The Reggio philosophy encourages a community of learners who think reflectively and who collaborate as they:

• explore and discover
• propose ideas
• problem solve
• develop and test hypotheses

“The wider the range of possibilities we offer children, the more intense will be their motivations and the richer their experiences.”— Loris Malaguzzi

The learning context:

A ‘provocation’ arrives in the classroom. It is a full sized model of a skeleton, affectionately named by the children as ‘Bob’. One of the SK children has expressed an interest in investigating the Human Body, and in particular, bones.  Her sister had participated in an investigation into the Human Body in SK the previous year. The children share what they know about the Human Body, and then break for lunch. Most chose to read after, but one child approaches ‘Bob’. He gently touches the fingers of the skeleton, and then begins to experiment with moving its wrist – up and down, up and down. Another child looks on and watches closely. Another arrives at the skeleton, and then another. They all explore the movements of its hands. The child who was watching from afar comes over too. He begins to dance with the skeleton. Yet others enter into this experience. Movement of the bones is the focus for them all.

“Projects may start either from a chance event, an idea or a problem posed by one or more children, or an experience initiated directly by teachers. They can last from a few days to several months.”