Module 4: Living Inquiries – Engagement with Others, Materials, and the World

Time for Engagement

Educators and children can rethink routines, schedules, and transitions.

Critically Reflective Questions

• What opportunities do children have to explore ideas and questions over days, weeks, or months?

• Is it important for children to have space to store projects or inquiries so they can be revisited?
  • How could I talk to children about this?
• How many transitions (changing from one activity to another) are there in my day?
  • Could I try different ways of changing activities?
• Do my routines and schedules limit or enhance opportunities for deep involvement in or with ideas?
• Consider routines and schedules:
  • Do I have the same routine every day? Every year?
  • How could I experiment with routines and schedules?
• What might happen if I considered rhythms and flows rather than routines?
• What role does the clock play in my day?
  • Do routines follow the clock or the people in my program?

  Case Study: Time for engagement

  In an early learning setting, one educator used recycled cardboard boxes to create a set of “cubbies” for the children to store some of the materials they gathered from their nature walks. The children can revisit these materials when they choose, providing time to engage in an ongoing project or inquiry.

  Reflective Questions

  In your practice, how might you creatively provide children with their own storage spaces? How might children use this space to store projects or inquiries so they can be revisited?