What does the process of thinking involve? How do we recognise young children thinking? And what conditions give children the best opportunities to develop their thinking? These are important questions that early years practitioners need to consider if they are to build on their understanding of young children and the quality of their practice.
- What is involved?
Thinking causes mental disequilibrium. We can be going about our daily affairs cheerfully when we come up against something new that causes us to pause. It doesn't quite fit in with what we know already. This challenges our current understanding, and we have to mentally adjust and then accommodate the new idea.
A baby is playing with a rattle when suddenly he drops it and it falls to the ground. Someone returns it to the baby; he repeats his action and the rattle is returned again. The baby relishes this new game and tests it out again and again before he starts to make a tentative connection between cause and effect - what he does and what happens as a result.
We cannot force new thinking. It can take considerable time for a young child to give up their current understanding and move on to adjust to a new idea. Sometimes they are just not developmentally ready to make the leap in their thinking - for example, a child who insists that shopkeepers give you money, not change.
Children's thinking develops as they are exposed to the ways of the world; they note how things work and what people say and do. They are alert to the conduct of adults and other children, and reflect this social intelligence in their own behaviour.
- How far does your provision encourage young children to engage in the above types of mental activity?
How do we recognise young children thinking?
It is relatively easy to gain insights into the thinking of older children. They will lay their interests and views before us in their writing and in discussions. We can ask them questions about their concerns and difficulties and expect to receive some responses. But younger children's thoughts are less visible, and we need considerable skills to spot and understand them. The following are important signals.
- Levels of involvement
We now recognise that when children are deeply absorbed in what they are doing, this assumes that there is mental activity going on. We can usefully spot children's body language and facial expressions, as well as the time they spend persisting at that activity. If we note their actions, we may move closer in to what they are interested in.
- Pre-occupations or schemes of thinking
Young children develop deep interests from a very early age. Babies and toddlers can become absorbed in patterns of movement. Cathy Nutbrown describes them as 'threads of thought', which captures so well the fragile nature of the baby's mental activity. These early 'threads' are linked to space and movement, such as inside, outside, near and far, up and down, over and under. They are strengthened when young children have opportunities for similar experiences where they can repeat their actions again and again as they work through their interest (see Case Study, left).
What other experiences could Carol (case study) have offered the two-year-olds to support their interests in transporting?
- Representations
Children will relish rich curriculum experiences and then present their understandings and ideas again in many different ways, such as through dance, role play, constructing, painting and drawing. All children will have a preferred way to characterise or record what they have gained from the experience. A broad range of media and resources will allow children good scope to demonstrate their thinking.
- Talk
Children are most likely to reveal their thoughts and views when they are working away from adults and conversing informally as they set up their own scenarios. In these circumstances they argue, negotiate, sort out roles and freely show their beliefs and views.
- Questions
Young children spend a great deal of time trying to figure things out in a fascinating and puzzling world. In an encouraging and familiar climate, they are persistently curious and posing questions as they search for explanations.
Sometimes their questions may appear bizarre and irrelevant to the matter in hand, but there is always a link back to their own logic. For example, when playing outside, five-year-old Ana suddenly asked her key person, Sue, if there were restaurants under the ground. Later, Sue discovered that Ana's grandad had recently died and Ana was understandably trying, with difficulty, to make sense of his burial.
To access the treasures of young children's thoughts we must be prepared to observe their behaviour, note their actions, listen to them closely and then take an inspired leap into their minds.
What conditions best support young children'S thoughts and ideas?
Children's thoughts are likely to take root and flourish when:
- they are in a familiar setting with adults they trust. If children do not make a really secure transition to a setting, they will not have the confidence or emotional vigour to develop their own ideas
- they are exposed to a wide range of thought-provoking experiences. If children are intrigued by what they encounter, they are likely to invest their mental energies into investigating further
- they are encouraged to make their own decisions and select resources for themselves. In situations where they take responsibility for their learning, they learn to plan, negotiate, consider and reflect on their actions
- they are free to make mistakes and are encouraged to see these as a valuable way of learning.
CASE STUDY: SCHEMES OF THINKING
Carol worked with a group of children who ranged in age from two to four years and were accommodated in one room in a children's centre. She set up richly resourced role-play environments, particularly to challenge the older children's ideas. These included a shoe shop, a pirate ship and a builder's yard outside. However, Carol felt frustrated and demoralised when too frequently, three of the youngest children invaded the role play and created 'chaos'. They gathered up many of the resources and carted them off to other areas; in turn, dough and small-scale vehicles were brought into the role play. The older children resented sometimes being forced to abandon their play in the ensuing disorder.
Carol sought advice and soon learned that the two-year-olds were simply playing appropriately. They all shared a preoccupation with transporting things from one place to another. The difficulty was overcome when Carol ensured that these children had other transporting experiences. For example, she introduced them to sturdy wheelbarrows outside, and with the children she developed piles of fir cones and leaves that could be moved around. Carol was respecting the needs of both groups of children and so allowing them scope for their thinking.
REFERENCES
- Gopnik, A, Melzoff, A and Kuhl (1999) How Babies Think: The Science of Childhood. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson
- Siraj-Blatchford, I, Sylva, K, Muttock, S, Giden, R and Bell, D (2002) DfES Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY), DfES Research Report 356
- Sammons, P, Sylva, K Et al (2007) EPPE (3-11) Influences on Children's Attainment and Progress in Key Stage 2: Cognitive Outcomes in Year 5, Research Brief No: RB828 February 2007
THINKING TIME
- Wonder
- Imagine
- Deliberate
- Consider
- Conject
- Muse
- Recall
- Make a link between ideas
- Reflect
LINKS TO EYFS GUIDANCE
- UC 1.1 Child Development
- PR 2.3 Supporting Learning
- EE 3.3 Observation, Assessment and Planning
- EE 3.3 The Learning Environment
- L&D 4.1 Play and Exploration
- L&D 4.2 Creativity and Critical Thinking.