Family Visual Images as Funds of Knowledge

• In Event: Family, School, Community Partnerships Scholarship at This Moment in Time: Unveiling Our Path

Abstract

This study focused on making visible children’s and family’s funds of knowledge and incorporating these social and intellectual resources into the preschool curriculum. The purpose of this study was to ensure that each child had the opportunity to develop a positive social identity in the early childhood classroom. Our research team employed a participatory action research approach because they knew they would be shifting the preschool curriculum based on the data that were gathered throughout the study. Participatory action research is defined as a collaborative approach to research that is driven by a group of people who intend that their work will result in some action, change or improvement on the issue being researched (Kindon, Pain, & Kesby, 2007). Our research question was: How can we make visible the home and community resources that young children bring with them to school in order to create a more inclusive preschool curriculum? Research participants included 4 co-investigators, 21 children ages 3 to 5 from diverse backgrounds, and the parents/guardians of four focal children. Data were gathered through observations, digital photographs, and photo-elicitation interviews. Through visual narratives and conversations guided by the children, the funds of knowledge brought from home into school were made visible and became essential resources for creating curriculum that provided spaces for the positive identity formation of all children. The children’s photographs and photo-elicitation interviews helped this research team to view the world through the eyes of the children. We came to recognize that our perspectives of the children’s interests and knowledge were limited by our inability to see their curriculum making potential. Through the use of vivid imagery in the photographs and the telling and retelling of family stories, each child had the opportunity to share some of the resources they brought from their homes and communities and to have them recognized as valid sources of knowledge by their teachers and peers.

The funds of knowledge that became visible as a result of the research, are part of children’s everyday lives outside of school. They are invaluable sources of information, skills, and competencies that are generated in families and carried from generation to generation. This type of knowledge, which is relevant and meaningful for children, should serve as the foundation of curriculum development that personalizes learning. In light of the educational struggle to educate students in this nation who are currently underserved due to race, culture, and socioeconomic status (Darling-Hammond, 2010), this approach to curriculum development seems promising to bridge the gap between school and life and make learning meaningful for all children.

Authors

• Monica Miller Marsh, Kent State University - Kent

• Ilfa Zhulamanova, Kent State University - Kent

• Adonia Porto, Kent State University - Kent