Chapter 6 - Meaning-making and Representing Knowledge
In this chapter, you are introduced to the processes by which children make meaning of the world around them and represent their knowledge. This chapter explores different perspectives on what it means to make meaning and considers the role of language and art in meaning-making.
Some of the key ideas in this chapter include:
Cognitive constructivist theorists, such as Kegan, view knowledge construction as a way of making sense of the world. Meaning is created between an event and the individual’s reaction to it. The self is the zone of mediation where the event is made sense of, while the self is seen to evolve through orders of consciousness. So, how one understands knowledge or experience is related to how one understands the self and others. Learning should aim to address what we know and how we come to know it.
Social constructivists such as Vygotsky believe that children make meaning as they participate in shared activities with others situated in a particular sociocultural context. The adult role is to mediate or mentor during these interactions to help the child become a member of the community of practice, but the child also helps transform these practices.
Knowledge representation is seen to be intertwined with intelligent reasoning. Bruner argue that individuals represent their learning through three integrated modes: enactive (action-based), iconic (image-based), and symbolic (language-based). Children’s meanings are integrated in cultural practices and symbol systems. Davis, Shrobe, and Szolovits (1993) suggested that knowledge representations are the means by which we express things about the world and communicate to one another about the world. Theory of mind explains how we understand the intentions of others and respond accordingly by drawing on our own cultural and linguistic frameworks. Bruner explained that children begin using narratives at a young age to make sense of their experiences.
Language and meaning are interconnected and this relationship can be explained in three ways (Robson 2006): language shapes thought (Whorf, Sapir), thought shapes language (Piaget), and language and thought influence each other (Bruner, Vygotsky). Since language plays an important role in making and communicating meaning, it is important to consider the challenges that linguistic minority children experience in school such as being discouraged from speaking their home languages. Using linguistically appropriate practices in early childhood is integral to maintaining and valuing children’s home languages.
Vygotsky’s idea that the symbol systems of a culture are the means through which its members learn to think suggests that there are differences across cultures in terms of how people think and as new technologies are developed new symbols are added to the existing repertoires. New literacies and multiliteracies include visual, audio, spatial, and gestural modes. Young children use a variety of modes to construct meaning; art, music, dance, and so forth. Their drawings, for example, communicate meaning to others and the self and act as mediators between thought and action. The Reggio approach is one model for understanding children’s artistic experiences and expressions.
