The practitioners' two big questions concerning their own practice were:
* What happens if children lead the learning?
* If children take the lead, what is our role as practitioners?
Over time both these questions were answered for them by the children.
The starting point After a period of absence from the nursery, a boy named Brandon arrived back remembering his favourite book about a bear hunt. Soon they noticed that Brandon and his friends had taken the story of the bear hunt outside and adapted it for their play. Throughout the grounds the excitement of the children could be heard as they travelled the journey of the bear hunt and took turns being in the cave.
Moving on As the project grew, the interest in journeys moved to the possibilities of a journey outside school. Following a visit to a local car showroom, the nursery was given a selection of car parts including steering wheels, gear sticks, wipers, speedometers, wheel hubs and rear bumpers. As early years practitioners the staff were experienced in junk modelling, but unsure how to move on to the creative use of recycled materials.
Through her role as a mentor, the school's artist in residence encouraged the staff to explore the recycled materials and the role these resources could play within the project. She introduced the idea of using 'provocations' - traces of play - as a way of engaging the children with the creative possibilities of the materials. Children observed the staff playing with recycled materials and were quick to take ownership of these 'traces of play' and build on them to extend their discovery of connections, transporting and journeys.
Documenting learning One member of staff worked alongside the research group and captured their learning through photographs and transcripts. Sharing these images, and the thoughts on the learning behind them, was an invaluable resource not only for the practitioners but also for the children and their parents. Sharing 'documentation' with the children and their parents and recording their questions and actions moved children's learning on and re-engaged them with the project at a deeper level.
The project on the bear hunt lasted eight months from Brandon's initial interest in the book. However, the interest in recycled materials in ongoing work and the use of these materials as a tool to explore the possibilities of a project are now embedded in the centre's way of working.
Using recycled materials enabled the staff to test out children's theories, and they have become important tools for allowing children to lead the learning.
The current project is on castles and dragons. There are some very important new questions to consider:
* Can dragons get into a castle?
* How small does a door have to be to stop a dragon from getting in?'
* Why do castles have windows?
