‘Children’s clans’; social organisation and interpretive reconstruction as aspects on development of peer-groups in outdoor play |
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| Authors: | Kari-Anne Jørgensen |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Education and Humanities, University of Southeast-Norway, Horten, Norway;2. Department of Pedagogical, Curricular and Professional Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden |
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| Abstract: | The focus of this article is children’s self-organisation of peer-groups through play. The play was initiated by encounters with the environment. The use of ethnographic methods in early childhood research has proved helpful to elucidate, interpret, and understand children’s experiences and the creation of meaning in their everyday lives. This inquiry draws on field notes, informal conversations with the children, and photos from a study of kindergarten children’s experiences of outdoor places and landscapes in Norway. Going out of doors together with the children regularly over a period of 10 months revealed aspects of how children’s interactions in play connect to their use of natural landscapes and its place in peer-group social organisation. The data are presented as ‘narrative maps’ and episodes written as ‘emplotted’ narratives. |
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| Keywords: | Outdoor play social interaction early childhood ethnography narrative inquiry |
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