Articles

Learning Using Tools of the Mind: The Role of the Ateliers and the Atelierista

By Patricia Hunter McGrath and Christina Bianchi

"The materials we choose to bring into our classrooms reveal the choices we have made about knowledge and what we think is important to know. How children are invited to use the materials indicates the role they shall have in their learning. Materials are the text of early childhood classrooms. Unlike books filled with facts and printed with words, materials are more like outlines. They offer openings and pathways by and through which children may enter the world of knowledge. Materials become the tools with which children give form to and express their understanding of the world and the meanings they have constructed.”

Harriet Cuffaro

Over the years we have transitioned from offering art materials to children for specific art projects to providing children materials that can be used in all areas as Tools of the Mind. We think of these intelligent materials as having properties and attributes that allow the children the ability to communicate their ideas and make their learning visible. Our materials need to be readily accessible to the children and teachers.

Each material is classified and carefully organized with this in mind and then introduced to the children.

Tools of the Mind are Used To:

Make connections and relationships visible.
Uncover and deepen children learning.
Help children see beauty in the world.
Construct and deconstruct ideas.
Engage in scientific investigations and inquiry
Help children have a sense of wonder.
Highlight the detail and complexity in the simplest of things.
Support higher level thinking skills and deepen children's learning.
Share and make visible different perspectives and points of view.
Support all areas of contemporary academics.
Develop creative problem-solving skills.
Represent different ideas.
Open the imagination to new and exciting possibilities and innovations.
Help children develop lasting social relationships.
Create delight and joy.
Give opportunities for tenacity, resilience and flexible thinking.
Develop strategies for collaboration and communication.
Support narrative and storytelling.

From a very young age, the materials are introduced to the children so they can learn to explore their attributes and properties and use them throughout their time at school.

Our materials are no longer relegated to an "art" room but integrated into our whole environment, inside and out. We choose our materials very carefully as we know they connect us to nature and the environment and are the tools for contemporary academics.

Our studios or Ateliers are places for research and multiple possibilities. At Branches we consider our Ateliers libraries of intelligent materials to inspire the work in our school.

Just as the librarian doesn't need to have read every book to be able to work in the library, so the atelierista doesn't need to know EVERY material in the atelier. But she knows how to find the best media that will support an investigation and co-research alongside the children.

Unlike an art teacher, the atelierista usually has an extensive background in child development theory. She offers possibilities and materials that will help the children and their teachers in their research. She can assess the materials and their properties for their underlying academic components.

The Atelierista:

Creates interesting and provocative environments in collaboration with teachers.
Models for teachers and children the appropriate use and care of the materials so that all community members take responsibility for the aesthetic of the school.
Models how to combine, layer and juxtapose materials to highlight relationships and connections
Researches inspirational links to the world through books, images and other resources to help children and teachers see the connections in their work to our culture.
Guides teachers in uncovering academic threads in curriculum.
Models creative problem solving for children and teachers.
Supports the evolution of the school environments over time, based on the changing materials, investigations and seasons.
Supports teachers ongoing professional development based on current research both inside of the school and out in the world.

While art materials are used to represent a specific idea, materials as tools of the mind are used to support physical, social, intellectual and creative connections and relationships amongst children, their ideas, and the environment.

In the hands and imagination of the children materials can transform over and over again depending on what they are trying to communicate or relate based on their meaning-making.

We know that these materials allow the children to communicate their ideas and theories in hundreds of different ways. A child may be initially attracted to the variation of color in a flower, another may be intrigued by its structure, and yet another may be fascinated by the way that the petals move in the wind. For each one of these investigations, a different material is best suited.

As the child builds a relationship with a subject, they also gain knowledge that they can then translate into work with different media, acquiring new languages, strategies, and techniques along the way: translating from 2-d to 3-d, learning about the scientific or geometric structures. These are the tools of contemporary academic teaching. They are integrated throughout the school inside and out, and throughout the day.