School ecology and the learning of young children

Kappa Delta Pi Record, Spring 2002 by Lui, Ping

A preschool in China uses the school ecology to address students' culture, prior knowledge, and social experience, thus enhancing learning.

Many learning theories have been formed to explain how children learn to read and write and acquire new information. Although different theories may emphasize particular aspects, such as modification of students' cognitive structure (Piaget 1950), function of social interaction (Rumelhart 1977; Stanovich 1980), and impact of culture and community (Heath 1983; Vygotsky 1978; 1986; Dixon-Kraus 1996), they all acknowledge the importance of activating and referring to children's prior knowledge to enhance learning. The rationale is simple; children can learn better if their life experience is incorporated into classroom learning, to bridge the gap between existing knowledge and new concepts.

Learning does not happen in a vacuum. Children are part of a social environment in a sociocultural community (Martens 1996). Therefore, children learn by exploring the world around them-- individually and collaboratively-- to enrich knowledge and develop literacy (Dyson 1989). To facilitate the learning process, teachers are challenged to discover students' social experiences to provide functional purposes for learning (Martens 1996).

In many primary classrooms that I observed, teachers used various strategies to address children's prior knowledge and social experiences in their instruction. Examples of instructional scenarios include leading a discussion of the title or cover of a book, asking for predication of a story, using a K-W-L (what you know, what you want to learn, and what you learned) chart (Ogle 1986; 1989), or allowing students to bring in items from home for show and tell to provide a meaningful context for learning. However, these activities may not be an integral and cohesive part of a broad classroom and school ecology. In this context, the term "ecology" represents all tangible environmental variables in a school that are contextually organized and closely connected to curriculum and instruction. In addition, this ecology has its roots in the particular culture surrounding the school.

I was introduced to a learning-- inducive school ecology when I visited Linzhou Experimental Preschool in China, which served about 200 young children from ages four to six. Classes were divided by three age levels: beginning (age 4), intermediate (age 5), and advanced (age 6).

The Theme of Love

The ecology at the preschool focused on a theme of love and reflected children's life experience and the local culture. Each corner of the school was coordinated as an integral part of the ecology. The teachers believed that decoration of a physical environment that addresses children's prior knowledge plays a major role in their education. The ecology was carefully designed to nurture young children's psychological, cognitive, and social development.

Love for Our School. Teachers at Linzhou believed it crucial for children to feel comfortable and accepted when they enter the school to prepare them psychologically for learning. Therefore, the school gate sported a picture of a giant panda playing in bamboo bushes, and a side door was decorated as her cave. Teachers explained that giant pandas were national treasures, with lovely homes surrounded by bamboo bushes, just as young children were national treasures as well, with the preschool as their home. In the main lobby, children were introduced to a heart-shaped logo, which symbolized love-- among teachers and children as well as love for community and nature.

On the first floor, where the beginning-level classrooms were located, teachers built a community comprised of houses of fantasized animal characters. These houses were built with sorghum, corncobs, foam boards, and other recycled materials. Each of these houses represented an interesting story about an animal character, which had amazing power to help children forget being away from their homes and be ready for learning tasks. Consequently, the physical environment, along with teachers' interpretation and explanation, helped children feel loved and at home, providing opportunity to develop positive relationships with teachers and among themselves.

Love for Our Hometown. On the second floor, the intermediate level students were greeted with a painting of the origin of the Yellow River, Bayankala Mountain, from the bottom of the staircase to the top of the wall. Snow on top of the mountain melts, and its water runs down from west to east, through Loess Plateau, to form the Yellow River, which is the cradle of Chinese civilization. Located on the north bank in the Yellow River Delta, the town of Linzhou owns one of the major bridges over the river before it runs into the Bohai Sea. Teachers constructed a model of the bridge, a prominent symbol of Linzhou, surrounded by a display of agricultural products such as wheat, corn, sorghum, yams, cotton, and dates. Children made crafts with wicker and scissors to help them become familiar with the products and their locations.