Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Unit convenor, lecturer and tutor
Helen Little
Contact via via iLearn dialogue
X5B235
Wednesday 10am - 12pm or by appointment
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Credit points |
Credit points
3
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
39cp at 100 level or above including (ECH113 or ABEC120)
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
This unit examines the role of outdoor environments in providing opportunities for young children to engage in discovery and creative play and physical activity. The unit builds on students’ foundational understanding of play-based pedagogies to enhance their capacity to recognise, evaluate and design play-based environments and experiences that promote learning for children from birth to school age. The unit explores inter-relationships between affordances in the outdoor environment, children’s play behaviours and their learning, with a particular emphasis on relationship-based learning, scientific inquiry, problem-solving and physical activity. The unit requires students to engage critically with a range of relevant contemporary issues which have the potential to impact on children’s opportunities for learning and development. Students also consider issues of inclusive practice for children with different educational and developmental capabilities and with different social and cultural backgrounds.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
PLEASE REFER TO INFORMATION ON iLEARN FOR FURTHER DETAILS OF ASSESSMENT TASKS AND MARKING CRITERIA
All assessment tasks for this unit are submitted online.
Assessment Presentation & Submission Guidelines
Please follow these guidelines when you submit each assignment:
Draft Submissions & Turnitin Originality Reports
When preparing your assignments, it is essential that:
Final Submissions
Assignment extensions and late penalties
Applications for extensions must be made via AskMQ at https://ask.mq.edu.au as a "Special Consideration" request before the submission date. Students who experience a disruption to their studies through ill-health or misadventure are able to apply for this request. Extensions can only be granted if they meet the Special Consideration policy and are submitted via ask.mq.edu.au. This will ensure consistency in the consideration of such requests is maintained.
In general, there should be no need for extensions except through illness or misadventure that would be categorised as unavoidable disruption according to the University definition of same, and currently available at:
Late submissions without extension will receive a penalty of 5% reduction of the total possible mark for each day late (including weekends and public holidays). You are reminded that submitting even just 1 day late could be the difference between passing and failing a unit. Late penalties are applied by unit convenors or their delegates after tasks are assessed.
No assessable work will be accepted after the return/release of marked work on the same topic. If a student is still permitted to submit on the basis of unavoidable disruption, an alternative topic may be set.
Students should keep an electronic file of all assessments. Claims regarding "lost" assessments cannot be made if the file cannot be produced. It is also advisable to keep an electronic file of all drafts and the final submission on a USB untouched/unopened after submission. This can be used to demonstrate easily that the assessment has not been amended after the submission date.
Academic Honesty
All assignments should cite and provide full bibliographical details of all material that you have used to inform or support your ideas. Department of Educational Studies students are required to use the American Psychological Association (APA) 6th referencing procedures. Full details about how to cite and reference correctly can be found in online APA guides or Perrin (2015).
The following guide can be purchased from the Co-op Bookshop.
Perrin, R. (2015). Pocket guide to APA style (5th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
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Assignment 1 | 20% | No | 18 March 2018 |
Assignment 2 | 35% | No | 29 April 2018 |
Assignment 3 | 45% | No | 5 June 2018 |
Due: 18 March 2018
Weighting: 20%
Professional reflection based on your personal experience of outdoor environments as a child. In this reflection, you will consider at least two contemporary issues (with reference to relevant literature) impacting on children’s outdoor play in relation to your own experiences.
Due: 29 April 2018
Weighting: 35%
EC education for sustainability and science learning in the outdoor environment. Essay and planning for a specific issue/topic related to sustainability.
Due: 5 June 2018
Weighting: 45%
Planning for outdoor learning: Students design outdoor learning spaces for infants, toddlers & preschool aged children and provide a justification for their choice of learning spaces, resources, and physical elements within the environment and a discussion of the learning potential in terms of affordances for physical activity, risk-taking, engagement with nature.
Students in this unit should read this unit guide carefully at the start of semester. It contains important information about the unit. If anything in it is unclear, please consult the Unit Coordinator.
Relevant Documents
The information in this Unit Guide must be read in conjunction with the following documents available for download from iLearn:
Electronic Communication
During semester time, staff may contact students using the following ways:
It is the student’s responsibility to check all electronic communication on a regular weekly basis.
Learning and Teaching Methods
The unit is offered in both internal and external mode. Content in this unit will be delivered using a combination of live and pre-recorded lectures, required readings, individual study tasks and weekly tutorials (on campus days for external students).
The timetable for internal students is as follows:
Lecture: Wednesday 1.00pm 4 Western Rd – 320 (W5C320)
Tutorial:
Wednesday 2.00 – 3.30pm 29 Wally’s Walk – 134 (X5B134) OR
3.30-5.00pm 29 Wally’s Walk – 134 (X5B134)
Note: tutorials will commence in Week 1
Compulsory on campus days for external students will be held on Monday 23 April and Tuesday 24 April.
Unit Expectations
Prescribed Text:
Little, H., Elliott, S., & Wyver, S. (2017). Outdoor learning environments: Spaces for exploration, discovery and risk-taking in the early years. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
ECHE310 Lecture Schedule 2018
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Week |
Topic |
Lecturer |
Module 1: Approaches to outdoor learning
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1 28 Feb |
Historical, contemporary and theoretical approaches to outdoor learning environments |
Helen Little |
2 7 Mar |
Contemporary issues
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Helen Little |
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Module 2: Outdoor environments as pedagogical spaces
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3 14 Mar |
Planning effective outdoor environments (live lecture) The regulatory context of outdoor learning environments (pre-recorded lecture) |
Helen Little
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4 21 Mar |
Natural playspaces (live lecture) Outdoor environments for infants and toddlers (pre-recorded lecture) |
Helen Little Sheila Degotardi |
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5 28 Mar |
Playing outside |
Helen Little |
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Outdoor environments for pre-schoolers (pre-recorded lecture) |
Luke Touhill |
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6 4 Apr |
Sustainable practice and environmental responsibility |
Helen Little |
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7 11 Apr |
Physically active play (live lecture) Creative play (pre-recorded lecture) |
Helen Little
TBC
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8 2 May |
Thinking outdoors |
Janet Robertson |
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9 9 May |
No lectures or tutorials |
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10 16 May |
No lectures or tutorials |
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11 23 May |
Who can play? Supporting participation and inclusion (live lecture) Relationships based learning and teaching (pre-recorded lecture) |
Helen Little
Helen Little |
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Module 3: Relationships-based learning |
12 30 May |
Managing risk in play |
Helen Little
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13 6 June |
Environments beyond the gate
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Helen Little |
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Undergraduate students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.
If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/student-conduct
Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au.
Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/
Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.
Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.
For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au
For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/.
When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.
Our graduates will also be capable of creative thinking and of creating knowledge. They will be imaginative and open to experience and capable of innovation at work and in the community. We want them to be engaged in applying their critical, creative thinking.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates will have enquiring minds and a literate curiosity which will lead them to pursue knowledge for its own sake. They will continue to pursue learning in their careers and as they participate in the world. They will be capable of reflecting on their experiences and relationships with others and the environment, learning from them, and growing - personally, professionally and socially.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.
This graduate capability is supported by:
As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want our graduates to be aware of and have respect for self and others; to be able to work with others as a leader and a team player; to have a sense of connectedness with others and country; and to have a sense of mutual obligation. Our graduates should be informed and active participants in moving society towards sustainability.
This graduate capability is supported by: