Children as co-researchers: thereâs more at play here | RFTRW: S04E05
7 September 2020
Dr Kate Cowan talks to Dr Rob Webster about how children interact and communicate, the challenges researchers face when conducting research with them, and the pandemicâs effect on the way they play at home and school.
An early years specialist, Kateâs research focuses on play, creativity and digital technologies, and prior to joining the IOE, she worked as a nursery teacher and remains committed to connecting research and practice. We hear examples of this from the âPlaying the Archiveâ project, which studied the ways children have played across the decades.
You might be familiar with W.C. Fieldsâ âNever work with animals or childrenâ quote, but it appears that Kate has worked hard to push against the well-worn trope, employing multimodal methodologies to document and analyse play. Kate explains how using digital tools and involving children as co-researchers has benefitted her work.
To wrap up season 4, Rob and Kate discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected play, how the virus has been incorporated into new and traditional games, the significance of digital play during lockdown, and whatâs in store for children as they return to school and interact with the outside world.
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Links
- Department of Learning and Leadership
- Centre for Multimodal Research
- MyAV·¶ Knowledge Lab
- Research for the Real World podcast