Att stötta nyfikenhetsdrivet lärande i förskolan

The study focuses on how curiosity-driven learning is expressed and can be supported in didactic kindergarten practice. The study investigates how educators support curiosity about knowledge within the framework of Reggio Emilia-inspired exploratory pedagogy. The research questions are:

1. In what ways are educators involved in initiating and/or following children’s curiosity?
2. How do educators support children’s efforts to seek information and/or provide information that can satisfy their curiosity?
3. What indications show that curiosity has been satisfied when new information is gathered?
4. How do educators ensure that the information children consider satisfactory is also valid?

The results show that educators’ support of curiosity-driven learning in children consists of complex interaction processes that target different phases of a curiosity cycle. Educators can help maintain the drive in the curiosity cycle and ensure that children receive valid information. In addition, the results highlight the importance of educators being aware of children’s horizon of understanding when the goal is to initiate and support their curiosity in relation to specific learning.

The study is based on an pedagogical method of work based on socioemotional and material learning (SEMLA). The work method was developed as an intervention in the project ‘Enhancing Preschool Children’s Attention, Language and Communication Skills’ (Hjärnvägar in förskolan). The data material consists of a total of 22 hours of video recordings from seven kindergartens in Sweden. The researchers make a sample of 11 films, focusing on five sequences where different groups of children aged 3-5 participate in SEMLA activities together with an educator. In light of the theory of curiosity-driven learning, the film sequences are analysed through multimodal interaction analyses to see how the SEMLA work method is carried out.

Kaneko, J., & Frankenberg, S. J. (2022). Att stötta nyfikenhetsdrivet lärande i förskolan. Nordisk barnehageforskning, 19(4), 45–67.