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Guidelines for Project Leaders
Learning Wisdom
  
Two year project, 2008-2009
 Professor Margaret Carr from the Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research at the University of Waikato, in partnership with university researchers and 13 early childhood teacher-researchers.
  
Project aim(s)

The aim of this project is to investigate the development of four-year-old children’s conversations about their learning, over a year. Learning wisdom is defined as knowing why, when and how to engage with learning opportunities. Knowing why is about developing personal and collective interests and commitments. Knowing when is about recognising opportunities to learn in social practices, contexts and communities. Knowing how is about becoming resourceful and considerate. These are wise learning practices for all ages; this project explores them with four-year-olds.

  
Project plan

Phase one: six months
A focus on re-visiting learning stories: what do these conversations between teachers and children look like, and how can they be enhanced.
Phase two: one year
An investigation of the development over one year of the capacity of four-year-olds to recognise and construct ideas about why how and when they participate in learning opportunities as they re-visit learning stories.
Phase three: six months.
Reflection and writing.
    

Partnerships involved

This project is a partnership between the University of Waikato and the Educational Leadership Project  (Director: Wendy Lee).
It will be based in ten early childhood settings - five kindergartens and five childcare centres - in Auckland. The ten participating centres are as follows. Childcare centres: Selwyn College Family and Children’s Centre, Awhi Whänau Early Childhood Centre, Fa’amasani Aoga Amata, Kids Express and Harbour View. Kindergartens: Te Atatu Peninsula, Roskill South, Flat Bush, Pigeon Mountain and Highland Park.

 

Expected outcomes

The research questions are:

  1. Can revisiting learning experiences over time assist children to recognise learning story-lines that incorporate an understanding of why, when, and how to take an interest, become involved, persist with difficulty, communicate with others, and take responsibility?

  2. What teacher strategies for documenting and revisiting learning experiences with young children appear to enhance this capability?

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