Postgraduate - UnitEDF5902 - Birth to eight: Culture of play, learning and pedagogy

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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12 points, SCA Band 1, 0.250 EFTSL

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Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Education
Offered	Clayton Second semester 2014 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Ms Gloria Quinones

Synopsis

This unit investigates how children from birth to eight years learn valued cultural forms of knowledge (e.g. art, science and technology) through play in a range of contexts, including homes. A key feature of this unit is a critique of the various expressions of play and the associated pedagogies that are used in early years education globally. Play is not value free, and students examine what is afforded when different play pedagogies are used in art, science and technology education. The unit supports students to learn about the role of play in design technology, the arts, and science; the relationships between philosophy, theory and pedagogy; and to develop a personal understanding and response to play and pedagogy in curriculum design.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit students should be able to:

use philosophy and learning theories to critique the cultural expressions of play from a range of cultures and communities
document and analyse everyday scientific and technological play practices of children aged birth to eight years in order to identify and build upon the everyday scientific understandings of young children
understand and critique the cultural nature of the arts, science and technology and how this develops informally in a range of learning contexts, such as playgroups, families, schools, child care centres and preschools
understand and develop play pedagogies and curriculum for the arts, science and design technologies that focus on the birth to eight period.

Assessment

Mapping and analysis of science, technology and the art in the everyday environment of children from birth to eight years (4000 words equivalent, 50%)
Curriculum project that examines the relations between play and learning in curriculum for the arts, science and design technology across the birth to eight period (4000 words equivalent, 50%)

Chief examiner(s)

Professor Marilyn Fleer

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload equals 288 hours per semester comprising:

(a.) Contact hours for on-campus students:

3 hour workshop/seminar per week

(b.) Additional requirements (all students):

independent study to make up the required minimum hours during the semester