Abstract
Young children are keenly motivated to inquire into and make meaning about their worlds. This article
discusses working theories, one of two indicative learning outcomes of the New Zealand early childhood
curriculum, Te Whāriki. Working theories occur as children attempt to find connections between their
experiences and understandings to make sense of their worlds. The article proffers several sociocultural
theoretical bases for understanding and developing this under-explored construct. Specifically, the concept
of working theories is proposed as a way children connect, edit, extend and deal with new or discrepant
pieces of knowledge in endeavours to build their understandings. To substantiate this argument, examples of
children’s working theories from a qualitative study of young children’s interests and inquiries are provided.
A spiral of knowing provides a concept to further theorise processes of children’s knowledge connections
and meaning making. Implications for early childhood teachers’ knowledge and practice and future research
are described.
AbstractYoung children are keenly motivated to inquire into and make meaning about their worlds. This articlediscusses working theories, one of two indicative learning outcomes of the New Zealand early childhoodcurriculum, Te Whāriki. Working theories occur as children attempt to find connections between theirexperiences and understandings to make sense of their worlds. The article proffers several socioculturaltheoretical bases for understanding and developing this under-explored construct. Specifically, the conceptof working theories is proposed as a way children connect, edit, extend and deal with new or discrepantpieces of knowledge in endeavours to build their understandings. To substantiate this argument, examples ofchildren’s working theories from a qualitative study of young children’s interests and inquiries are provided.A spiral of knowing provides a concept to further theorise processes of children’s knowledge connectionsand meaning making. Implications for early childhood teachers’ knowledge and practice and future researchare described.
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