Young Children\u27s Conceptualization of Schooling and Learning

Around the world young children are taught that they must attend school to learn and to procure an education that will prove to be beneficial to them later in life. This contrasts with Dewey’s precept that for children to absorb what they were acquiring they must have experienced it. Experience per Dewey (1997) intimately involves interaction and continuity. There is limited research into how children understand of why they go to school and how they conceptualize learning. Through this phenomenological research study the researcher hopes to ascertain how children between the ages of five and eight years old construct their beliefs on schooling, their understanding of it, and their characterizations of learning. Semi-structured interviews were used to guide the participants as they create a visual representation of their best learning experiences. Participants were recruited from a private pre-k -5th grade school localized in Miami Lakes, Florida. Interviews were audio recorded and the visual representations were photographed by the researcher herself. Transcriptions then were themed, coded and interpreted. Preliminary findings will be presented at the conference. Keywords: learning, schooling, early childhoo