Emergent Curriculum

If you want young children to propel their own learning, start with what interests them and deepen their engagement. How do Lowell teachers do this? By observing children, drawing out their questions, and extending their interest with just the right provocation to learn more. In the process, teachers make sure children are acquiring the important social, emotional, and pre-academic skills they’ll need when they start Kindergarten—all this while keeping children’s curiosity peaked.

Take what happened this spring when one child in the Adventurers Room captured his classmates’ attention with the idea of building a “hero boat,” and children in the Voyagers Room began to excitedly imagine what it would be like to take a voyage in a submarine. Teachers seized the opportunity to build on children’s excitement. Where do boats and submarines go? The ocean. What a rich topic for extending learning!

 

These are some of the ways children engaged in their study of the ocean:

Teachers Nuria Rodriguez and Drew Spriggs set up an ocean-themed story table in the Voyagers Room, and children used props on the table to tell stories about ocean voyages. Non-fiction books about ocean creatures became the most popular books in the basket—along with fiction favorite, Larry Gets Lost Under the Sea.

Hypothesizing, measuring, analyzing cause and effect, careful observation, communication, collaboration, storytelling, group decision-making—these are just a few of the skills that children developed during their investigation of the ocean. Puzzlement, confusion, wonder, and joy were also a part of the ocean explorations. When Stefania dropped a button into fresh water and it sank, and then dropped a button into salt water and it floated, one child exclaimed, “Oh my gosh, it’s almost like magic!” Not every child agreed. “What else could it be?” Stefania asked. “What is different?” Other ideas were considered. “Could it be the salt?” Maybe.

Hands-on activities were central to extending children’s learning successfully. While children were making their jellyfish and other creatures of the ocean, they were conversing about the parts of their animals. They weren’t simply regurgitating something they had memorized: they were practicing new vocabulary and putting ideas together. They were trying to understand why some animals that live in the midnight zone have lights and others do not. They might not have found the answers right away, but the questions showed their critical thinking and led to new areas for investigation and discovery.

Three months after the excitement began, the children ended their explorations of all things ocean-related—but only because school ended. “I could have gone another month with the Adventurers and Voyagers!” says Stefania.

She was so inspired by the children’s work that she planned an exhibit for children and their families to celebrate the learning. The Wonder Lab was transformed into nothing less than the ocean itself, with a coral reef, floating jellyfish, a re-creation of the midnight zone of the ocean with the animals that live there, the boat, the submarine, and displays of photos and explanations of the experiments students conducted.

But, the exhibit was not only a celebration–it was a final step in the learning process for the children. When they entered the exhibit, they saw what they had made, and the photos and words helped them recall their experiences and their learning. Perhaps most importantly, they could share their knowledge with loved ones. The celebration created for children a strong and positive emotional connection with their learning. “There has to be that joyous memory of the experience,” Stefania says. When children leave Pre-Primary School for Kindergarten, “we hope children will continue to ask questions, still feel awe, and be encouraged to explore more.”