A hundred ways of listening: Gathering children’s perspectives of their early childhood environment

Clark, Alison (2007). A hundred ways of listening: Gathering children’s perspectives of their early childhood environment. Young Children, 62(3) pp. 76–81.

URL: http://www.journal.naeyc.org/

Abstract

This article explores how young children can play active roles as researchers, explorers, and designers of their outdoor environment. It introduces the Mosaic approach, a framework for listening and responding to young children's perspectives, first developed in a study in a London preschool in 1999 (Clark & Moss 2001). The author used this approach in a study--Spaces to Play--undertaken with three- and four-year-olds, practitioners, and parents in a preschool in Kent, England, that was preparing to upgrade its outside space. The study revealed how children valued use of the outdoor space. As a result of the study, practitioners adapted their practice to enable free-flow access to the outdoor space. Families supported this change by making a canopy to provide shade so children could use the outdoor space in bright sunshine.

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