Lifeful Research in Early Childhood Education and Care -
Method of intuition
In this Research Catalogue exposition, I share my efforts to work with method of intuition, based on philosophical thinking of French philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941), in researching children’s participation in early childhood education, which is the topic of my ongoing PhD project at Södertörn University, Sweden. My empirical research takes place in one preschool in Serbia and here I present an example from pedagogical and research practice from the preschool.
One of the main research questions in my project is – How researcher and teachers, together with children, can open up new opportunities for children to take part in early childhood education? In this exposition, I focus on an empirical intervention, initiated in collaboration with preschool teachers as a part of an action research, in which we aim to join children in addressing life problematics (Marjanovic, 1987) - questions and issues that emerge within their everyday life-living in relations with oneself, others and the world.
I chose an example in which two teachers and me as a researcher witnessed how children were moved by reading the book “The Story of the Blue Planet” by Andri Snær Magnason (2000). They stayed with strong impressions and certain questions, letting them emerge and take their shape. Children engaged with them through making art - by (re)creating the story of the Blue Plant with plasteline, in a seashell. Presented materials consists of figures and scenes made by the children, photo documentation of art process, researcher's and teachers' observation notes. Examples like this one make my project close to arts-based research and therefore relevant for discussion within this course, alongside with the method of intuition which resonates with performative paradigm (Østern et al, 2021) as a foundation for arts-based methodology.
In this exposition, I present:
A brief overview of the theoretical and empirical ground of my research project, including emerged epistemological and methodological questions;
Bergsonian method of intuition and how it can be relevant for researching children's participation in early childhood education;
Background and context of an example from pedagogical and research practice;
Description of the example by picturing several scenes from practice and initial analysis of materials;
