Professional development through the study of children's interests: the use of collaborative inquiry and documentation protocol among early childhood teachers

This dissertation investigated how a group of early childhood teachers and I, as a facilitator, collaboratively studied the interests of children enrolled in a government supported childcare facility. In this study, we explored the use of documentation protocol for incorporating children’s interests in early childhood curriculum planning. In addition, the documentation protocol strategies were used to enhance our professional growth as teachers and facilitator. While there is extensive writings on different forms of curriculum that focus on children’s interests (Beane, 1997; Cremin, 1961; Dewey, 1900; Katz, 1999), there is little research on the processes teachers might use to study these interests (Birbili & Tsitouridou, 2008; Gestwicki, 2010). Two documentation protocols influenced our approach towards studying children’s interests, descriptive review and the documentation practices of the Reggio Emilia preschools. Both of these approaches employ educational inquiry methodologies that involve studying children’s learning capabilities, growth, and interests. Self-study and action research methodologies were employed to investigate our praxis of studying children’s interests. I used self-study to examine my own practices and reflections as the facilitator of collaborative weekly team meetings. I used action research to investigate how the teachers and I, as facilitator, collaboratively studied documentation collected from classrooms that represented children’s interests. The findings from this study suggest that collaborative projects that deal with collection of documentation, reflection on real classroom experiences, and joint curriculum planning allow for genuine problem solving in a socially constructed format.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2012

Author dc:creator

• Yu, Geralyn

Contributors dc:contributor

• Johnston-Parsons, Marilyn A.
• Bresler, Liora
• Noffke, Susan E.
• Kennedy, Devorah

• studying children's interests
• documentation protocol
• early childhood education
• collaborative professional development
• collaborative inquiry
• facilitators
• self-study
• Action Research

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2012 Geralyn Schroeder Yu

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/34328

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/34328