As we continue our project and inquiry ‘growth’, we are incorporating the use of digital technologies as a tool for children to express and further explore their knowledge, understandings, theories and concepts of our natural world.
Today the following questions were posed to the children whilst sitting outside in our garden:
What is nature?
What grows?
Children’s initial responses were:
Frankie: leaves
Krisha: tree
Kunal: I see birds.
Charlie: The trees and pears.
Ojasvi: I see it up there (points to the tree), the leaf.
These children were then invited to use the iPads to take photos e.g. Frankie to take a photo of leaves, Krisha of a tree, etc.
Arabella viewed one of her photos more closely.
Nicole: (teacher): What do you see?
Arabella: A leaf.
Nicole: Do you notice anything about this leaf?
Arabella: I see the lines on the leaf, a long line.
Nicole: I see that line too. Can you see any other lines?
Arabella: Some go there and there.
Nicole: I can see those lines too. I wonder why the leaves have these lines?
Arabella: They there to grow.
Other children such as Will, Liam, Ellara, Xavier and Jon became intrigued by the children photographing our environment. They added their theories about nature and growth and also took photos of their ideas.
Krisha: It’s the grass
Xavier: the tree
Omelia: the leaf
Jon: I photo the tree, the sky, the tree the sky.
Ojasvi: And the tree fell down.
Jon: I take photo of the grass.
Ellara: Plants and nature is Australian.
Will: A tree and I also took a photo of the sun and me.
During our afternoon group meeting, we shared the photos that children took during the day.
The questions were again posed to the children:
What is nature?
What grows?
The children responded:
Jon: Water
Arabella: Flowers
Olivia: Plants
Ellara: We can make the grow by seeds and water
Charlie: You put the seed in the ground and it grows
Kunal: I photo of the sun.
Sharing learning, ideas and understandings with each other enables children to not only express their own learning but to also learn from others. This group meeting gave children the opportunity to contribute to a growing and collective understanding of nature and the environment. Group meetings also encourage the understanding that learning is not a linear or isolated process but rather collaborative, ongoing and lifelong.
The children’s ideas and theories of nature and growth have evolved over the day and will continue to do so as we explore these questions in different ways, with different materials and tools and through opportunities to share with each other.