“Don't Come Too Close To My Octopus Tree”:
Recording and Evaluating Young Children's Perspectives on Outdoor Learning

Tim Waller
Department of Childhood Studies
Swansea University

Citation: Waller, Tim (2006). "“Don't Come Too Close To My Octopus Tree”: Recording and Evaluating Young Children's Perspectives on Outdoor Learning." Children, Youth and Environments 16 (2): 75-104. Retrieved [date] from http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/

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Abstract

This paper examines how children’s experiences of an outdoor project can challenge our understanding of participation. It discusses and evaluates participative approaches and the inter-relationship between children’s spaces, pedagogy and research. It draws on an ongoing multi-method study in the United Kingdom of how young children can develop their own learning paths. A critical discussion of participatory research with, rather than on, children, acknowledges children’s agency and develops the concept of “children’s spaces” in participatory research and early years’ pedagogy. The paper also discusses the implications for adult roles and methodological design and suggests a model for research as an interpretive process of co-constructed knowledge starting from children’s perspectives.

Keywords: children’s perspectives, participatory research with young children, United Kingdom, outdoor environment, learning environments, participatory methods