Diana Yong Victor Eric Goh Lavina Mugianto Monika Munandar Tiffany Natasha Santoso EDUC90728 Innovative Spaces & Pedagogy
Assesment Task 2
Tutors: Ben & Ken
Flemington Street Children Centre Project
1. Pre Design Planning & Establishing The Brief Philosophy of Education & Vision for learning
1a. Philosophy of Education
Our philosophy of education for young children is grounded in the belief of learning through embodiment and play. We believe that the starting point for teaching, learning and knowledge is through embodiment. The theoretical basis of this embodied engagement is grounded in the Deweyan notion that, in addition to cognitive, learning is dramatic and emotional, which consequently requires the elimination of mind/body dichotomy that is strongly held in the academic world (Fishman, 1998). This view elevates the role of the body as the foundation of meaning making (Latta & Buck, 2007; Lawrence, 2012). As Lawrence (2012) argues, knowledge is first present in the body before it reaches our consciousness. Therefore, learning is somatic: it relies on the interconnection of the mind and body. We argue that play is the best context for this embodied engagement. Understanding that play is a complex dynamic system and different theorists focus on different manifestations and aspects of that system (Bergen, 2014), we choose to explore play through its relationship to development. We belief that children learn through “playful learning,” which is the integration of free play and guided play (Fisher, Hirsh-Pasek, Golinkoff, Singer & Berk, 2011). Free play is child-initiated and child-directed with minimal adult involvement. Guided play occurs on a continuum as it depends on the extent to which the adult participates in the play. Generally, however, adults are actively and intentionally involved in children’s play, by following children’s interests (Kennedy & Stonehouse, 2012a). This adult involvement may be in the form of introducing objects/toys that enhance learning opportunities and co-playing and exploring the materials in ways that children might not have thought to do (Fisher et al., 2011). The basis for this adult’s involvement is Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory that underlines adult’s critical role in children’s play: to move children’s knowledge and skills beyond what they already know and can do (Crain, 2011; Kennedy & Stonehouse, 2012a). The goal of playful learning is to support children to wonder, to think, to imagine, to communicate and to make meaning of the world.
1b. Vision for Learning
Our vision is to promote children’s agency and holistic development. Agency is based on Friere’s (as cited in DEEWR, 2010) critical theory that argues children have the capacity to make decisions and choices about their own learning. Holistic development refers to how educators are encouraged to pay attention to children’s cognitive, physical, personal social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing (DEEWR, 2009). This holistic development can also be understood as Belonging, Being and Becoming, a greater vision of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) (DEEWR, 2009). Belonging recognises that relationships and interdependence are the foundation of human existence, and shape who children are and who they can become. Being underlines the importance of the present and children learning about themselves and building relationships with others since our identity is created by our interactions with others. Becoming refers to the process whereby children grow and learn about their environment and the world, that there will be changes in their knowledge, understandings, capacities and relationships. As part of this holistic approach is connection to the natural world and to the land (DEEWR, 2009). By providing supportive outdoor learning area, we want to cultivate children’s capacity to respect the natural environment and to understand the interdependence of all living things. We also want to foster children’s respect to the land because we are living on the Aboriginal people’s land and we must acknowledge who they are and their ownership of the land. By maintaining the open space and changing certain features of the learning environment, such as ceiling height, we emphasise our respect for children-centered learning and teaching (Monk, Rutter, Neelands & Heron, 2011). We want children and educators to bond in small groups and allow the children to pursue their individual interests actively. From social constructivist perspective, small group settings also allow children to learn from each other and develop “soft” skills, such as collaboration, dialogue and self-management (Monk et al., 2011). Of course, they can also work individually if they want to. In all interactions, nonetheless, the educators’ main goal is to support children to create their own knowledge. We also want to enhance the feeling of partnership between parents and families. The centre strives to be a welcoming environment where all families and children are respected and actively encouraged to communicate and collaborate with the teaching staffs. The learning space should enable families and children to build trust in their environments. This trust is crucial in helping children to settle down and to learn.
2. Pre Design Planning & Establishing The Brief Organisational structures, practices and resources
2a. Social Organization
The grouping of the children usually depend on the learning experiences, although there are generally three different group sizes: small (< 5), medium (< 16) and large/whole group (> 16). However, small group interaction is the preference and will be promoted throughout the day because of three reasons. Firstly, small group settings allow children to learn from their peers and develop collaboration, dialogue and self-management skills (Monk et al., 2011). Next, joint attention is developed better because the educators can have more meaningful interactions with the children in smaller group size. Joint attention is a term that Bruner (1995) develops to refer to the “meeting of minds”, which requires shared focus and intersubjective awareness or shared context and presuppositions. This is an important skill to develop because it helps us infer how others feel and think, which is the foundation to enable us to communicate with one another (Robson, 2012). And communication is crucial because learning occurs through social interactions. Lastly, small group settings enable educators to better observe and assess children’s development because in such settings the educators can focus more and have intimate interactions, which also enable them to provide assessment as learning in the form of scaffolded instruction (Smith, 1999) – which will be further discussed later in the assessment section.
2b. Use of Time
In early childhood settings, curriculum is understood not as a list of lessons but as interactions, experiences and events within the classroom (ACECQA, 2013). Therefore, scheduling refers to how educators organise these daily interactions to maximise learning opportunities for children (ACECQA, 2013). MacNaughton and Williams (2009, p. 32) argue that scheduling is a teaching technique because it necessitates educators to make decisions regarding the tempo and duration of interactions â&#x20AC;&#x153;between children, between children and adults, and between people and materials.â&#x20AC;? Accordingly, the question is what factors support good scheduling decisions. We believe that there are three important key issues to be considered, namely knowing each child, grouping, timing and pacing, although at the end of the day we suggest using professional judgment and collaboration with the children to decide how long an activity should take place. Briggs and Potter (1995) state that knowing each child is crucial because children have different capabilities and ways of learning. These differences influence what kind of activities that each child prefers to do and how long they usually spend in those activities. Next, grouping can be done in many different ways, such as according to gender or to developmental level. However, the important thing to consider is knowing the children in the group and how they influence the dynamic of the group. Educators must also attempt to equalise the use of equipments across genders (Davies & Brember, 1994). Pacing acknowledges the fact that children have different speed in doing/finishing activities, while the issue of timing is an interesting one. On the one hand, each day the children only spend certain amount of time at the centre and we want to ensure all children fully maximise their learning within this period of time. On the other hand, we do not want timing to become a control or disciplinary technology. Foucault (as cited in Germeten, 2000) reminds us that time becomes disciplinary technology that objectifies the children when educators unilaterally decide when to start or stop an activity, who are allowed to speak or play and how to organise the day. Considering the above-mentioned factors, educators should exercise their professional judgment and collaborate with children about the routines and procedures of the day. Even during a play activity, children have agency and the capacity to understand fair play, which means if they have been playing long enough with an equipment and another child is waiting for their turn, the educators can help to negotiate and teach them the social skills of negotiation, self-management and turn-taking.
2c. Pedagogies
To promote children’s agency, holistic development and partnership with families, we advocate for two pedagogical approaches, namely embodied pedagogy and family-centred practice. Embodied pedagogy is teaching practices that encourage bodily engagement as a way of meaning making (Lawrence, 2012) and underlines that learning and teaching is a process of building relationships between self, others and the environment (Latta & Buck, 2007). According to Lawrence (2012), the two main practice principles in this teaching approach is paying attention to body language and facilitating embodied activities. Since our bodies are the foundation of meaning making, educators should be aware of nonverbal cues that children are communicating. For example, we should be sensitive to why children raise their eyebrows, frown or show puzzled expressions. These bodily nonverbal cues are valuable opportunity for us to pause, check in and identify the source of confusion. If as educators we do not stop and continue on as if nothing happened when no one raises a question, we might have just missed our “teachable moment.” In addition, educators are to promote embodied activities when interacting with learning materials, such as performance or embodying stories through movement, dance and drama. What we aim to do is to encourage children to engage with the curriculum using all of their senses (Butterwick & Selman, 2012). Family-centred practice is “a set of values, skills, behaviours and knowledge that recognizes the central role of families in children’s lives.” (Kennedy & Stonehouse, 2012b, p. 3). There are two important driving factors for such practice. Firstly, we need to respect the uniqueness of every child and family because children learn in different ways and families may have different priorities about their child’s educational needs. Secondly, families are children’s first teachers and have primary influence on their learning and development. Moreover, research has shown that family-centred practice results to closer relationships between educators and families, which consequently improves children’s holistic developmental outcomes (Cohrssen, Church & Tayler, n.d.). One of the ways we can engage in family-centred practice is by openly sharing information with families through a teaching technique called pedagogical documentation. It is a process whereby educators make children’s learning visible and therefore, it becomes open to discussion, contestation and transformation by parents, other educators and the children themselves (Dahlberg, 2012). It also serves as educators’ reference for planning the curriculum. And because it is a process, the documentation will never be finished or completed: it is ongoing and will be revisited again and again; it is waiting to be used in the curriculum and possibly modify the curriculum because of it. Study by Buldu (2010) shows that pedagogical documentation increases parents’ awareness of their children’s experiences at school and increases dialogue between parents and teachers about effective practices and ways to better support their children.
2d. Spatiality
As soon as the children arrive in the room, we want them to feel welcomed and that they are encouraged to explore and play. Moreover, the open but well demarcated space promotes children to bond in small groups and to choose their own learning. In order to guide children’s learning, the educators are also encouraged to join in children’s play since power is no longer concentrated in the hands of the educators/adults. We want families to feel that the centre is their children’s second home and is a place where they can freely join in and talk to the educators about their children’s learning and development. Moreover, having the children’s work installed on the wall and projected in the room can facilitate discussion between educators and families. The outdoor space also offers children with opportunities to engage with nature and invite open-ended interactions, spontaneity, risk-taking, exploration and discovery of nature (DEEWR, 2009). We also want children and educators to notice, discuss about and interact with cultural issues, that can be provoked by having the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders flags displayed outdoor. This discussion is important to foster children’s sense of identity and being. Through creating appropriate physical and social learning environments, educators provide children with continuity in experiences and suitable transition in between experiences, which have a positive impact on children’s development and learning (DEEWR, 2009).
2e. Curriculum & Assesment
We believe that an emergent, arts-based curriculum is the best embodiment of our philosophy and vision. Planning emergent curriculum means educators establish general educational objectives but do not have specific goals for each activity in advance (Rinaldi, 1993). The goals are, instead, flexible and adapted to the changing needs and interests of the children. In this way, the educators are encouraged to explore the learning journey together with the children since they can never direct where the children’s interests will take them. Accordingly, knowledge is co-created rather than imposed from the teacher to the student. An arts-based curriculum is one that encourages children to engage with different experiences of arts, such as visual arts, dance, drama and music, in order to make meaning. There are two important values of arts education for young children. Firstly, arts education promotes children’s personal expression, which is critical because Jeanneret (2012, p. 15) asserts that the main goal of education is “to represent what we have experienced, know, think, and feel.” The arts provide the best medium for personal expression because not all aspect of our experience as human beings can be expressed through language. Secondly, arts education enables somatic learning and understanding because arts experiences are multimodal, multisensory, and interactive (Wright, 2012). Moreover, this multi-modal communication enhances personal understanding and meaning, as each child will experience the same thing differently according to their bodily engagement (Dinham, 2014). Producing artworks also project their individuality and promote the sense of ownership and belonging. There are two forms of assessment that will be conducted, namely formative assessment and summative assessment, and the former is of higher frequency than the latter. Formative assessment is the process of gathering and reflecting on observations/data throughout the school year to inform and/or to modify learning experiences in order to promote children’s learning (Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & William, 2004). Formative assessments have two forms: assessment for learning and assessment as learning (Readman & Allen, 2013). Assessment for learning occurs when educators review several informal assessments gathered, such as observation notes, sample of children’s work and photographs, in order to plan for the next learning experience. Assessment as learning is when an educator makes thoughtful comments, feedbacks or questionings while a child is doing an activity in order to extend the child’s learning at that point of time (Clark, 2010). Summative assessment, or also known as assessment of learning, is usually conducted after a certain period of time and at the end of the school year (Raban, 2011). It is done by reflecting on all of the informal assessments gathered. The aim of this assessment is to evaluate the effectiveness of the program that has been implemented and to identify what each child has achieved and where they might go next (Raban, 2011).
2f. ICT
Gibbons (2006) argues that the term information and communication technology (ICT) actually include a toy, a lump of dough, an educator or a theory of play because they are all technologies that communicate information about the world. However, we will focus on the popular understanding of ICT as electronic and digital technologies that people use to gather and communicate information (Bolstad cited in Gibbons, 2006). It is generally agreed that when being utilised thoughtfully ICT offers new possibilities to enrich teaching and learning practices, such as by allowing children to explore different ways to find and create information (Kerckaert, Vanderlinde & Van Braak, 2015; Toki & Pange, 2014). The current educators are mostly using an iPad as part of their daily teaching and learning program. We propose to add an indoor projector to extend the use of the iPad. The projector can be used to showcase children’s sample of works or photographs of recent events. It can also be utilised during large group storytelling time in which the educator can project additional materials, such as a video (moving image and sound), to increase children’s multisensory engagement. In small group playful learning situations, we can integrate the iPad and the projector to do digital storytelling (Toki & Pange, 2014). Davis (as cited in Toki & Pange, 2014, p. 184) describes digital storytelling as “a form of short narrative, usually a personal narrative told in the first person, presented as a short movie for display on a television or computer monitor or projected onto a screen.” Digital storytelling allows children to be creative as the children are free to produce whatever stories they want to share and present it in the way that they want it to be. Pelayo (as cited in Toki & Pange, 2014, p. 184) also adds that digital storytelling “promotes and multiplies the ways in which we see, listen, read, write, signify, relate and, above all, become aware of the innate capacity for creativity common to each and every human being…” There are many software tools available to support this learning experience, such as presentation applications (Apple’s Keynote) or a full video project (Apple’s iMovie) (Toki & Pange, 2014). It can be seen, however, that adult’s guidance is required in this interaction but this is exactly what we want. This is because, firstly, we need to supervise children when they are using ICT and, more importantly, to guide them how to use ICT to create an information. Study by Neumann (2014) shows that the higher frequency of adult’s participation in children’s play with ICT results to more meaningful interaction between children and ICT. Study by Plowman and Stephen (2005) also reveals that the provision of ICT does not always support or results to learning because children exhibit varied quality of engagement and patterns in their play with ICT.
3. The Design Building Evaluation (Existing)
3a. Building Evaluation - Physical & Social Context
The Flemington Street Children Centre is located on 80 Flemington Street, Flemington VIC 3031, within the residential district of the suburb. The Centre sits across the Flemington Primary School and is adjacent to low terrace houses. It is strategically placed within walking distance from the main road, Mount Alexander Road, making the site accessible by car, tram, bus and bicycle. The Centre holds an avereage of 40 children that varies day to day. Most of the children in this centre come from families that live around the area, thus the families are encouraged to walk to the centre. Looking beyond the residential fabric of the suburb, Flemington is a medium-density area with an interesting mix of different housing types and low-rise shopping areas, making it a hub for different industries comprising of commerce, schools, major roads, rail yards and electrical facilities (City Of Melbourne, 2015). This area is also packed with a reasonable amount of residential facilities such as public parks, schools, fresh produced markets, fitness centre, restaurants, and boutique like shops. As one approaches the Centre from the main road, he/she receives glimpses of the outdoor play areas before being directed by the foot path to the Centreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main entrance. On the interor, the walls on the North side are mainly glass with operable sliding doors that connects the interior spaces to the shared outdoor play areas. The outdoor area has a view towards the Flemington Primary School. The glass maximises the amount of natural light penetrating through into the interior, while providing views and connection to the outside. During the day-time, the classrooms are sufficiently lit with the natural light coming from the northern facade of the centre and the clerestory windows at the top. Most of the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learning are conducted indoors, leaving the outdoor areas for play and recreational activities. As majority of the playground equipments and toys are placed outdoors, natural elements and green areas that can be used for learning are limited to a few trees and bark. Despite its limitations to serve as outdoor learning environments, the shared outdoor area enables different kinds of interaction to occur through play between different age groups. As the outdoor area is a shared space, it acts as space that enables different kinds of interactions through play across all age groups.
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3a. Building Evaluation - Site Analysis
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Tramstop Main road Footpath Tram line
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AJ Automotive, Flemington Street tramstop (from city)
Convinience shop, Flemington Street tramstop (to city)
Flemington Primary School gate
3a. Site Analysis
Main playground for the centre West facade of the centre facing toddlers room
West side playground for toddlers
Playground area showing north facade
West - south corner of the children centre
South facade, main entrance
3b. Building Evaluation - Furniture & Fittings
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3b. Building Evaluation - Furniture & Fittings Kinder Classroom 4 (age 4-5)
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Child WC Outdoor storage Locker area Sleeping room Reading area Kitchen Storage Locker area
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3b. Building Evaluation - Furniture & Fittings Kinder Classroom 4 (age 4-5)
3c. Building Evaluation - Opportunities for Improvement
Our focus for the improvements of the centre are the kinder classroom 4 for ages 4-5 and the main outdoor area of the centre. The kinder room 4 is made up of two rectangular shaped rooms that are orientated towards the North where the outdoor play area is located. The foldable door (separating the rooms) is mostly left open to accommodate approximately 20-25 kids. The planning for the current space uses an open learning concept to enable educators to keep a watchful eye over the space for the safety of the kids. To achieve this, the learning environment relies heavily on furniture to demarcate zones for different activities. On the East side where reading and art activities are conducted, most of the furniture are located to remain in their permanent position. For instance, the reading area is defined by a carpet with a sofa and a book shelf, but the flexibility of rearranging the furniture is limited due to the large number of other furniture and constrains of the room. The remaining left over spaces are occupied by child-size tables and chairs, and play areas are flanked towards the North-West end of the room. Based on our observations, the use of space lacks the degree of flexibility though it uses an open concept that accommodates for various activities to simultaneously occur. The space feels cramped due to the heavy and bulky furnitures. Hence, we saw this as an opportunity to improve the learning environment. Our plan is to keep the open concept, both for safety and as stimulants for the kids to explore their own learning and creativity, but redesign the way the zones are demarcated in a more unique and flexible way through informing the kids on the idea of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Being, Belonging and Becomingâ&#x20AC;?. Formal learning and teaching can extend to the outdoor area to give a different environment and experience to learning. This will also enable us to extend the boundary of the learning environment to utilise the spaces more effectively for the type of activities conducted. In terms of storage space, we feel that the centre does not use the storage room efficiently as all things seems to be stacked on top of each other and placed randomly. The storage shelves scattered in the classroom also seemed unfriendly and unsafe for children. We saw opportunities to build better storage shelves on a specific area in the room. The reading area seems not intimate, relaxing and inspiring enough. Thus, we would like to propose a reading area outside and in a mezzanine. The centre does not efficiently intergrate ICT integration, as they limit it to the use of ipads only. In addition to the interior, we also saw opportunities of improvements that can be made on the main outdoor area. The outdoor space does not use any form of strategic planing in terms of how the playgrounds and playing equipments are placed. As they are randomly scattered on the outside without any consideration to the type and number of play equipments, it impacts the spatial planning and size of the out door area. As the result, like the interior, the outdoor is cramped with playing equipments that disregard the natural environments or the opportunities for learning outdoors. This results to an outdoor area that does not seem comfortable and spacious.
4. The Design Learning Environment Design (Proposed)
The Design Concept The main driver of our design concept is stemmed from our philosophy of Embodied Learning, where children are given the opportunity to learn with their body and mind through encouraging playful learning, which results in a holistic development in the children. As a result, the design concept for the centre should express the notion of “playfulness”. For the interior learning space, we look to incorporate “playfulness” through flexibility where the children and educators are able to reconfigure their learning environment for their desired use. This is enabled by providing movable furnitures, foam platforms, mats and curtains that easily allow a new space to be made within the existing space. The act of reconfiguration enables children to practice using their body and mind to design spaces in a learning environment that is constantly changing, which allows the children to take charge of where and how they want to learn through the expression of their imaginations. Futhermore, the idea of “playfulness” is extended to the tranformations of space from a room into another world with the use of ICT projections on the curtains. In addition to providing spaces to learning with body and mind, the indoor and outdoor spaces work with inconjunction to stimulate the childrens’ five senses, cognitive, emotional, social and physical skills. This is achieved by incorporating dynamic environments for children to climb, run, explore, touch and experience as they discover themselves at the centre. The architectural language of the design incorporates different playful shapes to excentuate the notion of play to inspire the children’s creative minds. The tones of yellow are used as the main colour palette as it associates with joy and energy, while stimulating mental activity and generating muscles energy, which supports our philosophy and design concept.
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4. Proposed Site Plan (Ground Level)
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1. Planning Room 2. Bag Area/Storage 3. Kitchen 4. Toilet 5. Storage 6. Movable Thick foam Platform/Stage 7. Stairs 8. Movable Thick foam Platforms 9. Main Interior Learning Space 10. Puzzle Foam Mats 11. Individual seatings 12. Semi-Outdoor Learning Space (Synthetic Grass)
13. Pebbles foot path 14. Art Corner 15. Library 16. Walking Track / Semi-Out door Learning Space 17. Flag Poles 18. Trampoline 19. Sand Pit 20. Climbing Cave 21. Outdoor Learning & Play Area (Real Grass) 22. Playground 23.Walking Bridge 24. Vegetable Patch
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Mezzanine Level 25. Sleeping/Reading Corner
4. Proposed Site Plan (Mezzanine Level)
Legend Curtain Track
4. Proposed Ground Floor Plan
4. Proposed Mezzanine Floor Plan
4. The Design Proposed Design Renders
Our proposed designed removes the semi-outdoor corridor area to get a bigger indoor and outdoor area. The parapet walls on the outside will be turned into a self-made vertical garden. The vertical garden will decorate the parapet walls with decorative plants and flowers. This will teach children about how take care of plants and learning about the different growth of different species of plants. It also teaches them various colours and textures. It will be a good learning opportunity for the children to develop for cognitive, emotional, social, physical development. At the same time it teaches children to appreciate nature. The windows in this northern facade wall are fully operable, so that children can sit or lie down around that area to have a good view of the outdoor area. The indoor storage will be combined with the outdoor storage to achieve a bigger main interior learning space. By combining the outdoor storage and the indoor storage, we could create a performace space and build a mezzanine on top.
Decorative overhead panels are used in order to create a more intimate feeling and a sense of security to certain areas in our double volume learning space. We apply this in our kitchen area. Storage for small toys and learning equipments are created above the bag lockers to prevent these storage spaces from intefering the children activities.
The implementations of circular clerestory windows and the double volume height into the existing classroom is to increase the amount of light coming into the class-room and also create a sense of spaciousness. At the same time the circular clerestory windows create great playful shadows. The chairs we chose for the children are made to include a storage under the seats that can be used to store things such as childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal belongings or learning stationaries. Furthermore the chairs and other furnitures such as table, mats, thick foam platforms and the curtains should be able to be easily portable for the educators to move around to create different space use and configurations. The inner side of the parapet wall will be used as a blackboard wall for children to be able to draw freely with chalks. Drawing and painting freely will encourage children to express their imagination and develop their fine motor skills. However, different from the outdoor art area, drawing inside the classroom should use materials that can easily be removed. Sensory materials such as using chalks promote imagination and sense of play. On the very left side of the room, we designed the area to accommodate individual studies. This space is marked by the red colour carpet and can be made to be a more private by drawing the curtains. The tables are also designed smaller to accommodate self-study. All of the curtains are created to not touch the ground in order for the educators to have passive surveillance over the children. The organic undulating chain link net that can be seen from the main indoor learning area are an extension from the mezzanine to create this playfulness into the rectangular shaped classroom. With the use of movable puzzle mats and curtains, we aim to achieve flexibility in creating different zones/space uses in this open-plan style classroom.
Our ICT integration include the ability to create projections for the spaces to transform this ordinary classroom room into another world, when desired. This can be related to what the students are learning at that time. To create a descent space for this projection of experiences, we try to achieve it by creating systems of curtains that can turn the classroom into a â&#x20AC;&#x153;white boxâ&#x20AC;?. In addition the projectors can be used for other forms of learning and teaching such as making video calls and watching videos online. Furthermore, it can be used to display presentations of children works and photographs to the visiting families when they come to the centre. They will be changed frequently as the children create new works reflecting their interests, learning and creative expression. This form of ICT will require the interactions between children and the educators, developing the social skills of the children. It also facilitates cognitive development as they learn new informations which broadens their knowledge about the world.
The mezzanine area above the toilet and the storage. is designed to achieve a proper and comfortable space for the children to read or sleep. It has a lower ceiling height to create a more intimate and friendly environment. This area is not too exposed to the dire light during the day, making the room appropriate as to relax. Implementing black boards to the walls is one of our approaches to manifest this intergration of arts education and play. The chain link net is used to create an organic semi-transparent coverage and a safety shield. It allows educators to get a passive surveillance over the children in this area. The net acts both as a partition and playful element as well. The children can playfully climb the net.
The movable thick foam platform is in a shape of “puzzles” to be able to be transformed as a stage or a platform to sit and watch over the kitchen. The performance area is desined to be facing the tables, so that visiting families and other children can easily watch the performance. The blackboard wall on the background can be used for the children to draw different “settings” to their performance. Ofcourse, as the puzzle foams are movable, this space can easily be transformed as an extension of the main learning area. The kitchen has been an important part to the centre because children enjoys having conversations with the school cook. The movable thick foam platform allows the children to be at a closer height to the cook. This makes them active participants in the cooking process as they can see the cook and observe the cooking process as well as the different ingredients and cooking utensils used. Tables are designed in this triangular shape to allow numerous connfigurations, making it suitable for medium groups to larger ones. The toilet is still designed to include windows for passive surveillance. The planning room on the further right side of the roomd, include doors that are foldable so that it can easily be an extension to the main learning space whenever needed. The provision of child-sized furniture is to promote self-help, self-initiative and independence. Materials are organized in well-defined interest areas so children would be able to explore their environment with ease.
5. The Desired Outcomes Improved Student Learning
5a. Improved Learning Culture
The current classroom already uses an open space concept that allows for flexibility and promotes child-centred learning. Therefore, we do not aim to introduce a new learning culture but we hope that there will be improvements in the teaching and learning experiences. These improvements are the addition of semi-closure area, increased ceiling height, clearer demarcation, more frequent use of ICT and the renovation of the outdoor space. Dovey and Fisher (2014) state that openness eventually demands semi-closure or closure because the space can become more exposed and noisy, which can constrain self-directed and reflective activities. We feel that this is what the current space needs, that is a semi-enclosure, to allow for privacy once in a while because children also need to rest from the larger group and have some quite time activities. We provide these semi-enclosure areas in the form of mezzanine, addition of curtain and provision of an outdoor cave. Next, by increasing the ceiling height and adding circular windows we wish to increase the spaciousness, comfort of and lighting in the room. Ramey, Sparling and Ramey (2012) point out that it is important for children to see well in the room to maintain interest and engagement. Clearer demarcation helps to better define interest areas so children will be able to navigate their environment with ease and confidence. The educators will also be able to better supervise the children since they will know what kind of experiences the children are doing without always having to be there with them. We also hope to see an increase engagement with ICT due to the addition of the projector. The EYLF (DEEWR, 2009, p. 38) states â&#x20AC;&#x153;children benefit from opportunities to explore their world using technologies and to develop confidence in using digital media.â&#x20AC;? We believe the new outdoor area will help to enrich learning experiences and better support holistic development. The addition of the vegetable patch can attract different animals and allow the children to watch how plants grow. These things are constantly changing due to seasons and depending on the types of plants, and therefore, helping to sustain childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s engagement in learning. The expanded outdoor environment also supports holistic development. The area and materials available encourage children to explore and be more creative and imaginative (Elliott & Davis, 2008). In addition to physical play, a welcoming and spacious outdoor area also encourages children to try different play behaviors such as role-playing, cause-effect actions and constructive play (Kirkby, 1989).
5b.Professional Learning Program
Based on our meetings with the teaching staffs, we feel that the educators are already equipped to teach in an open space learning area and they all have been practicing play-based learning and emergent curriculum. However, as we introduce projector in the room, perhaps providing training about the use of ICT to support children’s learning will be beneficial. Study by Plowman and Stephen (2005) shows that the degree of ICT use in the classroom largely depends on educators’ confident and competency with ICT. By providing bigger outdoor area and a new vegetable patch, we also suggest the centre to have a one-day training about kitchen garden and food education. This is to increase their competence in safe gardening with children and to extend children’s learning about nature.
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