Abstract
Inquiry-Based Project Learning is a term developed to explain the different historical and present-day approaches to using inquiry with children. In an inquiry approach, children lead their own learning as they explore and discover answers to their own questions. This term is drawn from a current project based in Aotearoa New Zealand exploring the ways that early childhood centres and their teachers have developed ways of following this approach. The project includes seven team members from a range of different institutions. The project takes an interpretivist approach and is underpinned by sociocultural and bioecological theories. The study design is strongly informed by narrative inquiry approaches. This presentation explores one of the findings from the data which centred on the way that the teachers in all the Centres included in the project, talked about the collaborative discussions they had engaged in before and during their inquiries with children. These collaboratively reflective discussions amongst each team focused on how they ‘saw’ children, and their values, beliefs and previous experiences that now impacted their current practices. This process of taking time to get to know each other gave them a shared understanding of the pedagogy of inquiry but also of the ways they interpreted and extended the projects as they emerged and progressed.
Author Information
Jo Perry, Manukau Institute of Technology, New Zealand
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