The first schoolbook – the tool of reproducing culture by the child or the tool of child's participation in culture?

Abstract

Writing and print play an important role in the child's learning: in creating, conveying, and exchanging meaning; consequently, they enable him/her to build an image of the world and him/herself and understand his/her own role in it. This paper aims to prove the hypothesis that in case of early school age children the first schoolbook, when created by themselves, can, as one of important sources of knowledge, be treated as a cultural text—open and simultaneously opening multiple interpretations and, also, as one of the tools that allow the child to build his/her own, cognitive, unique representation of the world of education and him/herself as a pupil in this world. Employing our analysis of the results of the research into the quality and efficacy of the programme Tworzę swój podręcznik - wiem czego i jak chcę się uczyć [I create my own schoolbook - I know what and how I want to learn], implemented as part of an experiment conducted among III-grade pupils in elementary schools, we show that the schoolbook can be a tool of learning culture, but also a tool of the child's participation in culture. We claim that this is possible when the first schoolbook for children is created by children themselves rather than by adults. This is one of the conditions of reconstructing the concept of first children's books. The results of qualitative research presented in this paper belong within the sphere of phenomenographical approach. In analyzing children's narratives concerning their work on their own schoolbook for grades I-III, we proposed four perspectives (dimensions) of Intimate Nature of the Child's Encounter with the Book: the idea of causality, reflection, cooperation and culture (Bruner, 2006).