laboratory. Central for a living laboratory are: (1) capturing development in motion, (2) including the past in the present research context, (3) designing studies in ways that go beyond fossilised complete forms of development, and (4) creating study conditions for condensed and amplified forms of development. To bring these conditions into the research contexts where a condensed form of development emerges opens up a dynamic yet dialectical way of studying early development. We showcase digital tools, such as VR and digital data collection, as part of (1) undertaking an educational experiment of a Conceptual PlayWorld, and (2) a cultural-historical conception of longitudinal research for studying the conceptual development of infants, toddlers and preschoolers within a living laboratory.

Genetic Research Methodology Meets Early Childhood Science Education Research: A Cultural-Historical Study of Child’s Scientific Thinking Development

The study reported in this paper aims to structure a cultural-historical understanding on how early childhood children experience science and how they develop scientific thinking as they interact with the social, cultural and material world. Moving beyond the cognitive dimensions of learning by interrelating different aspects of the process of children’s scientific thinking development constitutes a research prior- ity for the study. From a wide range of collected data, in the present article one qualitative empirical case study is presented. The detailed single example that is analyzed refers to a kindergarten female student, aged 5.2 years old, from an urban area of Greece. A developmental research methodology as specified from the requirements of cultural-historical theory framework is used. Following four of the main principles of the experimental genetic method, this study creates a fecund ground for a cultural-historical exploration and interpretation of the very processes of the child’s development. The collection of the data was achieved through expanded, open-type conversations conducted at three concrete phases between the case study child, two of her peers and the educator. Drawing upon the system of theoretical concepts of cultural- historical theory the analysis is mainly based on the concept of perezhivanie as analytical tool as well as the concept of the developmental trajectories. The concept of the conceptualization of a precursor model as a theoretical tool that derives from the field of Science Education is also used. The analysis gives insights into how a certain social situation between children and educators in kindergarten settings becomes the unique social situation of a child’s development. Using as a base the dialectic perspective that Vygotsky posed in the analysis of human psyche, the study in this paper offers a creative insight in order to elaborate on a broad and dynamic understanding of the child’s development instead of an individualistic and static in- terpretation on her cognitive evolution. This cultural-historical reading is essential in capturing the child’s thinking in all its complexity as well as the uniqueness of the child. Summarizing the above, in this paper, new directions are laid for a more fruitful and dynamic support of young children’s learning and development in science through cultural- based educational practices and settings in kindergarten.