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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 10, Issue 2, Article 14 (Dec., 2009) |
The science experiences in a Reggio Emilia preschool cannot be replicated or reproduced because the Reggio Emilia approach is not something to implement. It is a philosophy that teachers can be inspired by. Teachers can appropriate and assimilate the Reggio Emilia approach into what is relevant in their own, unique context. The Reggio Emilia approach proposes the idea that no two schools will ever be alike; what works for a Reggio Emilia preschool will not necessarily work for another Reggio school.
Kantor and Fernie (2003) state, “thinking of classrooms as dynamic and patterned cultures provides a new and useful framework for looking at and understanding what is going on in a particular classroom-the “feel” or personality of the group, why things are either going well or not going well for a teacher or particular children” (p. 211). The experiences in a school belong to its specific classroom community with its teachers, students and families. Even in the same classroom with the same teachers, the investigations and the experiences related to natural sciences might be different with different children in the future, so it is essential to look at the culture of a specific classroom and make decisions accordingly. The NRC (2001) indicates that there is no one best way for an effective early childhood science education, and states that the best technique is to select “the right tool for the right task at the right time” (p. 11). Accordingly, a tool might be right for that task at that time, but an individual child should also be ready or interested in it for effective teaching and learning to take place.
