Arts Learning in Australian Kindergartens: One Case Study Exploring the Scaffoding of Domain Specific Knowledge

Abstract

Arts education is an important area of learning for young children. The arts allow children to explore and make meaning of the world around them. It is also a time when children start to develop domain-specific knowledge about the arts. This paper explores the development of domain-specific knowledge about the arts in kindergarten classrooms in Queensland, Australia. It explore the way the teacher embeds domain-specific knowledge about the arts in her kindergarten classroom. Findings suggest the teacher is an important part of learning about domain-specific knowledge. Young children are challenged by the teacher to develop greater clarity and thought about the arts. If the teacher is not there to support and challenge ideas, while children are creative and masters of their own play, their development in the arts is limited.