Presentation by Wendy Shepherd, Director of Mia Mia Early Learning Centre Macquarie University on 'Indoor/Outdoor Education'

2. Acknowledgement
I acknowledge that we meet on Darug land and I pay my respect to the elders, past
present and future and to those who may be with us today

3. Mia Mia History
 Mia Mia Philosophy – based on social justice and equity and
adults (families and staff) and children with equal rights and
responsibilities
 Early childhood education (not a work place solution or
preparation for school). A shared responsibility – significant others
 Pedagogy is underpinned with early childhood educational
theories – Social-constructivist, post-structuralist, behaviourist,
developmental theories
 Curriculum elements – NSW Curriculum Framework: The practice
of relationships, EYLF, NQS
 Knowledge of the KLAs and the Foundation Statements Early
Stage 1 and the standardised testing

4. Curriculum
 Curriculum – based on our knowledge of children‟s
dispositions and play preferences and the
foundational learning areas including numeracy,
literacy, communication, science and natural
science, sustainability, technology, sense of self,
others, their communities (including the indigenous
community) and the world events – through the lens
of social justice and an understanding that we all
have rights and we also have responsibilities.
 Intentional teaching

5. Contextual elements
 The learning environment both indoors and out creates
spaces for relationships to flourish, for children to have
agency, where there are invitations to play and visible
signs of tenderness ( Alain De Botton 2006)
 Qualifications of staff – EPPE Study
 The Outdoor Teacher Project – sustainability is more than
being green – contribution to the broader community
 Ratios and group size

6. Reflect, Respect, Relate
Observation Scales SA DECS (Pam Winter 2008)
 Relationships – significant, responsiveness, positive
interactions, quality of verbal exchanges, appropriateness
 Active Learning Environment – Constructivist
pedagogy, play, enabling learning dispositions, engaging, de-
institutionalised, de-cluttered
 Well being – children and staff, Happiness and
satisfaction, social functioning, dispositions
 Involvement –
concentration, energy, complexity/creativity, facial expression
and posture, persist ence, precision, reaction time, verbal
utterances/ language, satisfaction -is every child involved and
truly engaged?

7. 7 Essential Life Skills
Ellen Gallinsky (2012)

8. Self-directed,
Engaged Learning
Taking on Challenge
Critical Thinking
Making Connections
Communicating
Perspective Taking
Focus and Self Control

9. 16 Habits of Mind Costa & Kallick 2008
 Persisting  Thinking and communicating with
clarity and precision
 Managing impulsivity
 Gathering data through the
 Listening with understanding and senses
empathy
 Creating, imagining and
 Thinking flexibly innovating
 Thinking about thinking  Responding with wonderment
(metacognition) and awe
 Striving for accuracy  Taking responsible risks
 Questioning and posing  Finding humour
problems
 Thinking interdependently
 Applying past knowledge to new

10. Building a thought-full
environment
Costa & Kallick (2008)
 Level 1: Learning how to teach habits directly and to
reinforce them throughout the curriculum.
 Level 2: Enhancing instructional decision- making to
employ content not as an end of instruction but as a
vehicle for activating and engaging the mind

11. Early Years Learning
Outcomes
DEEWR 2009
 Children have a strong sense of identity
 Children are connected and contribute to their world
 Children have a strong sense of well-being
 Children are confident and involved learners
 Children are effective communicators

12. Learning environments
A child arrives in our space with a wealth of knowledge and experiences, we
collaborate, negotiate, facilitate and engage with both the child and their family – in
other words learning takes place everywhere – education enhances and opens new
pathways and ideas in the context of our relationships

13. Louv (2005) is of the opinion that when children do not have access to the natural world
he calls this “nature deficit disorder: the human costs of alienation from nature…a
diminished use of senses, attention difficulties and higher rates of physical and emotional
illness”
Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature deficit disorder (Louv 2005)
Deep ecology movement: we need to inspire children to love and respect the environment
before we can ask them to „save‟ it.

14. Assessing and reporting on
Habits of Mind Costa & Kallick (2008)
 Level 1: Learning about a range of techniques and
strategies for gathering evidence of student‟s growth
in and performance of Habits of Mind
 Level 2: Using feedback to guide students to
become self-assessing and to help school teams
and parents use assessment data to cultivate a
more thoughtful culture
 Assessment should be used to guide future learning
not simply provide a snapshot of children‟s skills,
knowledge and abilities.

16. Student Outcomes for the
21st Century Costa & Kallick (2008)
 Creativity and innovation
 Critical thinking and problem solving
 Communication and collaboration
 Flexibility and adaptability
 Initiative and self-direction
 Social and cross cultural skills
 Productivity and accountability
 Leadership and responsibility

17. Radio National Interview: what does the
future hold for education?
 Cannot lose sight of the magic that happens between a
teacher and a student…remember your inspirational
teacher?
 Children in the future will need curiosity and the ability to
reason
 Allow children to explore, try out things, make
mistakes, again and again, but encourage persistence
and dreaming of Big Ideas
 To become a kind, thoughtful and productive member of
society…for then we have done the best that we can.