Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Foreword
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Part 1 Learning and development in play
- 1 A political–pedagogical landscape
- 2 Parallel conceptual worlds
- 3 Teacher beliefs about teaching concepts
- 4 Valued curriculum concepts in early childhood education
- 5 Teacher knowledge of subject matter concepts
- 6 Empirical and narrative knowledge development in play
- 7 Children building theoretical knowledge in play
- Part 2 Cultural–historical theories of play and learning
- Part 3 Learning and development as cultural practice
- Glossary
- References
- Index
7 - Children building theoretical knowledge in play
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2013
- Frontmatter
- Foreword
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Part 1 Learning and development in play
- 1 A political–pedagogical landscape
- 2 Parallel conceptual worlds
- 3 Teacher beliefs about teaching concepts
- 4 Valued curriculum concepts in early childhood education
- 5 Teacher knowledge of subject matter concepts
- 6 Empirical and narrative knowledge development in play
- 7 Children building theoretical knowledge in play
- Part 2 Cultural–historical theories of play and learning
- Part 3 Learning and development as cultural practice
- Glossary
- References
- Index
Summary
[I]t is the knowledge systems that dominate the practices children participate in at different ages. If we want to give children conceptual competence that is more oriented toward theoretical knowledge, we must make this part of their everyday practice. So parents and educators should change the practice traditions that the children participate in to change the conceptual competence the child will acquire. Play, as the key activity for preschool children, offers the possibility for such a development where the motivational aspect is also involved.
(Hedegaard, 2007: 275)INTRODUCTION
In the previous chapter empirical knowledge and narrative knowledge were introduced, critiqued and contrasted to show how empirical knowledge and paradigmatic thinking in play may limit rather than expand learning opportunities for children. As was shown, empirical–rational thinking enables humans to group and classify things and phenomena within the world ‘by comparing and pointing out the interrelations of genus and kind’ (Davydov, 1999a: 131). Through this type of thinking, ‘it is possible to solve the tasks of relating things to a certain class (genus) or, vice versa, divide a class into certain subclasses or kinds’ (p. 131). However, Davydov (1999a) stated that humans have another kind of thought and knowledge – theoretical knowledge and theoretical thinking. Davydov (1999a) writes that people in society frequently meet demands that require a system analysis where it is necessary to understand the particular and the general simultaneously, a task that requires a different kind of logic.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Early Learning and DevelopmentCultural-historical Concepts in Play, pp. 75 - 98Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010