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Meaning making and mulit-modality

Meaning-making

A 'meaning making' or semiotic perspective underpins young children's symbolic play. Graphical symbol use develops from children pretending that one object stands for something else: for example, 2 year-old Liam balanced a teaspoon across the top of his mug, referring to it as a 'bridge'. In a similar way, when young child holds a woodblock or a banana to her ear and pretends it is a phone, she understands that at that moment, these objects mean something else. In this, giving alternative uses and meanings allows them also to come to understand that the marks and graphical signs they make can represent something in a drawing, a letter or numeral. These are multimodal meanings (scroll down CMG Glossary page).

 

Nathan's astronaut

Tucking coloured paper in an envelope,

Nathan explained it was an astronaut.

Saying, "Blast off!" he lifted it above his

head making a'whooshing' sound and

announcing, "It's flying to the moon."

Then, lifting the envelope's flap, he

explained that the astronaut could get

out of his space-suit.

 

Jordan's 'doggie'

3-year-old Jordan made scribble-marks with a

green pen, then making several cuts across it,

remarked "doggie". It appeared that he intended

his cut-out to signify its head and body, and the

tiny piece its tail.

   This example includes sufficient visual

information for Jordan to communicate

his intention, whilst the lack of detail (face,

ears and legs) may be implied.

 

 

Alfie and Milo make paper calculators

Alfie watched Milo use pages from a notebook

to make ‘calculators’ and decided to join in.

Having drawn shapes on his page, Alfie

ripped off the page, and then made more

symbols, saying ‘6,7, 8, 9, I’ve made 

number 10’, followed by a third sheet,

announcing ‘9, 10,11, 12’: in twenty

minutes Alfie made a total of seven paper ‘calculators’.

    This play began several weeks earlier when 

Milo was playing with a real calculator: he 

seemed to be using it as a digital game,

pressing the 'buttons' and commenting

excitedly “Fighting games! Video games!” It

was Milo who first decided to use a small

notebook to make ‘paper calculators’,

explaining as he tore off a sheet, “This is a

different calculator with computer games on”.

          

Carl's parking tickets

 

Carl (4 years,5 months) was building a

‘car park’ with small wooden bricks.

After parking a number of vehicles, he

decided to give them parking tickets.

    Reaching out for some paper, a pen

and scissors that were in a tray nearby,

he made these parking tickets, reading

them as “40p, 40p, 40p, 50p, 70p, 80p,

90p”. He told his teacher “You

have to have a ticket or you get done!

     Carl then went on to make a ‘Closed’

sign for the car park and a £50.00 sign

to go on a car that was for sale.

    Carl’s dad was a lorry driver and

Carl understood a great deal about

lorries and cars.

          
  

 

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