Listening in: Spontaneous teacher talk on playscapes

Nature-based events tend to elicit science-relevant teacher talk

A nature-based playground — sometimes referred to as a “playscape” – provides opportunities for children to interact with such natural elements as sticks, stones, leaves, and soil. While all playscapes include natural elements, they can differ considerably in the type and extent of natural elements available. This study sought to investigate if different playscapes evoke a different kind of teacher talk, especially as such talk relates to science education with young children.

Two preschool centers participated in this study which involved seven classrooms and ten early childhood teachers. The classes made a total of nine visits to two different playscapes. Six visits were to a rural playscape located in a nature preserve; three visits to an urban playscape located on a university campus. Data collection focused on teacher talk during the playscape visits. While both playscapes included loose parts, native plants, and running water, they differed in terms of featured ecosystems. The rural playscape had naturally-grown ecosystems (a forest and a wetland); the urban playscape had a built stream and a garden, but no naturally-grown ecosystems.

The teachers wore microphones during their field trips to the two playscapes. They were asked to interact with the children in their normal way. The interactions — captured on 25 audio files — were then coded in relation to four categories of teacher talk: science-relevant, science-neutral, science-diverting, and supervisory talk. Examples of science-relevant talk included labeling living things, calling attention to features observed in nature, and asking questions about the natural surroundings. Examples of science-diverting talk included statements inconsistent with mainstream science education, such as suggesting that if the children looked closely they might see dinosaurs in the playscapes. Supervisory talk included teachers expressing concern about children getting hurt or dirty, correcting them for misbehaviors, soothing children in distress, and guiding them in completing tasks. All other teacher utterances were coded science-neutral.

Results showed that playscape type had a strong effect on teacher talk. Even for individual teachers, science-relevant utterances were more likely on the rural versus the urban playscape. Supervisory utterances, on the other hand, differed only by teacher, not playscape. Science-diverting utterances were rare in both playscapes. Science-relevant utterances were often in reference to plants and animals – especially where experienced as specific events, such as finding bugs and frogs. Such events tended to occur more often on the rural versus urban playscape. Data from the rural playscape indicated that science-relevant utterances increased over time, while the number of science-neutral and supervisory utterances decreased. Change over time was not analyzed for the urban playscape.

All teachers participating in this study used some science-relevant talk on each of the playscapes and did so without being aware that the focus of the study was on science learning. These findings support the use of natural environments to promote children’s learning.