The Fractal Dynamics of Early Childhood Play Development and Nonlinear Teaching and Learning

Fromberg, Doris Pronin

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-27577-2_7

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Based on examples from various disciplines, Nicolis and Prigogine seek to find the commonalities between systems, and while their emphasis is on chemistry, physics and biology, their ability to demonstrate of the applicability of transformative models that are specific in the abstract across different fields of knowledge is what makes their search of particular interest. The extension of such change models to education can be readily appreciated by the fact many have already been investigated empirically, such as hysteresis (Stamovlasis, 2006;Stamovlasis & Tsaparlis, 2012), non-periodic attractors (Koopmans, 2015), emergence (Hussain et al 2014) and self-organization and fractality (Fromberg, 2010(Fromberg, , 2016. A discussion of complexity in terms of its transformative capabilities can also be found in Davis and Sumara (2006), who distinguish the construct defined in this way from complicity, i.e., systemic novelty due to repeated interactions, and simplexity, the emergence of simple linear features in complex systems (Stewart, 2007).…”

Section: Performing Transitions Between Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives on Complexity, Its Definition and Applications in the Field

Koopmans

2017

COMPLICITY

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There is considerable variation in the dynamical literature in how the term ‘complexity’ is used. While there have been several attempts to describe from an educational perspective what complexity encompasses, the term is frequently used without an explicit definition. To forge a shared understanding of what complexity means, the purpose of this article is to define the term for the field in a way that acknowledges the variety of use that is encountered in the education. Four perspectives on complexity are offered: 1) Information theory, 2) Cybernetics and general systems theory, 3) The use of complexity to describe scenarios of transformation and 4) Complexity as a metatheory. The implications of each of these four conceptualizations for educational research and practice are discussed.

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Section: Performing Transitions Between Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives on Complexity, Its Definition and Applications in the Field

Koopmans

2017

COMPLICITY

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“…Generally speaking, preschool activities may be categorized into two groups: academic and non-academic. Academic (Fromberg, 2002; Stipek, 2004; Stipek and Byler, 1997) activities imply the teacher is in charge and preschoolers follow the teacher’s instructions (e.g. circle time, library time, alphabet and number learning, worksheets, and storytelling).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…circle time, library time, alphabet and number learning, worksheets, and storytelling). Non-academic activities (Fromberg, 2002; Stipek and Byler, 1997, 2004) are child-centred, play-based, and enable the preschoolers to interact and explore (e.g. free play, peer-book readings, dramatic play, pretend play, and outdoor and monkey bars playtime).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of academic and non-academic instructional approaches on preschool English language learners’ classroom engagement and English language development

Marková

2016

Journal of Early Childhood Research

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This research compared the relative impact of different preschool activities on the development of bilingual students' English-language skills. The study investigated whether bilingual preschool children would engage more, and use more of their second language (English), during free-play (non-academic) versus teacher-structured (academic) activities. The researcher utilized both quantitative and qualitative research approaches; data sources included 285 preschool observations made in three classrooms in Northern California. Data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics (e.g. frequencies/percentages, mean values, and standard deviations). In addition, children's observed scores were also analyzed by normative scales using standardized z-scores. The findings of this study indicated that bilingual children engaged and interacted significantly more during free-play (non-academic) preschool classroom activities than during teacher-structured (academic) activities. Specific free-play activities enabling optimal engagement and second language acquisition were pretend play, free play, and monkey bars. The study's major implication is that free-play (non-academic) activities may be much more helpful in developing bilingual preschoolers' Englishlanguage skills than teacher-structured (academic) activities. Free-play activities are an affordance for making language available, which helps with building academic skills and cultural capital. This study proves that freeplay activities are an affordance for language learning because bilingual children have shown dramatically greater engagement in non-academic activities (vs academic activities). The importance of free-play activities may extend beyond preschool classrooms (e.g. greater English-language development in early preschool may subsequently positively impact student performance in kindergarten). Thus, unstructured, social-based activities should be implemented for bilingual students in K-12 classrooms. Free-play (i.e. non-academic) activities should be implemented in preschool.

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“…It is important to note that the discovered structure and complexity [28] directly result from the map dynamics themselves. That is to say, the complexity is a genuine result of the nature of the processes that the model describes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%