Browsing by Subject "children’s imagination"

Even though imagination is recognised in research to be an important part of children’s learning and thinking, there is little research on the role of the teacher in supporting and enriching children’s imagination. Therefore, this study focuses on investigating teachers’ understandings of pedagogical practices that support children’s imagination in Finnish early childhood education. Drawing on the sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 2004) and Donna Haraway’s theory of speculative fabulations (2016), imagination is seen as a socially, materially, and culturally constructed practice in this study. The qualitative study was conducted by using focus group discussions to investigate teachers’ understandings of supporting children’s imagination. Three teachers in early childhood education participated in this study. The data of the study were collected at the University of Helsinki in the workshop Unruly and Embodied Storying – Ecological Imagination Workshop for ECEC Teachers. Speculative fabulation was used to research the socially, materially, and culturally formed understandings that the teachers created on supporting children’s imagination. Reflexive thematic analysis (Clarke & Brown, 2006) was used to conduct the data analysis. The results reveal three main themes that characterise the teachers’ understandings about supporting children’s imagination, illustrating the potential of speculative fabulations as a useful approach to research and conceptualise imagination as a collective endeavour between children and adults. The theme Relating highlighted the importance of being present in and caring for interpersonal relationships. The theme Creating Spaces focused on mental and physical spaces that teachers can intentionally create for children to express their imaginative ideas. The theme Helping showcased how teachers can help children develop their imaginative ideas by accompanying children in their play and providing diverse materials for children to play and story with. The results echo previous findings that teachers can support children’s imagination by joining in imagining and becoming co-learners alongside children. However, further research is needed to investigate if time or space for such shared imagining exists in current Finnish early childhood education and care.