Registration Eligibility
Register for conference
Start Date
03/17/2022
End Date
03/17/2022
Description
Loose parts play opportunities in early childhood are critical for play and learning behaviors associated with curiosity, imagination, exploration, experimentation, construction, and reflection (Gibson, Cornell, et al. 2017). Plants are one of the leading sources of natural loose parts in outdoor learning environments. Most available loose parts play materials in a natural learning landscape are byproducts of plants. Moreover, plant-derived loose parts offer various sensory stimulation to children including smell, texture, and color with rich play and learning props helping children to learn about seasonal changes, plant life cycles, etc. Early childhood is the time when children are eager to discover nature as they spontaneously learn from their surrounding environments (Trundle 2010) and plant-based loose parts are a great fit to meet such curiosity of young children. Although loose parts play has long been researched for its critical contribution to developmentally appropriate play and learning behaviors, child-friendly planting design to promote plant-based natural loose parts in outdoor learning environments is an under-researched area. In this ongoing three-phased research, a planting design concept will be developed keeping loose-parts play as the primary focus of the design. In the first phase, a planting palette for a semi-arid climate zone has been developed and analyzed for the outdoor learning environment of a child development research center. The planting palette developed based on literature and expert opinion aims to maximize the amount and supply of natural plant-based loose parts in the site year-round. In the second phase of the research, a variety of natural plant-based loose parts are gathered from a botanical garden and the university campus and introduced to the site. Before and after child behavioral outcomes of this intervention are recorded with GIS-based behavior mapping and video data. The behavior mapping is focused on various science/STEAM learning behaviors of preschoolers attending the lab site. The One-Group Pretest–Posttest research aims to investigate how introducing plant-based loose parts play opportunities in a preschool outdoor learning environment influences both environmental affordances and STEAM learning behaviors of children. Preliminary findings show that both the variety and the behavioral occurrences of STEAM learning behaviors of children increased after the loose part play intervention. The third phase (not a part of this presentation), based on the results of the first two phases, would finalize and implement the planting design in the lab site in 2022-23.
Location
Santa Ana Pueblo, NM
Distance Learning
No
Course Equivalency
Yes
Subjects
Horticulture / Plants
Health, Safety and Welfare
Yes
Hours
1.0
Learning Outcomes
Attendees of this poster presentation will be able to 1. Understand how introducing plant-based loose parts play opportunities in a preschool outdoor learning environment influences both environmental learning affordances and STEAM learning behaviors of children. 2. Identify plant species in the semi-arid climate zone based on their play value to contribute to natural loose parts play materials in an early childhood learning landscape. 3. Identify planting design preferences for an early childhood learning landscape.
Instructors
Nazia Afrin Trina,Muntazar Monsur
Course Codes
1386
Provider
Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture