Playing with power: an outdoor classroom exploration

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this ethnographic research, discovery of how preschool-aged children use play to wield their individual power in the outdoors is documented in a single classroom. Embedded as a participant-researcher and working from constructivist and critical theory orientations, the researcher seeks to understand how children use their play to construct the shared classroom cultural understanding of what it means to hold and wield power. Children age two and a half through five years old engage in a number of activities to experiment with what it means to be powerful. Imaginative play, physically risky play, as well as solo play are all explored. In light of the findings, various theories of power as expressed through the lens of critical theory will be used to analyse student and teacher voices.