Think Big!

I first grappled with and "got" concepts to some degree during a workshop led by Kathy Short in 2007. Before then, I managed to engage in surface-level conversations about big ideas and select a few key and related concepts for planning purposes. Kathy's stance on inquiry, coupled with the notion of inquiring into these big ideas called concepts, transformed the way I planned, taught and assessed, and most importantly, allowed students to think broadly and deeply, uncovering new possibilities every day. 

It has been exciting to talk with Anne van Dam about the role of concepts in the early years to help children (and teachers!) think big... and go beyond the tip of the iceberg!

In The Learner document, part of IB's From Principles into Practice, play is described in the PYP (Primary Years Programme). It states, "Play is highly adaptive, involves choice, promotes agency and provides rigorous opportunities to inquire into important concepts and personal interests." I am struck by the word rigorous. Play is often claimed, by critics, to be trivial. Rigour demands complexity, deep thinking, exploration, meaning making and understanding (beyond simple recall and regurgitation of facts). 

Here is a graphic I developed to outline some of the common characteristics that concepts share:

Continuing my way through "The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach", I was delighted to read in Chapter 14, George Forman and Brenda Fyfe being strong advocates of conceptual learning. They write: "It is important for teachers to find concepts within the children's interest and scaffold the children's thinking about that concept. An interest is not sufficient. One does not simply bring in more dinosaur pictures and plastic models if the children have an interest in dinosaurs." Thinking about children I have taught that are fascinated with dinosaurs, some of the big ideas that dinosaurs illustrated and that students were really thinking about were extinction, scale, diversity, classification, diet, adaptation, chronology, evidence, evolution... but the wonderful thing about concepts is they have no limit, and one concrete interest of a child (perhaps a topic) could connect to an endless number of concepts. Just think of the potential! Just think of the thinking that is possible! 

In a webinar this week, part of Fairy Dust Teaching's "Free to Play" Summit, Lisa Burman echoed this idea. "... the difference between an interest and the energy for learning, sometimes is the difference between a topic like trucks or a concept like movement." Lisa adds, "By creating contexts for play, listening to the children with all of our senses... and then reflecting on this... yes, this group of children are really drawn to playing with the water. Is it water they're interested in, or is it the movement of the water as it gushes through the little creek that they've made?... Trying to get to that conceptual level can be really helpful because then it opens up so many more possibilities to relaunch and to re-offer children another invitation to explore that concept even more." 

My learning journey about concepts was deepened as I attended a week-long summer institute for Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction in 2013. The Structure of Knowledge developed by Dr Lynn Erickson and The Structure of Process developed by Dr Lois Lanning are important models to illustrate the connection between (and not removal of) facts, skills, strategies, processes and concepts. 

I find that the idea of concepts being drawn from skills, strategies and processes is not as widespread as it might be. Beyond children engaged in the "doing" of skills, strategies and processes, they are now expected to think about why they are doing these and understand at a deeper level. Processes exist in all disciplines. Each process offers children the opportunity to understand big ideas. Examples include:

A reading process - concepts such as visualisation and prediction

A scientific process - concepts such as observation and measurement

A writing process - concepts such as audience and purpose

A design process - concepts such as prototype and improvement

A historical process - concepts such as evidence and truth

A creative process - concepts such as reflection and imagination 

Mathematical processes such as those highlighted by Jennifer Chang Wathall encompass concepts such as logic and representation. 

Alongside Jennifer, Rachel French and Julie Stern have written extensively about conceptual learning and published books. How wonderful that these educators were once participants in the summer institutes with Dr Erickson and Dr Lanning and have long since carried the torch to work with practitioners around the world to support students to acquire and connect concepts, and transfer learning to new contexts. 

Thinking about concepts could be done in isolation and showcase good practice in social constructivism. Thankfully, many educators have explored the inextricable connection between concepts and inquiry. Since its publication in 2015, I have been a supporter of the thinking and processes offered in "Taking the Complexity Out of Concepts" by Innovative Global Education (Tania Lattanzio and Andrea Müller). 

What a perfect title to help us think big! A wonderful read! Last year, as I ended the school year with Grade 1 and a 3-month period of remote learning, I wrote this to illustrate that conceptual learning and inquiry-based practice are as relevant in children's homes as they are in school. 

What image of the child do we hold if we adopt a conceptual approach to learning with young children?

What might be some of the obstacles we or young children encounter along the way? 

How might these be overcome?

What excites you about thinking big?