Nursery World - Learning & Development: Schemas

The schemas explored by a child over his two years at nursery are described by Louise King, a family worker at the Pen Green Centre, Northampton.

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).

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