One
of Lyon College’s most experienced educators went back to school this past
spring to learn more about a revolutionary approach to early childhood education
developed in Italy in the wake of World War II.
Dr. Patricia Whitfield, Lyon’s Rountree
Caldwell Bryan Professor of Education, traveled to Reggio Emilia, Italy this
past May to join 150 other teaching professionals from across the world to study
the “Reggio Emilia Approach” to educating infants and toddlers.
“Italy was devastated after the Second World War,” Dr. Whitfield said. “They
knew children were their future and they wanted to build a new kind of school
for young children.”
While most pre-schools were run by the Catholic Church at the time, this new
approach was to be a community-based effort. The Reggio Emilia town council
approved the request to develop the school and organizers raised funds by
stripping a Nazi tank and truck and selling the scrap in 1946, Dr. Whitfield
said.
By the 1960s, there were 17 Reggio Emilia schools operating in Italy. Since
then, Reggio Emilia schools have been established in several countries,
including the U.S. Dr. Whitfield said one such school is located as close as St.
Louis, Mo.
The St. Louis Reggio Collaborative is a network of three schools and one
university.
The Reggio Emilia Approach respects children as competent, actively engages
parents in the learning process and creates healthy environments.
In fact, the physical environment is crucial to the Reggio Emilia program. The
planning of new spaces and the remodeling of old ones include the integration of
each classroom with the rest of the school, and the school with its surrounding
community.
The preschools are often filled with indoor plants and vines, and doors to the
outside are found in each classroom. Building entries grab the attention of both
children and adults through the use of mirrors on the walls, floors and
ceilings. Photographs and children’s work accompanied by transcriptions of their
discussions are often displayed as well.
The Hundred Languages of Children is a traveling art exhibit that illustrates
the Reggio Emilia Approach’s idea that “art is making thought visible,” and that
“children and artists are discoverers of new ways to see the world.”
Children are encouraged to depict their understanding through one of many
symbolic languages including drawing, sculpture, dramatic play and writing.
Teachers facilitate and then observe debates regarding the extent to which a
child’s drawing or other form of representation lives up to the child’s intent.
“Learning goes beyond words and must support children’s hands as well as their
minds,” Dr. Whitfield said. “It’s a very exciting concept.”
Before joining the Lyon College faculty in 1999, Dr. Whitfield served as dean
and educator in Heritage College’s education and psychology division in
Toppenish, Wash., and Dean of the School of Education at Dakota State University
in Madison, S.D.
She’s published numerous articles and professional papers, as well as the book,
“Widening the Circle: Assuring Quality Education for American Indian Children,”
published by Routledge Press in 2002.
After earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, she went on
to earn a master’s degree from the University of Nevada and a doctorate from the
Brigham Young University.
Even a teaching professional with a diversified background can learn news ways
of opening the doors to young minds.
“It was a significant and inspiring dimension to my Sabbatical,” Dr. Whitfield
said.
September
18, 2006