Materiality in Early Childhood: Visual and Creative Arts

In this unit of study pre-service teachers explore art materials as a way to reconsider taken-for-granted responses to materials and ideas in early childhood. Using materials as a mode of inquiry, pre-service teachers will investigate what materials do and how materials are joint participants in early childhood pedagogies. Through critical and reflective material inquiry that includes engaging with place from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander standpoints, pre-service teachers will examine their own attitudes towards visual and creative arts; develop an understanding of, and skills in, a range of early childhood visual and creative arts and technology experiences; and employ these understandings, attitudes and skills to suit the socio-material, socio-cultural and aesthetic needs of the young child.