Innovations

Being engaged in research also concerns the role of the teacher, the role
of the adult . . . a teacher who also is able to offer children situations
and contexts in which the expressive languages and all of the languages
can be situated in the border areas and places of cross-pollination that
are so fertile.
–Deanna Margini
token she needed. The difficulty was not just
in finding the 6 token in the bag; the difficulty
was the fact that the two girls were at different
levels of understanding of numbers. Catarina
suggested a solution of making a composition
of the numbers, which was very close to addition,
when she said, “You have to do it with
numbers.” Enaria continued to look for a token
with the number 6.
At this point, the teacher intervened and asked
Catarina to essentially advance her thinking
when she said, “Try to explain to Enaria how
she has to do it.” Catarina said, “One, then 2,
then . . . give me another 1; do it with 2 and 1.”
Catarina had a consolidated understanding of
numerosity—that 6 is 6—but did not yet fully
understand the concept of value, though she
was very close to understanding. At a certain
point, Catarina seemed happy with what she
had done and said, “Yes, here it is. You’ve paid
six.”
But the teacher was not yet satisfied and tried to
push Catarina’s thinking a bit. Giving credit to
the children out of respect for their becoming,
the teacher asked Catarina, “Are you sure that
is how to make 6? Would you try to explain that
to Enaria?” The teacher saw that Catarina was
a bit doubtful, so she asked Catarina to explain
her solution. It is very important to know how to
explain or describe how to do something after
you have learned how to do it.
At this point, the teacher asked another girl,
Alesia, to join the group, because she knew that
this girl had a better understanding of the value
of numbers. The teacher said to Catarina and
Enaria, “Let’s see if Alesia agrees.” The teacher
was hoping that the exchange would produce
cognitive conflict that would move Catarina’s
and Enaria’s learning forward. Alesia proposed
another theory, and Caterina made a strong effort
to understand, while beginning to doubt
her choices. The teacher asked Alesia, “See if
you can help them to understand. Show them
what you mean.”
The teacher urged Alesia to show her solution
in a practical way and saw the moment of understanding
in Caterina’s eyes. Catarina said,
“Because it [the token] has a drawing on it.”
She was focusing on the concept of the value of
the token and on the fact that not all the tokens
were the same. She realized that the values attributed
by means of the symbols on the tokens
made them different.
Enaria did not move away from the situation
and paid a great deal of attention to what was
taking place. Being a part of a group through
listening is important—the opportunity to have
your own silent space of thinking—a space of
understanding that may emerge in time. The
teacher did not lose sight of Enaria and waited
for another time and another opportunity to
support Enaria’s learning. It was very important
that the other girls allowed Enaria to stay
close to the situation and observe. This is an
attitude that shows welcome, and it is especially
important for immigrant children who are
learning Italian or children with special rights,
who have different times of understanding, to
be included. The children often offer this sort
of cultural and linguistic mediation to other
children, and the teachers regularly encourage
them to do so.
With this example, we have further explored
the idea of research and the democratic construction
of knowledge. Being engaged in research
also concerns the role of the teacher, the
role of the adult—an adult who fosters circularity
among the children’s minds that gives and
promotes the right to citizenship and to participation
in the knowledge-building process—
an adult who participates in the children’s
research by means of attentive listening and
giving value to what the children do—a teacher
who also is able to offer children situations
and contexts in which the expressive languages
and all of the languages can be situated in
the border areas and places of cross-pollination
that are so fertile.
6 Innovations in Early Education