using projects to promote sustained shared thinking · the adult must step in to revive a situation...

The Early Years Foundation Stage pledges a commitment to promote creativity and critical thinking and outlines specific requirements in relation to creating a learning environment that fosters sustained shared thinking:

nPractitioners support and challenge children’s thinking by getting involved in the thinking process

nAdults are aware of children’s interests and understandings

nAdults and children work together to develop ideas and skills

nNeed responsive trusting relationships

nAdults show genuine interest, offer encouragement, clarify ideas and ask open questions to support and extend children’s thinking and help make connections.

(Principles into Practice Card 4.3)

Books

Using projects to promote sustained shared thinkingby Marianne Sargent - Author of The Project Approach in Early Years Provision

What is sustained shared thinking?

Recent influential research projects including the Effective Provision in Preschool Education (EPPE) and Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY) underline the importance of social interaction in young children’s learning and development. The studies highlight the role of the practitioner as collaborator, finding that positive outcomes “are closely associated with adult-child interactions … that involve some element of sustained shared thinking” (Siraj-Blatchford and Sylva, 2004, p.720).

Sustained shared thinking is the means by which practitioners nurture and develop children’s critical thinking skills. It involves seeking out opportunities to build upon the children’s interests and challenging them to indulge in a deeper thought process:

“Sustained shared thinking occurs when two or more individuals ‘work together’ in an intellectual way to solve

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a problem, clarify a concept, evaluate an activity, extend a narrative etc. Both parties must contribute to the thinking and it must develop and extend the understanding.” (Siraj-Blatchford et al, 2004, p.vi).

Sustained shared thinking is a key approach in helping children to become life-long learners with transferable skills. Children who have the ability to enquire, consider, reflect, reason, predict, evaluate and suggest creative solutions, will be better equipped to succeed in a world where a job is no longer for life; careers are constantly evolving, demanding adaptability and a flexible approach. Thinking skills and sustained individual and creative thought must be introduced early in order for children to develop as learners and thrive in the future.

What is the project approach?

Early years practitioners will be familiar with the use of topics and themes when planning in early education. It is common practice to choose a new topic each half term and plan subject-related activities around the theme of animals or seasons. The chosen topic is used to create commonality between curriculum areas and allows children to gain some basic knowledge about the focus subject matter.

The project approach involves planning to exploit an area of interest – which may stem from a topic – and using it as a basis for in-depth enquiry or research. Areas of learning are not simply linked by a theme, they are integrated as a result of the investigative process. Knowledge and skills are not taught in isolation, but rather acquired and practised within a meaningful context that makes sense to the children. For example, practitioners may plan a farm topic that aims to inform children about the various animals and foods that are bred and cultivated on a farm. In addition to this, practitioners might plan a range of farm themed activities aimed at teaching children skills in mathematics and literacy. For example, counting eggs produced by chickens or reading farm themed stories. In contrast, a project stemming from a provoking farm visit might be planned in response to the children’s interest in tractors. The children may be given the opportunity to investigate a real tractor and see a farmer demonstrate how it moves and works. This could lead to any number of different activities that incidentally cover a number of areas of learning. For example, the children may choose to draw pictures of tractors and label the different parts; they might create models of tractors with moving parts; or they might experiment with using tractors to dig sand, transport the sand, and fill containers. This could lead to an investigation into the purpose and use of tractors in the sand pit.

Projects stem from the interests of the children and are planned or developed in collaboration with them. This is in contrast to topics that might have initially been suggested by

the children but are ultimately planned and developed by adults to meet predetermined curriculum objectives.

A project is started with an initial provocation that triggers conversation and debate. A provocation could be:

nAn event, e.g. a visit to the dentist or a village fête;

nA question such as “why do pine cones open and close” or “how does a bicycle work?”;

nA picture, e.g. a famous artwork or a photograph of a puppet misbehaving;

nAn object, e.g. a tractor wheel or a foreign fruit.

After the children have had some time to explore this provocation or trigger, they are gathered together to share their experiences and think about what they would like to find out or do next. The children’s questions and ideas are recorded and practitioners meet together to discuss and use these suggestions as a basis for planning the project. Practitioners then set up various resources around the setting that will help facilitate the children’s explorations. The children might investigate individually, in groups, or as a class and practitioners work alongside them to help develop and extend their ideas.

The book, The Project Approach in Early Years Provision, explains how to plan and carry out a project and provides several case studies as examples. These include, planting a fake cocoon in a reception classroom to build on the children’s interest in butterflies; hiding a popular puppet, prompting a missing person’s investigation; and an alternative idea for encouraging nursery children to investigate freezing and melting.

In her recent review of the EYFS Dame Tickell (2011) underlines the importance of active learning, and in particular playing and exploring. She explains that children learn through active investigation and it is through such concrete learning experiences that children have the opportunity to develop creative and critical thinking skills.

How do projects promote the use of thinking skills?

In order to learn critical thinking skills children need to be given the opportunity to immerse themselves in a deeper thought process with the help of skilled practitioners:

“All of us have the ability to think creatively, but the extent to which we do will probably be highly dependent on the quality of our earliest experiences … With the right stimulus and support


all children can learn to think in ways that enable them to solve problems, be inventive and make discoveries…” (Bayley and Broadbent, 2002, p.i).

Project work promotes the use of creative and critical thinking skills in the following ways:

Information processing skillsInformation-processing skills enable children to gather and use information.

When first encountering a provocation, the children process what they are seeing and begin to analyse the information they gather through their explorations. As the project develops they may be required to classify information, look for connections and apply their newly gained knowledge to a variety of situations.

Reasoning skillsReasoning skills enable children to use logic; make connections; give reasons for opinions and explain actions; and make informed judgements and decisions.

Project work involves constant discussion and debate. Throughout a project the children are frequently asked to share their ideas and opinions with each other, as well as with practitioners. Practitioners use open questioning to encourage children to draw on their knowledge and experience and provide reasons and explanations.

Enquiry skillsEnquiry skills enable children to ask relevant questions; plan what to do; and speculate upon and predict outcomes.

Although young children are naturally inquisitive they often have difficulty formulating questions in order to gather the information they require. Charlesworth (2005) suggests that children should be encouraged to ask questions in order to develop their enquiry skills, but that they first need to understand what questions are for and how they are formed. Projects provide plenty of opportunity for children to practice these skills.

Creative thinking and problem solving skillsCreative thinking and problem solving skills enable children to come up with ideas and suggestions and to use their imagination to think of creative solutions.

The aim of project work is to find out more about something. Children are not judged on performance or whether they get it right or wrong. Without such pressures, the children are more likely to consider problems and look for possible solutions, which will eventually lead them to learn skills such as pre-empting likely obstacles and creatively planning around them.

Evaluation skillsEvaluation skills enable children to reflect, recall and evaluate information in order to formulate opinions.

Throughout the life of a project the children are asked to pause and reflect. Practitioners share photographic observations and film footage of the children involved in their investigations, and encourage them to recall what they learned. At the end of a project the children are presented with a display or learning story so that they can further reflect upon the project as a whole.

Fantasising and imagining skillsThese skills enable children to suspend their disbelief and think imaginatively.

According to Rattigan (2008) young children need such opportunities in order to develop their lateral thinking skills and personal creativity. Clarke explains that creative thinking “enables the learner to look for alternatives, not always accepting the first answer” (2007, p.12). In order to help children achieve this higher level of cognition, they should be exposed to open-ended experiences and encouraged to offer ideas. Setting up an imaginative provocation that leads to an interesting project is an ideal way of encouraging children to indulge in a fantasy and use creative thought.

The Project Approach in Early Years Provision provides a detailed example of how a project about a missing puppet was used to develop the creative and critical thinking skills of a class of reception children.

How can practitioners help children to use these skills?

Projects provide an ideal arena for promoting thinking skills. Children are engaged in investigations that perpetuate their interests and absorb them in ongoing open-ended activities. This gives practitioners ample opportunity to become involved in the children’s thought processes by introducing lines of questioning and enquiry. However, providing the guidance the children need to develop their investigative and critical thinking skills is a difficult task. Rinaldi highlights the difficulties that early years practitioners face in terms of gauging when and how to intervene and scaffold children’s learning:

“The challenge for the teacher is to be present without being intrusive, in order to best sustain cognitive and social dynamics while they are in progress. At times the adult must foster productive conflict by challenging the responses of one or several children. At other times, the adult must step in to revive a situation where children are losing interest because the cognitive map that is being constructed is either beyond or beneath the child’s present capabilities. The teacher always remains an attentive observer…” (Rinaldi, 1998, p.119).


Helm and Katz (2001) explain that rather than give children information, practitioners should give them time and space to obtain it for themselves. Practitioners can help with this by facilitating discussion, encouraging children to talk together and ask questions of each other as well as adults. This involves asking open questions, a difficult skill that takes time and practice to develop. For examples of open questions, see the prompt card on an investigation area below. It can be made easier by including question ideas on planning and observation documents. It is also a good idea to display reminders around the learning environment that will serve as prompts for all practitioners. This can be done in the following ways:

Display open questions both inside and outsideThese serve as prompts for practitioners who are seeking to develop a conversation with a child in order to help further their thinking. The questions are intended to act as inspiration for practitioners, who need only glance up for a moment to get an idea about what to ask next. They also serve as useful prompts for additional adults such as students, parents and support staff, who might be new to the setting.

Create sustained shared thinking cardsIt is also helpful to display cards that promote sustained shared thinking in each area of provision within the setting. These cards have suggestions for open-ended questions and useful key words that can be introduced into conversation. In addition, the cards might highlight where such activities fit into the curriculum.

Set up informative displaysInformative displays set at the children’s eye level are also an effective way to prompt discussion. Such displays might feature posters or photographs with snippets of information and questions about the project theme. These displays can be used to provide information and stimulate conversation about a subject. Helm and Katz (2001) suggest also mounting children’s questions for investigation in the relevant areas of provision around the setting.

Reflect with the childrenDisplay photographs of the children taken while they were involved in their investigations. These photographs can be captioned with questions or observation notes and quotations

An example of a sustained shared thinking card for the investigation area


taken from the children. Practitioners can use these to help the children talk about their investigations and refl ect upon what they have been doing. In addition, children can be involved in setting up displays that show others what they have learned.

Conclusion

This mini-guide has briefl y demonstrated how projects can be used to promote the development of children’s creative and critical thinking skills. Setting up imaginative provocations is not only interesting and exciting for practitioners, but also a fun way of motivating young children to use and develop the most important skills they will need for their futures as life-long learners.

References

Bayley R, Broadbent L (2002) Helping Young Children to Think Creatively. Lawrence Educational Publications, Walsall

Charlesworth V (2005) Critical Skills in the Early Years. Network Educational Press, Stafford

Clarke J (2007) Sustaining Shared Thinking. Featherstone Education, Lutterworth

Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) (2007) The Early Years Foundation Stage: Principles into Practice Cards. DCSF Publications, Nottingham

Helm JH, Katz L (2001) Young Investigators: The Project Approach in the Early Years. Teachers College Press, New York

Rattigan M (2008) Imagine the difference. Early Years Educator. 9(9): viii-ix

Rinaldi C (1998) Projected curriculum constructed through documentation – Progettazione. In: Edwards C, Gandini L, Forman, G, eds, The Hundred Languages of Children. 2nd edn. Ablex Publishing, USA

Siraj-Blatchford I, Sylva K (2004) Researching pedagogy in English pre-schools. British Educational Research Journal 30(5): 713-730

Siraj-Blatchford I, Sylva K, Melhuish E et al (2004) EPPE: Final Report. DfES and Institute of Education, University of London, London

Tickell C (2011) The Tickell Review: The Early Years: Foundations for life, health and learning. HMSO, London. Available from: http://www.education.gov.uk/tickellreview

Published by Practical Pre-School Books, A Divison of MA Education Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, Herne Hill, London, SE24 0PB.Tel: 020 7738 5454 www.practicalpreschoolbooks.com© MA Education Ltd 2011Front cover image © MA Education Ltd. Photo taken by Ben Suri

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

The article is written by Marianne Sargent, author of The Project Approach in Early Years Provision. This book covers:

nHow to set up a project in your setting

nAn overview of how projects can help deliver the aims of the EYFS, Foundation Phase, Curriculum for Excellence and Northern Ireland curriculum

nExamples of projects, and planning and observation resources

nTraining resources on a CD-Rom designed to explain the approach to others

nAdaptable resources to encourage sustained shared thinking in the setting

Marianne Sargent is an early education specialist and writer, having written several books for Featherstone Education, as well as regular articles for Nursery World and Early Years Educator. Marianne holds an MA in Early Years Education and has worked as a lecturer in primary and early years education. She is also a qualifi ed teacher, having taught in a range of nurseries and reception classes.

All those who’ve read this download save 10% on the book’s retail price of £18.99 – just quote “project” when you call 01722 716 935, email [email protected] or enter at the checkout of www.practicalpreschoolbooks.com

The article is written by Marianne

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