Making the Forest Together: Young Children Represent a Shared Experience in Clay

This thesis examines the strategies young children use to develop a common set of goals when collaborating on a group art work. Teachers at Sabot School spend a great deal of time in discussion of children's group work. By concentrating on one project in my preschool classroom, I reached a greater understanding of the way children work together on a group project. This understanding enriched my practice of teaching so that I could become a better facilitator of similar projects in the future. The information is valuable to me and the other Sabot School teachers when planning future group projects, especially when discussing strategies for supporting children's group processes. It is also be of value to teachers and education students who are interested in learning about the Reggio Emilia approach in American classrooms, social constructivism in the classroom, and the possibilities of art in early childhood. In this project, my four and five year old students worked together to create a clay sculpture of a wild area outside the playground fence at our school. I was interested in the way I could support this group project using Vygotsky's idea of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). In the ZPD a child can accomplish tasks they are not developmentally ready to master if they have the support of a teacher or more skilled peer. This study revealed that children and teachers can use words and actions to support cognitive as well as social-emotional learning while working together.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Art Education

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Art Education

Year dc:date.available

2006

Author dc:creator

• Golden, Anna Mary

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Pamela Taylor

• young children
• art education
• clay
• concstuctivism
• Reggio Emilia
• Vygotsky
• zone of proximal development
• Education

Statement dc:rights

• © The Author

Identifier

https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/1184

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarscompass.vcu.edu:etd-2183