Children's Interests, Inquiries and Identities: Curriculum, Pedagogy, Learning and Outcomes in the Early Years

Childrens Interests, Inquiries, and Identities emphasizes the significance of childrens interests in motivating their learning and growth. It challenges adults to move beyond surface-level understandings and provides new principles for understanding childrens learning. The book offers evidence that we need to look beyond the activities or topics children may currently be selecting to find out who and what has stimulated their interests. It also includes examples from research with children aged under 5 years and young adults aged 18-25 and presents new models for interests-based curriculum and sociocultural curriculum and pedagogy for future examination.

Format: Hardback
Length: 192 pages
Publication date: 31 March 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Children's curiosity about their lives and the world around them is a driving force behind many interests. However, adults often have preconceived notions about what children should be interested in and have faced criticism for trivializing their interests. This book offers a critical and accessible exploration of research on children's interests, challenging us to go beyond surface-level understandings.

Children's Interests, Inquiries, and Identities argues that the relationship between interests and informal learning has been overlooked and undervalued. The book proposes new principles for understanding children's learning, providing evidence that we need to look beyond the specific activities or topics children may currently be engaging with to uncover the underlying factors that stimulate their interests. It suggests ways to identify and interpret interests more analytically and deeply, and ways to respond and engage with these interests in ways that take children's interests seriously.

Moving beyond play-based activities, Helen Hedges explains and illustrates various ways to interpret and understand children's interests, aiming to get to the heart of what truly matters to and for them. The book draws on examples from research with children aged under five and young adults aged 18 to 25. It also includes a chapter on teachers' interests. The book presents new and innovative models for interests-based curriculum and sociocultural curriculum and pedagogy for future examination in research and practice.

This book demonstrates that abandoning long-standing practices that have shaped our understanding of curriculum, pedagogy, learning, and outcomes opens up a new perspective on children's interests. It will be of interest to researchers, postgraduate students, and practitioners in the early years field.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367689827