Unraveling Universalist Perspectives on Teaching and Caring for Infants and Toddlers: Finding Authenticity in Diverse Funds of Knowledge

Funds of identity

“…A true and full understanding of another's thought is possible only when we understand its affective-volitional basis. (Vygotsky, 1986, p. 252) FoI scholarship shows that when teachers learn about students' FoI, pedagogical possibilities related to how they could build bridges and create continuities to support meaningful academic learning become more visible (e.g., Marsh & Zhulamanova, 2017;Recchia & McDevitt, 2018). Using a FoI approach, teachers can intentionally support students' identity development because applying FoI theory allows the possibility of working within students' zone of proximal identity development (Polman, 2010).…”

A Synthesis of Funds of Identity Research: Purposes, Tools, Pedagogical Approaches, and Outcomes

“…Although affirmation of students' identities is in itself considered valuable, usually a second step is part of the argument: Teachers can (and should) use their insights in students' FoI pedagogically, that is, they should draw on them in order to build bridges or create continuities between the curriculum and students' prior knowledge, life experiences, and interests (Charteris et al, 2016;Esteban-Guitart & Moll, 2014a;Llopart & Esteban-Guitart, 2017;Nagle & Stooke, 2016;Poole, 2017b;Recchia & McDevitt, 2018;Subero et al, 2018). This is also referred to as making lessons meaningful or contextualizing learning (Ordóñez et al, 2018;Subero et al, 2017;Subero et al, 2018).…”

“…In contrast, in some studies, students' FoI were not deliberately investigated by teachers but become apparent through students' completed work (Charteris et al, 2018;Nagle & Stooke, 2016;Recchia & McDevitt, 2018). Table 5 shows types of students'/families' FoI reported in the nine empirical studies, with digital FoI shown separately.…”

“…We found two examples of guided reflection activities that directed tertiary students (preservice teachers) to draw on their FoI, one in Australia (Charteris et al, 2018) and the other in the United States (Recchia & McDevitt, 2018). Charteris et al (2018) characterized this pedagogy as co-constructing artefacts, because students were required to respond to set questions.…”

“…As in FoK scholarship, some ways to pedagogically apply students' FoI to their learning involved firstly learning about students' FoI, and then drawing on them (Hogg, 2015) in specifically designed learning experiences (e.g., Marsh & Zhulamanova, 2017;Nagle & Stooke, 2016). Other pedagogical applications were teacher-designed learning experiences that drew out (Hogg, 2015) students' FoI by encouraging or requiring students to apply them within the learning (e.g., Charteris et al, 2018;Recchia & McDevitt, 2018). The range of pedagogical applications appears to enable use of FoI at every level of education, from early childhood to tertiary settings.…”