If we want students to participate actively in their own learning, they should be able to influence the methods and contexts of their learning. Student’s influence is meaningful and motivating, but challenges teachers in their work with pedagogical planning: How to plan, but still have enough space for students to create their own solutions and expressions? How open-ended a pedagogical situation can be, but still safely lead toward educational goals? I believe that a teacher should consider arranging of imaginative contexts, including careful choices of physical surroundings and artefacts to be used for inspiration.
The project I present here was carried out in a Norwegian kindergarten, with 3-5 years old children. To begin with, the main project theme was “water”, but the teachers and a researcher (teacher educator, teaching visual-arts) wanted children to influence the theme development. The first project day, storytelling was combined with nature experience, art experience and physical objects as “traces” to provoke children’s curiosity. Pedagogical documentation was used systematically in order to identify children’s interests. Inspiration for teacher’s further planning was often found in children’s verbal expressions – children had left their own traces! The theme “water” ended with “mermaids and monsters”, in the project where borders between reality and fantasy suddenly were dissolved…Besides teacher’s imaginative usage of suitable artefacts, the respect and appreciation of children’s individual expressions had a significant importance for children’s motivation and joy of learning. This wouldn’t be possible if the teachers had a predisposed attitude towards children’s expressions.
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