Action with friction: a transactional approach to toddlers' physical meaning making of natural phenomena and processes in preschool.

The purpose of this study is to present and illustrate a methodological approach that enables analysis of practical meaning-making at daycare facilities. The study is largely based on John Dewey’s pragmatism and has special focus on his use of concepts on transaction, functionalism, pedagogical experience and nature. The researchers want to focus on meaning-making by toddlers in their physical encounter with, and experience of, nature in everyday routines at the daycare facility. Therefore, the researchers have focused particularly on children’s first encounters with naturally occurring experiences at the daycare facility.

The researchers conclude that toddlers’ meaning-making in their physical encounter with, and experience of, nature is practical and physical rather than conceptual and verbal. The study shows that by investigating the boy’s actions and the consequences of his actions, it is possible to ascertain that the boy has learned a great deal about friction, for instance by walking up a steep and slippery hill. The boy has learned that it is easier for him to walk up the hill if he walks slowly and with bent knees. Moreover, he has learned that some surfaces are slippery, and some are bumpy, and that it is easier to slide down a hill with a bumpy surface if you push yourself down with your hands at the same time. The researchers point out that a verbal conceptualisation is not part of the boy’s meaning-making. In his endeavours to reach the top of the hill, he tries different ways of moving, he learns the consequences and he coordinates his movements simultaneously.

The study does not state how many children the researchers observed initially, but it includes examples from three video-observed outdoor episodes of a boy at the daycare centre. The examples are used to illustrate how to analyse successfully practical meaning-making, and to show the different steps in the analysis approach.

Klaar, S. & Öhman, J. (2012). Action with friction: a transactional approach to toddlers' physical meaning making of natural phenomena and processes in preschool. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 20(3), 439-454.