Synopses & Reviews
Children learn best when their learning makes sense to them. This book is for early childhood educators who want to provide opportunities for the children to learn in ways that make rich and relevant connections to their lives, experiences, and interests outside of the classroom. Each chapter explores a different aspect of the outside that can be brought into children's experiences in schools--whether in country or inner city spaces. The principles underpinning the importance of the outside environment in children's learning and development are related to ways of using spaces outside the classroom for learning. But the book is also about allowing children's daily lives into the classroom so that their families and communities contribute to school life and that what children learn and experience outside school is recognised and valued within it. This book is for all early childhood educators who seek to know and understand the children and communities they are working with and want to make learning as exciting and relevant as possible for children. It will be of interest to all who work with young children. Contributors include: Richard Bailey, Jonathan Barnes, Gina Donaldson, Sue Hammond, Trisha Maynard, Ian Pickup, Ian Shirley, Helen Taylor, Rosemary Walters, Jane Williams-Siegfriedson and Terry White.