According to Reynolds (1992), educators, typically go through a professional teaching journey consisting of three key phases being beginning, competent and beginning teachers. Throughout his journey, educators grow as people and develop their own styles and philosophies relating to the profession (McInerney, 2014; Dall’Alba & Sandberg, 2006), and as such, it is vital for teachers to expand and reflect upon, challenge, and adapt their teaching over time (McInerney, 2014; Reynolds, 1992). Engaging in professional development (PD) assists and supports educators to do all of the above, and engaging in PD is an expectation of educators within the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL, 2011).

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Teaching PDs are designed to increase teacher self-efficacy and equip educators with new professional knowledge, skills and contemporary, best pedagogy (Fuller, 1969; Fuller & Brown, 1975; McInerney, 2014).  An example of my own engagement in an educational PD which lead to a change and improvement in practice occurred after I attended a PD by Nature Play Solutions focusing on Loose Parts – a type of play for children which promotes creativity and problem solving (Daly & Beloglovsky, 2014; Nicholson, 1971). The Loose Parts PD equipped me with the pedagogical theory, possible teaching applications and benefits of Loose Parts, and throughout the PD I was able to physically try using the material in focus as if I were a primary student.

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PD Photographs. Photo credits: Christine Howitt, UWA.

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This Loose Parts PD not only exposed me to the new idea of using spare and domestic, everyday, inexpensive parts in role play and problem solving, but also how and when to bring the new skills and knowledge into my teaching (Nicholson, 1971). As a result of this PD, I implemented a series of loose parts-inspired lesson during my practicum with Year 6 students in a science fair test. Students were required to use spaghetti, mini-marshmallows and other negotiated, specific household materials to construct an earthquake, volcano or tsunami proof structure to withstand a natural disaster.

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The outcome of these lessons and learning experiences for the children were not only highly successful from an academic and scientific point of view, but also because the students thoroughly enjoyed engaging and creating structures with the loose parts. Prior to attending the PD, I perceived the use of loose parts as unfruitful to learning and time-wasting, however, the results I yielded from practice emphasised the value of the skills I learned from the PD and affirmed the value of continuing my professional learning in the future.

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 Since my successful experience with loose parts inspired by the PD content, I have shared my results and outcomes from my own science lessons using loose parts and have encouraged my professional colleagues to experiment with loose parts. I have shared my advice and recommendations about the activities to expand and support my colleagues’ professional knowledge base and as such, their students have now experienced loose parts in learning and have therefore benefited from my attendance at the PD.

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See the links below for more information on Loose Parts.

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References

 

AITSL. (2011). National Professional Standards for Teachers. Victoria: Education Services Australia.

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Daly, L., & Beloglovsky, M. (2014). Loose Parts Insipring Play in Young Children. St Paul: Redleaf Press.

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Fuller, F. (1996). Concerns of teachers: A devleopmental conceptualisation. American Educational Research Journal, 6(2), 207-26.

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Fuller, F., & Brown, O. (1975). Becoming a teacher. In K. Ryan, Teacher Education: The Seventy-fourth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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McInerney, D. (2014). Educational Psychology: Constructing Learning (6th Edition) (6th ed.). Frenchs Forrest, NSW: Pearson.

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Nicholson, S. (1971). How NOT to Cheat Children: The Theory of Loose Parts. Landscape Architecture, 62(3), 30-34.

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Reynolds, A. (1992). What is competent beginning teaching? A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 62(2), 1-35.