Learning & Development: Schemas - part 5, Observing ... Harvey

Harvey, aged four years and four months, has attended nursery since September 2007. He is developing his understanding of concepts by displaying a strong 'Going Through a Boundary' schema. This is demonstrated by his using his body and resources such as the marble run, garlic press and hose to practise the 'going through' action (figure 1).

More recently, Harvey has been showing an interest in looking at the world from different perspectives. It looks as though he is making a shift from notions of topological space (placing his own body in different positions) to projective space notions (being able to hold in mind different positions in relation to each other and himself) (figure 2).

HOME CONTEXT

Harvey lives with his mother, father, an older brother and sister and a baby brother. His mother has told me that he has his own pair of binoculars, which he uses regularly in the house and the garden. Harvey's father says that he spends time looking out of the French doors into the garden.

OBSERVATIONS AT NURSERY

I started noticing Harvey's 'Going Through a Boundary' schema two months after he started nursery. He enjoyed making the dough go through the garlic press and spent time turning the taps on and off and watching the spray of water.

An observation from Harvey's file read 'Harvey was really interested in the guttering tubes and balls. He rolled different sized balls down the tubes. Harvey then noticed another child playing with a watering can. He picked up another watering can and began to pour water through and watched where it landed.'

During the next few weeks we visited the Water Therapy room, where Harvey could investigate the water flowing out of a variety of tubes and showerheads. He was able to incorporate his 'Going Through' schema at a functional dependency level, as he had learned that by holding his fingers over the end of the showerhead, he was able to alter the force, speed and direction of the water. Therefore, the flow of the water was functionally dependent on his actions.

In this second year at nursery Harvey started to use binoculars, tubes and a periscope to look at the world and objects around him. He also placed and moved his body to view the world from different perspectives.

TALKING ABOUT HIS INTEREST

The following comments and observations demonstrate his interest in topological space notions.

When looking up at the tower near our nursery: 'I can see up there.'

When hanging from the monkey bars: 'Look, it's upside down.'

When looking upwards and backwards, then downwards and forwards while playing on the swings: 'I can see up to the sky, over at the school and the shed behind when I'm upside down.'

One of Harvey's favourite stories is Little Lumpty by Miko Imai (Walker Books), in which a character climbs to the top of a high wall and looks at his village. Harvey built various structures using the hollow and maple blocks. Many of these are enclosures. On one occasion, he built a more complex structure and named it 'multi-storey car park'. He placed cars on one level and a person on the highest point, again reflecting his interest in positioning. He then squeezed his whole body through his building (figure 1).

Harvey's mother has told me that he enjoys travelling up and down the local multi-storey car park in the car.

SUPPORTING LEARNING

As a staff team we worked together on Harvey's PLOD (Possible Lines of Direction), a medium-term plan looking at what motivates Harvey and how his interests link to the EYFS curriculum. Then I tried to give him more opportunities to use his binoculars and periscope at nursery.

We went for a walk together and a colleague filmed us. Harvey took his binoculars and chose to go to the top of the bridge connecting our nursery gardens. On reaching the top of the bridge, he hung the binoculars over his head, let go and looked 'chuffed' with himself (through his schema, he realised that the binoculars would remain hanging around his neck) (figures 3 and 4).

Back at nursery, we watched the video recording of our walk, which gave Harvey another perspective on the world - through a lens, with him as the star of the show!

We enjoyed reflecting on our trip and shared our thoughts about the video. Harvey talked about what he could see through the binoculars. He pointed out the local school and where his house was. 'You go down there, round there and that's my house.'

As we watched the film on the video camera, Harvey turned the lens around and said 'It's upside down now!' and laughed. Subsequently, I introduced Harvey to the periscope, which he explored over the next couple of weeks and mastered using it. At group-time, he took great pleasure in sharing his skills and teaching the other children how to use it.

LEARNING

Harvey is learning about topological space, shape, fit, size and symmetry. He is looking at the world from different viewpoints and has gained a greater understanding of concepts about positioning.

At a functional dependency level, he is experimenting with the various functions of each tool.

Harvey showed moments of 'chuffedness' when he hung the binoculars over his head.

He was able to accommodate how to use the binoculars by turning them around to be used effectively.

He shared his thoughts and feelings when reflecting on the video and gave his own ideas and explanations about where places of importance to him are situated. When walking up the tower, Harvey stopped at each window on different levels. 'There's the water run, and I can see Megan's school. Where's your car, Louise?' he asked.

Reflecting on the video, Harvey said, 'I was high up then, wasn't I? That's us on the bridge. I wanted to go that way, down the road and turn to get to my house' (beginning to describe the route home and to hold in mind different positions - the body can adopt different positions while not changing its location.)

NOW

A couple of weeks before leaving nursery this summer, Harvey made a representation of a swimming pool (see drawing, left), with his father positioned near the top of the slide and the rest of his family in the water. 'That's the swimming pool, and there's a big slide that the children go down. They start at the top and slide down,' he said (a clear articulation of a vertical trajectory in the absence of the pool and slide).

All the topological space notions are clearly illustrated in this representation:

Connection - legs and arms connected to the body shape

Separation - 'finger' forms connected but separated from 'hand' and 'arm'

Horizontal and vertical co-ordinates - features within 'face' from feet, legs. Body, face ... co-ordinates within face.

Spatial order - hair or ears in relation to face ... face in relation to body, etc.

DEFINITIONS

'A schema is a pattern of repeated actions. Clusters of schemas develop into later concepts' (Athey, 2003)

Schemas explored by Harvey in this article are:

Going through a boundary - causing oneself or some material to go through a boundary and emerge at the other side

Enclosure - using objects to surround a space

Positioning - positioning himself and objects differently, thereby gaining a different view of the world

Topological space - physically placing oneself in different positions, for example, 'on top', 'underneath', to understand how it feels and what it looks like - for example, Harvey's going down the slide at the swimming pool

Projective space - being able to hold in mind and represent in drawing, three dimensions or words, different positions in relation to each other - for example, Harvey's drawing and language about children going down the slide at the swimming pool.

'The essence of projected space is to be found in the sensory motor co-ordination, then operational, of the points of view' (Piaget, Child's Conception Of Space, 1956 p.291)

Accommodation - the ways in which human beings adapt their actions and thinking to new experiences

NB: A periscope is a tubular device containing prisms or mirrors, enabling a person in a trench, a crowd, a submerged submarine, etc, to look into one end and see things visible from the other end

- Part 6 of this series by Pen Green practitioners will appear in the issue of 18 February.