Children's Exploration and Cultural Formation , 1st ed. 2020 International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development Series, Vol. 29

This open access book examines the educational conditions that support cultures of exploration in kindergartens. It conceptualises cultures of exploration, whether those cultures are created through children?s own engagement or are demanded of them through undertaking specific tasks within different institutional settings. It shows how the conditions for children?s exploration form a web of activities in different settings with social relationships, local landscapes and artefacts. The book builds on the understanding of cultural traditions as deeply implicated in the developmental processes, meaning that local considerations must be reflected in education for sustainable futures. Therefore the book examines and conceptualises exploration and cultural formation through locally situated cases and navigates toward global educational concepts. The book provides different windows into how children may explore in everyday practice settings in kindergarten, and contributes to a loci-based, ecological, integral knowledge relevant for early childhood education.

1. Introduction to Children’s Exploration and Cultural Formation; Elin Eriksen Ødegaard and Mariane Hedegaard.- 2. Children’s exploration as a key in children’s play and learning activity in social and cultural formation; Mariane Hedegaard.- 3. Beyond Bullying – Understanding Children’s Exploration of Inclusion and Exclusion Processes in Kindergarten; Ruth Ingrid Skoglund.- 4. Children’s explorative activities in kindergarten playgrounds: A case study in China and Norway; Hanne Værum Sørensen and Åsta Birkeland.- 5. Conflict analyses: a methodology for exploring children’s cultural formation in Early Childhood Education; Liv Torunn Grindheim.- 6. Dialogical engagement and the co-creation of cultures of exploration; Elin Eriksen Ødegaard.- 7. Historical roots of exploration – Through a Fröbelian third space; Andrea Eikset and Elin Eriksen Ødegaard.- 8. Exploration: Chinese kindergarten teachers’ perceptions and practices; Aihua Hu.- 9. Kindergarten as a budding explorative scientific community; Anne Synnøve Ekrene Hammer.- 10. Children as Music and Musical Explorers– Identifying Transition Points in Musicking; Tiri Bergesen Schei and Elin Eriksen Ødegaard.- 11. Exploration through process drama with kindergarten children; Siv Ødemotland. 

Is in line with the UN and UNESCO request for a loci-based, ecological, integral education

Shows that exploration will support transformative learning

Proves that cultures of exploration are relevant for early childhood education and societies at large