| CODE | EPE2019 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Becoming Symbol Literate | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Early Childhood and Primary Education | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Children enter a world full of symbols, expressed through language, art and rituals. It is through symbols that humans perceive and understand reality. The eagerness and necessity to understand and relate to reality leads humans to construct symbols and symbol systems. A rich repertoire of stories, metaphors, images, music and other cultural objects may help children to develop and enhance their reasoning and interpretation skills and be in a better position to face future ruptures. This study-unit explores the relevance of the notion of symbolic literacy for children’s holistic development. It helps students to understand their own symbolic repertoire and to help them become symbol literate so that they may in turn provide rich activities that aim at developing children's symbolic repertoire. Study-Unit Aims: By the end of the study-unit, students will become more mindful of the different levels of meaning held by cultural artifacts. The study-unit will challenge fragmented conceptions of reality and will encourage students to see the link between different domains of knowledge and the developing child. In so doing it will also promote a sociocultural approach to learning. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - discuss the relevance of the concept of symbol literacy and symbolic repertoire in early childhood education; - deconstruct and interpret the symbolic knowledge present in various cultural objects; - identify resources that may help them interpret and make use of symbolic language present in art, language and rituals. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - show alertness to how different cultural tools may be used in the ecec context; - search and build a personal symbolic repertoire from various areas of knowledge; - use concept maps; - identify and respond to children's symbolic repertoire through documentation; - identify the contextual symbolic repertoire available in a local community. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Gellel, A. M. (2018). Towards a symbol literacy approach in the education of children. International Journal of Children's Spirituality, 23(2), 109-121. - Gellel, A. (2010). Nurturing Spirituality through Symbol Literacy in Religious Education. Journal of Religious Education,58(3), 44-51. - Housen, A. C. (2002). Aesthetic thought, critical thinking and transfer. Arts and Learning Research, 18(1), 91-131. Supplementary Readings: - Falk, J. H., & Dierking, L. D. (2016). The museum experience revisited. Routledge. - Mali, J. (2002). The Rehabilitation of Myth: Vico's' New Science'. Cambridge University Press. - MacGregor, N. (2018). Living with the gods: on beliefs and peoples. Penguin UK. - Valsiner, J., & Rosa, A. (2007). Contemporary socio-cultural research. Uniting culture, Society and Psychology. In J. Valsiner & A. Rosa (Eds.). The Cambridge handbook of sociocultural psychology. Cambridge University Press, 40-61. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture, Fieldwork and Independent Study | ||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Amanda Amanda Maria Morales |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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