Shortlisted for the 2013 Nursery World Awards!
′This exciting book will greatly enhance understanding of learning throughout the early years, and reinforces the importance of responsive professionals who understand children′s schemas. Atherton and Nutbrown have brought together socio-cultural and cognitive learning theories with ease, and their metaphors are brilliantly evocative′
-Dr Anne Meade, Consultant
′This book is drawn from a study carried out with rigour and contains several gems, such as the ′bike and slide exploration′; the idea of adults engaging in ′a dialogue of conceptual correspondence′ with children; and tables outlining ′what the children might have been thinking′. A great read!′
-Dr Cath Arnold, Pen Green Early Years Centre
′This is an exciting and illuminating account of babies and toddlers, following their schema fascinations with determination and competence, as they continually explore and experiment and come to know their world. This book captivated me. It should be in every early childhood education setting′
-Pam Cubey
This is the first book to focus specifically on Schemas and children under three. The authors trace the development of schemas from motor level through to symbolic representation, and show how to use schema theory to understand young children′s learning and behaviour.
This accessible and student-friendly book includes:
-activities and discussion points
-links to policy and practice
-descriptive observational material
-a look at the ethics of this kind of research
-numerous photographs and illustrations
-suggestions for follow-up reading
The book is aimed at early childhood professionals and practitioners in ECEC settings, as well as those on initial training courses, teacher education, Early Years courses, and higher degrees.
Table of Content
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Foreword
PART ONE: KNOWING ABOUT SCHEMAS
Introduction
Schemas and the Youngest Children
Observing Children: Spotting Schemas
PART TWO: HOW DO CHILDREN UNDER THREE PURSUE THEIR SCHEMAS? ′ALL ABOUT HENRY′
Henry′s Containing and Enveloping Schema
Henry′s Back and Forth Schema
Henry′s Dynamic Vertical Schema
Henry′s Mark Making and Figurative Representations
PART THREE: DEVELOPMENTAL JOURNEYS: TRACING DEVELOPMENTS IN CHILDREN′S THINKING FROM MOTOR TO SYMBOLIC BEHAVIOURS
Containing and Enveloping Schema
Going through a Boundary Schema
Dynamic Vertical Schema
Stories from Home
Epilogue
Bibliography
Name Index
Subject Index
About the author
Cathy Nutbrown is President of Early Education and Professor of Education in the School of Education at the University of Sheffield. Her research over the last 30 years, has focussed on young children’s learning and work with parents to support young children’s literacy development. She won an ESRC Award for Research with Outstanding Impact on Society and a Nursery World Lifetime Achievement Award. She is author of over 150 publications including Early Literacy Work with Families (with Hannon and Morgan, Sage, 2005), Early Childhood Educational Research (Sage, 2019), and Home Learning Environments for Young Children (with Clough, Davies and Hannon, Sage, 2022).