Capturing Children's Meanings in Early Childhood Research and Practice
Capturing Children’s Meanings in Early Childhood Research and Practice draws together contemporary research and established theories to produce a unique take on the meanings children express through a range of creative tools. Drawing on Reggio Emilia and the Mosaic approach, this book provides readers with a range of strategies for accessing, recording and interpreting young children’s perceptions of and responses to their experiences.
Providing a synthesis of the multiple imaginative ways we can capture young children’s meanings through observations, art, photo elicitation, mindfulness, music and other creative methods, Halpenny covers topics such as:
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- Negotiating challenges presented by researching with children
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- Frameworks for seeing and hearing children’s intentions
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- Accurately documenting and interpreting research findings
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- Promoting children’s meanings and their performance of them
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- Moving forward with new understandings
This book is an indispensable resource for students of early childhood education, especially for courses focusing on the lived experiences of children from early to middle childhood. It is also a useful reference for those working with young children in educational and caregiving settings, and for those advocating for young children.
Ann Marie Halpenny is a lecturer in Psychology and Research Methods at the School of Languages, Law and Social Sciences in the Technological University, Dublin, Ireland.