On Thursday night we had the privilege to hear from author, Dr. Sandra Duncan as she spoke about her new collaborative book; The Honeycomb Hypothesis which will be released in November 2021 (published by Exchange Press). In the presentation, Sandra discussed how young children acquire knowledge and understanding about the world around them and how we as educators can facilitate their process.
The book offers a new perspective, a new way of thinking and presented an analogy of how children learn. The book centered around children under 3 years of age. Much of the content came from Piaget’s cognitive development theory focusing on the sensorimotor stage.
A fascinating graph was presented that detailed the physical pattern of play for children ages 18 months to 4 years old. It showed that the younger the child the more movement was apparent and that they had non-specific general patterns of movement with less intentionality and brief peer interactions. This is a key factor for educators when designing environments both inside and outside.
Evidence of patterns of play which included the concepts of Hiding/Revealing; Making /Unmaking; Carrying/Placing; Propelling/Hindering; Turning/Stopping; Attaching / Detaching
Axioms of Sensorimotor Play by Tom Bedard further supported this idea that children need to transport STUFF (carrying and placing); That they are compelled to put STUFF in holes; Find different levels for STUFF, and finally use STUFF in unique ways. Applying this to our experiences with toddlers correlated with the schemas that we are more familiar with.
A beautiful connection was then used to correlate this type of energy and activity to that of the honeybee and the child. (i.e. Honeybees fly about their environment gathering pollen; Children fly about their environment gathering information. Honeybees are building honeycombs; children are constructing honeycomb brains). In addition, Honeybees and children both use Piaget’s assimilation and accommodation theory. Piaget “Disequilibrium is the motivation for learning and children need gentle disequilibrium” to make a connection between what they are experiencing. To this end, adults need to give them novelty (providing interesting materials, etc.) on a daily basis.
Patterns of Play is at the core is PLAY. We need to observe closely recognizing the child’s repetitive actions as they are building the capacity of their brain and constructing knowledge. These patterns of play should not be discouraged but should be celebrated if we truly want our children to be their very best. Our goal then is that we should observe, recognize, and support these patterns of play as well as the schemas taking place to help them continue to strengthen their understanding of their world. While the patterns of play are apparent or external schemas are not as observable and left to interpretation thus more internal.
Lastly, Dr. Duncan stated two important takeaways for the participants to think about. They were:
LET THE JOY HAPPEN
WABI SABI – Embrace the mess!
Thank you, Sandra and Fullerton Lab School for a most thought-provoking presentation. We look forward to viewing this publication.
Respectfully,
Joyce Jones – Orange County Reggio Roundtable