Book chapter
Bush Kinders in Australia: A Creative Place for Outdoor STEM Learning
Children’s Creative Inquiry in STEM, pp.185-204
Sociocultural Explorations of Science Education, Springer International Publishing
2022
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Abstract
The Australian bush kindergarten can be a rich site for generating children’s STEM learning in the outdoors, away from the regular kindergarten premises. Bush kindergartens (often known as ‘Bush Kinders’) are a place that provides an adaptation of the European forest school movement to suit Australian conditions and culture. In this informal setting, children’s play provides prospects for creative thinking and learning. The research noted science learning in a number of outdoor settings and the novel ways children solve problems. We investigated how children used their bush kinder environments to develop new play and solve problems creatively. In particular, we observed children’s judgements, assumptions, idea generation, overcoming of obstacles and risk-taking. This chapter describes how the bush kinder environments provide strong opportunities for children’s creativity and enables them to solve science and STEM problems. This chapter, using current theories related to creative play, also provides insight into how enhancing the environment enables children creativity to be further developed. It advocates for bush kinders as a place where creativity and learning are closely aligned.
Details
- Title
- Bush Kinders in Australia: A Creative Place for Outdoor STEM Learning
- Creators
- Coral Campbell - Deakin UniversityChris Speldewinde - Deakin University
- Contributors
- Karen Janette Murcia (Editor) - Curtin UniversityCoral Campbell (Editor) - Deakin University (Australia, Geelong)Mathilda Marie Joubert (Editor) - Sheridan Institute of Higher Education (Perth)Sinead Wilson (Editor) - Curtin University
- Publication Details
- Children’s Creative Inquiry in STEM, pp.185-204
- Series
- Sociocultural Explorations of Science Education
- Publisher
- Springer International Publishing; Cham
- Identifiers
- 991013345420802368
- Copyright
- © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Education
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Book chapter