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How is childhood power and powerlessness expressed in the outdoor preschool classroom? A narrative ethnographic exploration

Date

2013

Authors

Haywood-Bird, Eden, author
Timpson, William M., advisor
Quick, Don, committee member
Jennings, Louise, committee member
Fernández-Giménez, María E., committee member

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to deconstruct the complex social and cultural understandings of a classroom of two- and-a half through five-year-old preschool children and what it means to be powerful and powerless in their outdoor classroom. Based on constructivist and critical theoretical foundations, and using traditional ethnographic methods of inquiry coupled with the narrative approach to storytelling, the questions around what it means to wield power, be powerful with others, and what the role of powerlessness is in their lives in the outdoor classroom are explored. Through the children experiences with the participant-observer researcher and captured through use of the children's own voices in the telling of their stories the author seeks to explore the ways children perceive their own power and powerlessness through their actions, both physical and emotional, in the outdoors.

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Subject

preschool
outdoor play
powerlessness
power
choice
early childhood

Citation

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