An exploration of the ways in which an understanding of 'schemas' can inform short term planning and interaction in a nursery setting

This study arose out of my growing dissatisfaction with the short term planning that I was engaged in for the children's activities in my nursery class. Its focus was on the development of practical skills, at a time when a considerable national pressure was emerging to raise standards of academic achievement. It had occurred to me that my method of planning was perhaps a shallow approach and that there was a conflict between my philosophy of education and my actual practice in the classroom. I adopted an 'action research' approach focusing on my practice with a view to finding ways of improving my short term planning and interaction with the children. There are many theories about the ways in which children learn and since becoming a nursery teacher I have developed a particular interest in the work of Athey (1990). This is because I regularly recognise the children's schemas, which she discusses, within the children's play in the nursery. First I focused my research on looking at how my observations of schemas could inform my short term planning in the nursery. I used the method of participant observation. I made observations of six children in my nursery class and used the information gained to describe their schematic interests and to plan the activities for the ensuing week. The cycle of observation and then planning continued for one month and it formed the focus for the first section of the project. From this I developed the view that the children were able to use the wide range of activities available to them to follow their own schematic interests. For the second part of the study I focused upon whether my exploration and further understanding of schemas could facilitate my interaction with the children. To investigate the development of schema related adult-child interaction I video taped myself working with the children in my classroom and then analysed it. This analysis concentrated on the ways in which I was able to recognise the children's schemas and incorporate this knowledge in my interaction with them. As a result of this study I have become much more familiar with general schematic development and now I am more aware of the schematic interests of the group of children in the study. I believe that I shall be able to transfer this knowledge to other groups of children in the nursery and so understand their actions more fully. I have also found that making both the educator and the child's interactions more schema related is very complex. Through this exploration I have developed the appreciation that the deeper knowledge of children's mental processes will help the educator to understand better what the children are actually focusing upon at a deeper level. I have found that schemas can be an important means of achieving this, but it is important to remember that this is not the only way.Faculty of Educatio