Place, space and materiality for pedagogy in a kindergarten

Abstract

This study explores how kindergarten spaces and materiality can be vital for children’s exploration of participation and how the physical environment enables children to interact and position themselves in play and meaning making. Methodologically this study is based on ethnographic fieldwork with two groups of 2- to 5-year-old children in two Norwegian kindergartens. Place, space and materiality are analysed through a theoretical framework based on socio-cultural perspectives of learning and meaning making, aspects of power relations in play supported by Corsaro’s concept of children’s power-sharing relations and Bourdieu’s reflections on social fields as fields of force. The main findings of this study describe how kindergarten children create meaning and play within and outside of pedagogically staged spaces, and how materiality creates power relations and interplay with the actors involved.

Key Words:

• space
• materiality
• meaning-making
• learning
• power
• kindergarten