Investigative contexts and natural elements

lives and experiences in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

This study investigates experiences that connect epistemological, scientific, and technological relationships to children's culture, the environment, and society. The focus is on children's interactions with natural elements in different contexts, encouraging creativity and imagination. With this, we seek to answer the following research question: What actions and expressions related to children's culture emerge when a child in Early Childhood Education formulates and explores his hypotheses about himself, others, and the world when playing and interacting with the elements of nature in contexts developed for research? To support the research, the theoretical assumptions of Gandhy Piorski and Gaston Bachelard on the relationship between children and nature are considered, as well as those of John Dewey, Walter Benjamin, and Jorge Larrosa on children's experiences. Propositions by Bruno Latour, Lea Tiriba, and Adriana Friedmann are also integrated, and they discuss the triad "I – we – world" and the interaction between human and non-human beings. The methodology adopts a qualitative approach with ethnographic inspiration, involving the researcher and children aged 4 to 5 years and 11 months at a Municipal Early Childhood Education Center in São José dos Pinhais in 2023. The data constitution and analysis procedures follow ethnographic designs, using a documentary process that includes logbooks, photographs, mini-stories, children's productions, and planning. The study focuses on teaching practice, children, and experiences with natural elements, promoting a dialogue with the theoretical assumptions that elucidate the praxis of a sustainable and planetary understanding. The research showed that children's interactions with natural elements stimulate creativity, imagination, and inquiry, connecting them to cultural, social, and scientific environments.