Influences on Young Children's Knowledge: The case of road safety education |
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| Authors: | Joy Cullen |
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| Institution: | Department of Learning and Teaching , Massey University , Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North , New Zealand |
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| Abstract: | Recent commentators on early education have noted a need to combine the strengths of constructivist and sociocultural theoretical perspectives in the early childhood curriculum. Road safety education in the early childhood years rarely reflects a coherent theoretical base. This article argues that effective road safety education for young children needs to incorporate both constructivist and sociocultural perspectives on learning. Interviews with preschool children highlight the variety of influences that affect children's road safety knowledge and illustrate the interface of constructivist and sociocultural interpretations of learning about road safety. The value of a dual perspective is explored further with reference to a road safety curriculum intervention, which used reflective dialogue procedures, derived from Pramling's (1990) phenomenographic perspective on learning. The curriculum project demonstrates that adult interactions that clarify and make explicit children's informal learning about road safety are an important part of road safety education in the early years. |
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