A look at geographies of childhood from the analysis of schoolyards
Keywords:
Geoeducational space, Playground, GameAbstract
This article analyzes the experience of students from different schools in Cantabria (Spain) in outdoor school spaces. The analysis on how these children use, interpret and relate to childhood was carried out by trainee teachers. Methodologically, this is considered a qualitative research. Forty-seven centers and teachers in training from the University of Cantabria have participated and we have used innovative strategies such as map-making. We found that the playgrounds analyzed were designed with little focus on the characteristics and needs of children, with non-stimulating and stereotypical elements and environments and with little connection to nature. We conclude that attention needs to be paid to children as expert informants about their own play.
Downloads
References
Adams, J. (2001). Risk. Routledge.
Andrews, H. (2012). Mapping my way: Map-making and analysis in participant observation. In L. Roberts (Ed.), Mapping cultures: Place, practice, performance (pp. 216-236). Palgrave Macmillan.
Apter, M. J. (2007). Danger: Our quest for excitement. Oneworld.
Arnaiz Sancho, V., Basterrechea Meunier, I. de, & Salvador Carreño, S. (2011). Guía para proyectar y construir escuelas infantiles. Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias.
Baylina Ferré, M., & Prats Ferret, M. (2012). The second international conference on geographies of children, youth and families, Barcelona 2009: A report. Children’s Geographies, 8(4), 437-440. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2010.515416
Blatchford, P., Creeser, R., & Mooney, A. (1990). Playground games and playtime: The children’s view. Educational Research, 32(3), 163-174. https://doi.org/10.1080/0013188900320301
Bratich, J. (2018). Observation in a surveilled world. In N. Denzin, & Y. Lincoln (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (pp. 526-545). Sage Publications.
Brown, C. (2016). “Favourite places in school” for lower-set “ability” pupils: School groupings practices and children’s spatial orientations. Children’s Geographies, 15(4), 399-412. https://doi.org/10.1080 /14733285.2016.1269154
Bundy, A., Luckett, T., Tranter, P. J., Naughton, G. A., Wyver, S. R., Ragen, J., & Spies, G. (2009). The risk is that there is “no risk”: A simple, innovative intervention to increase children’s activity levels. International Journal of Early Years Education, 17(1), 33-45. http://doi.org/10.1080/09669760802699878
Buric, H., & Wasilewska-Gregorowicz, A. (2015). La autonomía, una forma de vida. Infancia en Europa: Revista de una Red de Revistas Europeas, 15(28), 3.
Castro-Colmenero, M. (2017). El espacio natural en la educación infantil: Un lugar lleno de posibilidades. Revista de Estudios e Investigación en Psicología y Educación, 5(5), 178-181.
Catling, S. (2005). Children’s personal geographies and the English primary school geography curriculum. Children’s Geographies, 3(3), 325-344. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733280500353019
Ceballos-López, N., Susinos Rada, T., & García-Lastra, M. (2018). Espacios para jugar, para aprender. Espacios para relacionarse. Una experiencia de voz del alumnado en la escuela infantil (0-3 años). Estudios Pedagógicos, 44(3), 117-135.
Ceballos-López, N., & Susinos Rada, T. (2019). Me gusta “la selva” porque es un sitio salvaje, donde me puedo esconder: El uso de la fotografía participativa en las geografías de la infancia. Documents d’Anàlisi Geogràfica, 65(1), 43-67.
Ceppi, G., & Zini, M. (1998). Children, spaces, relations: Metaproject for an environment for young children. Grafiche Rebecchi Ceccarell.
Clark, A. (2010). Transforming children’s spaces: Children’s and adults’ participation in designing learning environments. Routledge.
Cols Clotet, C., & Fernàndez Quiles, J. (2019). Patios inclusivos. Tarbiya: Revista de Investigación e Innovación Educativa, (47), 107-115. https://doi.org/10.15366/tarbiya2019.47.008
Cols Clotet, C., & Fernàndez Quilles, J. (2021). Una nueva visión de los patios escolares. Temps d’Educació, (60), 33-50.
Cosgrove, D. (2008). Cultural cartography: Maps and mapping in cultural geography. Annales de Géographie, 2-3(660-661), 159-178.
Dillon, P., Vesala, P., & Suero Montero, C. (2015). Young people’s engagement with their school grounds expressed through colour, symbol and lexical associations: A Finnish-British comparative study. Children’s Geographies, 13(5), 518-536. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2014.894962
Dyment, J., & O’Connell, T. (2013). The impact of playground design on play choices and behaviors of pre-school children. Children’s Geographies, 11(3), 263-280. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2013.812272
Fernandez, M. L., & Lopes, J. M. (2018). Apresentação dossiê geografias das infâncias: Fronteiras e conexões. Educação em Foco, 23(3), 661-676. https://doi.org/10.34019/2447-5246.2018.v23.20096
Flick, U. (2018). An introduction to qualitative research. Sage Publications.
Freire, H. (2018). Educar en verde: Ideas para acercar a niños y niñas a la naturaleza. Graó.
Freire, H. (2020). Patios vivos para renaturalizar la escuela. Octaedro.
Gill, T. (2007). No fear: Growing up in a risk averse society. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
Gregory, D., Johnston, R., Pratt, G., Watts, M. J., & Whatmore, S. (Eds.). (2000). The dictionary of human geography. Blackwell.
Holt, N., Lee, H., Millar, C., & Spence, J. (2015). ‘Eyes on where children play’: A retrospective study of
active free play. Children’s Geographies, 13(1), 73-88. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2013.828449
Horton, J., & Kraftl, P. (2006). What else? Some more ways of thinking and doing ‘Children’s Geographies’. Children’s Geographies, 4(1), 69-95. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733280600577459
Hyndman, B. P, & Lester, L. (2015). The relationship between elementary school children’s enjoyment of school playground activities and participation in physical activity during lunchtime recess. Children, Youth and Environments, 25(1), 80-99. http://dx.doi.org/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.25.1.0080
Kangas, M. (2010). Finnish children’s views on the ideal school and learning environment. Learning Environments Research, 13(3), 205-223. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-010-9075-6
Lera, M. J., & Oliver, R. (2002). La escala ECERS-R. Universidad de Sevilla.
Lopes, J. J. M. (2013). Geografia das crianças, geografias das infâncias: As contribuições da Geografia para os estudos das crianças e suas infâncias. Revista Contexto & Educação, 23(79), 65-82. https://doi.org/10.21527/2179-1309.2008.79.65-82
Lucas, A. J., & Dyment, J. E. (2010). Where do children choose to play on the school ground? The influence of green design. Education, 38(2), 177-189. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004270903130812
Malatesta, S., & Granados Sánchez, J. (2017). La contribución de la geografía de los niños y de las niñas a la enseñanza de la geografía. Documents d’Anàlisi Geográfica, 63(3), 631-640. http://dx.doi.org/10.5565/rev/dag.483
Martínez-Bonafé, J. (2020). El patio escolar también es currículum. In H. Freire Rodríguez (Ed.), Patios vivos para renaturalizar la escuela (pp. 15-24). Octaedro.
Ndhlovu, S., & Varea, V. (2018). Primary school playgrounds as spaces of inclusion/exclusion in New South Wales, Australia. Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, 46(5), 494-505. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2016.1273251
Newman, M., Woodcock, A., & Dunham, P. (2007). ‘We change lives in here’: Environments for ‘nurturing’ in UK primary schools. Built Environment, 33(4), 430-440.
Ortiz Guitart, A. (2007). Geografías de la infancia: Descubriendo «nuevas formas» de ver y de entender el mundo. Documents d’Anàlisi Geogràfica, (49), 197-216.
Ortiz Guitart, A., Prats Ferret, M., & Baylina Ferré, M. (2012). Métodos visuales y geografías de la infancia: Dibujando el entorno cotidiano. Scripta Nova: Revista Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales, 16(400). https://www.ub.edu/geocrit/sn/sn-400.htm
Paechter, C., & Clark, S. (2007). Learning gender in primary school playgrounds: Findings from the tomboy identities study. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 15(3), 317-331. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681360701602224
Rixon, A., Lomax, H., & O’Dell, L. (2019). Childhoods past and present: Anxiety and idyll in reminiscences of childhood outdoor play and contemporary parenting practices. Children’s Geographies, 17(5), 618-629. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2019.1605047
Saiz-Linares, Á., & Ceballos-López, N. (2021). “Nadie tiene las paredes de rojo”: Investigar las geografias escolares de la infancia. Cadernos de Pesquisa, 51, Artículo e07921. https://doi.org/10.1590/198053147921
Sandseter, E. (2009). Affordances for risky play in preschool: The importance of features in the play environment. Early Childhood Education Journal, 36(5), 439-446. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-009-0307-2
Saunders, T. J., Chaput, J. P., & Tremblay, M. S. (2014). Sedentary behaviour as an emerging risk factor for cardiometabolic diseases in children and youth. Canadian Journal of Diabetes, 38(1), 53-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjd.2013.08.266
Schmidt, S. J. (2013). Claiming our turf: Students’ civic negotiation of the public space of school. Theory & Research in Social Education, 41(4), 535-551. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2013.840717
Skelton, T. (2009). Children’s geographies/geographies of children: Play, work, mobilities and migration. Geography Compass, 3(4), 1430-1448. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-8198.2009.00240.x
Snow, D., Bundy, A., Tranter, P., Wyver, S., Naughton, G., Ragen, J., & Engelen, L. (2019). Girls’ perspectives on the ideal school playground experience: An exploratory study of four Australian primary schools. Children’s Geographies, 17(2), 148-161. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2018.1463430
Tomé, A. (2017). Estrategias para elaborar proyectos coeducativos en las escuelas. Atlánticas-Revista Internacional de Estudios Feministas, 2(1), 89-116.
Tranter, P., & Malone, K. (2004). Geographies of environmental learning: An exploration of children’s use of school grounds. Children’s Geographies, 2(1), 131-155. https://doi.org/10.1080/1473328032000168813
Trueba Marcano, B. (2017). Guía para el análisis y la evaluación de los espacios escolares: Propuesta desde un paradigma constructivo en contextos de interacción y coparticipación. Infancia: Educar de 0 a 6 años, 166, 4-10.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Cadernos de Pesquisa
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:
a. Authors retain the copyright and grant the journal the right to first publication, with the paper simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution license that allows the sharing of the paper with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
b. Authors are authorized to assume additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the paper published in this journal (for example publishing in institutional repository or as a book chapter), with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
c. Authors are allowed and encouraged to publish and distribute their paper on-line (for example in institutional repositories or on their personal page) at any moment before or during the editorial process, as this can generate productive changes, as well as increase the impact and citation of the published paper (See The Effect of Open Access).