Creating a Culture of Inquiry: Nurturing Lifelong Curiosity Through Reggio Emilia Principles
Learning isn’t just about academic prowess; it underpins our whole outlook on the world around us. The Reggio Emilia approach is all about creating a strong foundation to support natural curiosity, and from this stems the drive to discover more about what interests us.
The desire to learn is inherent in everyone. This can be nurtured through a creative environment – one that provides opportunities without a rigid structure that can have negative connotations. During the crucial early years, the human brain is continually creating thousands upon thousands of connections (neurons). These intertwine a host of human traits, such as sensory learning, the urge to find out more and, very importantly, associated emotions.
A calm, encouraging landscape for self-learning and tools that pique the young mind are exactly what’s needed to meld positivity into those rapidly expanding neural connections.
The Joy of Learning
Human nature means that we’re far more likely to do something if it makes us happy. The power of inquisitively should not be underestimated – and this is as true during a person’s early years as it is later in life.
A child who’s encouraged to explore their interests and is given tools that actively encourage questioning is laying the building blocks that promote a lifelong love of learning.
Every Reggio Emilia classroom is focused on this. While no two are ever the same, they all have many things in common, including:
Filled with natural materials: From Mother Nature’s artistic tools (smooth stones, natural fabrics, gnarly wood, crunchy leaves etc) to furniture, sandpits, water features and more, a Reggio area is tailor-designed for curious minds. Many a child-led project has stemmed from asking why one material feels different from another or why stones sink and paper floats (for example).
Celebrates children’s achievements: From creative images adorning the walls to tables filled with ongoing pursuits, children have an open opportunity to continue or revisit things that they’ve shown an interest in. Such undertakings might take a single session or continue for days, weeks or months, and are wholly driven by the child or groups.
A fusion of colour, textures, sounds, tastes and smells: In both the imaginative and mundane, nothing instigates questioning (which is, after all, the basis of all learning) more than elements that target each of the human senses.
Childhood Curiosity Underpins the Desire for Further Learning
The entire basis of promoting a child’s natural curiosity is to instil happiness into curiosity and learning. Carrying such a disposition into the more formal educational landscape will naturally transition from early learning to school life – and then on to college, university and beyond.
It certainly doesn’t stop there. Once a person enters the workforce, a desire to continue learning will also positively impact a career path. Such people increase their likelihood of job satisfaction, promotion and associated higher salaries, which in turn increase living standards. The link between income and health is well known, and there are also a vast number of studies that show that those who are happy in their work also benefit from increased well-being.
The Reggio Emilia method is one of the first steps along a lifetime road. While it can’t be guaranteed that promoting natural curiosity will lead to happiness, healthiness and prosperity, it absolutely provides a baseline that elevates the likelihood of this happening.
This is exactly the start in life that everyone wants for their child. It’s also the driving force behind why Treasured Tots Early Education came into being.
Mother of three, owner and Director, Simone, wanted to create the right environment that wasn’t just a trusted home-from-home, but that also played a pivotal role in helping parents and caregivers provide those crucial building blocks for a life of happiness and success. Now with locations across WA, including Fremantle, Mandurah and Bicton, the name of Treasured Tots is synonymous with the wonderful life start that Reggio Emilia brings.
Book a tour today and come and see us in action.