The Enquiring Classroom

177 Pages·2014·11.197 MB·English

by  Stephen Rowland

3
1
0
2
r
e
b
m
e
c
e
D
3
1
1
4
:
0
2
t
a

]
y
t
i
s
r
e
v
i
n
U
m
i
l
s
u
M
h
r
a
g
i
l
A
[
y
b
d
e
d
a
o
l
n
w
o
D
ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
EDUCATION
THE ENQUIRING CLASSROOM
3
1
0
2
r
e
b
m
e
c
e
D
3
1
1
4
:
0
2
t
a

]
y
t
i
s
r
e
v
i
n
U
m
i
l
s
u
M
h
r
a
g
i
l
A
[
y
b
d
e
d
a
o
l
n
w
o
D
3
1
0
2
r
e
b
m
e
c
e
D
3
1
1
4
:
0
2
t
a
]
y
t
i
s
r
e
v
i
n
U
m
i
l
s
u
M
h
r
a
g
i
l
A
[
y
b
d
e
d
a
o
l
n
w
o
D
THE ENQUIRING CLASSROOM
3
1
0 An Approach to Understanding Children’s
2
r
e Learning
b
m
e
c
e
D
3
1
1
4
:
0
2
t
a
]
y STEPHEN ROWLAND
t
i
s
r
e
v
i
n
U
m
i
l
s
u
M
h
r
ga Volume 239
i
l
A
[
y
b
d
e
d
a
o
l
n
w
o
D
Firstpublishedin1984
Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2012
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,Oxon,OX144RN
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
3 byRoutledge
1
0 711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
2
r RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
e
b ©1984StephenRowland
m
e Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor
c utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now
e
D knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany
3 informationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthe
1 publishers.
1
4 Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered
0: trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintent
2 toinfringe.
t
] a BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
y AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
t
i
s
r ISBN13:978-0-415-61517-4(Set)
e
v eISBN13:978-0-203-81617-2(Set)
ni ISBN13:978-0-415-68985-4(Volume239)
U eISBN13:978-0-203-12584-7(Volume239)
m
i Publisher’sNote
l
us Thepublisherhasgonetogreatlengthstoensurethequalityofthisreprintbut
M pointsoutthatsomeimperfectionsintheoriginalcopiesmaybeapparent.
h
r Disclaimer
a
g Thepublisherhasmadeeveryefforttotracecopyrightholdersandwould
li welcomecorrespondencefromthosetheyhavebeenunabletotrace.
A
[
y
b
d
e
d
a
o
l
n
w
o
D
The Enquiring Classroom:
AN APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING
CHILDREN'S LEARNING
3
1
0
2
r
e
b
m
e
c
e
D
3
1
1
4
:
0
2
t
a
]
y
t
i
s
r
e Stephen Rowland
v
i
n
U
m
i
l
s
u
M
h
r
a
g
i
l
A
[
y
b
d
e
d
a
o
l
n
w
o
D
@
The Falmer Press
A member of the Taylor & Francis Group
London and New York
UK The Falmer Press, Falmer House, Barcombe, Lewes, East Sussex,
BN85DL
USA The Falmer Press, Taylor & Francis Inc., 242 Cherry Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19106-1906
3
1
0 Copyright © Stephen Rowland 1984
2
r
e
b
m
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
ce stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
e means, electronic. mechanical, photocopying, recording or other
D
wise, without permission in writing from the Publisher.
3
1
1
4
: First published 1984. Reprinted 1987, 1988, 1990
0
2
t
a
]
y
t
si Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
r
e
v
ni Rowland, Stephen.
U The enquiring classroom.
m
Includes bibliographical references.
i
l 1. Merton Primary School. 2. Open plan schools
s
u England-Syston (Leicestershire). 3. Teacher-student
M
relationships-England-Syston (Leicestershire).
h I. Title.
ar LF795.S975R69 1984 372.11'02 84-1480
g ISBN 0-905273-99-0 (pbk.)
i
l
A
[
y
b
d
e Phototypeset in 11 /12 Caledonia by
d Imago Publishing Ltd, Thame, Oxon
a
o
l
n
w
o
D
Printed in Great Britain by Taylor & Francis (Printers) Ltd,
Basingstoke
Contents
3
1
0
2
r
e
b
m Acknowledgements vi
e
c
De 1 Introduction: A Framework for Classroom Enquiry 1
3
1
1 2 Relating to Children 13
4
:
0
2 3 The Material Environment 39
t
a

y] 4 Abstract Thinking and Hypothesizing 59
t
i
s
r
e 5 Representation 93
v
i
n
U
6 Points of Growth 117
m
i
l
us 7 Dramatic Quality in David's Writing: A Case Study 131
M
h 8 Epilogue: Sharing Our Understanding 147
r
a
g
i
l
A
y [ Bibliography 161
b
d
e
d
a
o
l
n
w
o
D
v
Acknowledgements
3
1
0
2
r
e
b
m
e
c
e
D For adults, as for children, learning is a struggle to be enjoyed. Those
3 who teach us most are those who open our eyes to the enjoyment of
1
1 that struggle. I wish to thank those who have helped me to that
4
: enjoyment: Mary Brown, the headteacher of Sherard Primary School,
0
2 where I taught for four years and learned to care for children; Michael
t
a Armstrong, whose insight opened up ways of understanding them;
]
y and Ann Taber, Jeni Smith, John Crookes, Peter Gilbert, Mary
t
i
s Ockwell, Alain Welch and Jim Nind, among others who shared their
r
e
v own investigations with me and so helped me to sharpen my ideas.
i
n Then there were those without whom this enquiry would not
U
m have been possible: Chris Harris, who contributed to my understand
i ing of the children from day to day, and whose classroom provided an
l
s
u open and thoughtful setting for the project; Stuart Ball, the head
M
teacher at Merton School, who gave unfailing support for what I
h
r was doing in his school; Brian Cruickshank and Andrew Fairbairn
a
g who gave me every encouragement from Leicestershire Education
i
Al Department; and Brian Simon, of Leicester University, whose sym
y [ pathetic understanding and interest gave me the confidence to seek a
b wider audience with whom to share our work.
d
e This book makes wide use of the work of the children in Chris
d
a Harris's class. I am indebted to them for this, and would especially
o
nl like to thank those children and their parents who, some four years
w
after I worked with them, discussed with me my plans for this book
o
D and the part their individual stories, inventions and discussions would
play in it.
Finally, my gratitude to Gillian Rowland is incalculable. She has
carefully read all the drafts for this book, has constructively criticized
them at every level from the choice of a word to the formation of an
argument, and has helped me to tread that narrow line between
enthusiasm and obsession.
vi
Chapter 1
Introduction: A Framework For Classroom
Enquiry
3
1
0
2
r
e
b
m
e
c
e
D This book offers an insight into the work of a group of children in a
3 primary school classroom and is about how we, as classroom teachers
1
1 must share and carefully analyze our experience of children if we are
4 to develop our expertise with understanding, rather than passively
:
0
2 respond to the 'educational' fads of the day. It is also an attempt to
at bring together the richness of the anecdote of classroom life and the
]
y intellectual scrutiny of the research project.
t
si A theme that will recur in different forms throughout this book is
r
ve the idea that at the heart of any good teaching and learning
i
n experience is a critical relationship, that is, a relationship in which
U
m teachers and learners alike seek to question each other's ideas, to
i reinterpret them, to adapt them and even to reject them, but not to
l
us discount them. To be critical in this sense, we need to know
M
something of the origins of those ideas, their roots, the frameworks in
h
r which they are embedded. Furthermore, if this book is itself to be
a
g part of such a critical process, I must provide some outline of the
i
Al origins of the ideas upon which it is based. To put this another way,
y [ the pictures of classroom life that I shall portray need to be given a
b frame, if others are to make use of them.
d
e In order to provide this frame, it is necessary not only to outline
d
a the school context in which the events and observations took place,
o
l but also to say a word about myself as observer, my concerns, values
n
w and ideas. It is quite obvious that any two observers - and especially
o
D any two teachers - presented with the same classroom event, will
perceive different things. For example, a piece of writing that strikes
one teacher as showing a poor grasp of grammatical conventions, for
another may be evidence of ingenuity in self-expression.
This essentially subjective way in which we interpret the class
room and children's activities within it has been considered by many
educational researchers to be something to be avoided at all costs. 1
The 'unreliable' accounts of teachers have been dismissed in favour of
such technical devices as observation schedules listing categories of
1