Materiales no convencionales en la escuela: experiencias didácticas y potencialidad formativa.

Abstract

The theme of context has long represented a growing focus for pedagogical and didactic reflection and research; within this line of enquiry, spaces and materials are recognized to play a key role in shaping the mediation tools and strategies that teachers intentionally adopt to support children through significant learning processes.

This study was part of a broader research programme regarding objects and materials in education and had the specific aim of exploring the potential role of unstructured materials, particularly those of an informal and undefined nature such as industrial waste products, within the educational programmes of early childhood services and schools.

The initial research hypothesis was that use of highly unstructured materials would stimulate novel play and learning experiences in a contemporary manner, and would also encourage experimentation with a range of both expressive and cognitive exploration strategies. The reflections presented here were developed in the course of a training-research project that involved planning, testing and systematically observing preschool teaching programmes, with the primary aim of identifying the actions undertaken by the children when they encountered the materials under study.  

Analysis of the documentation collected indicated that these materials have interesting potential for use at preschool level, especially in terms of providing multidisciplinary and complex experiences. In particular, it seems that the use of such products intrinsically requires both adults and children to engage in planning and research.