BLH3310 Aesthetics and Special Needs – Nordic Childhoods Emneplan

Aesthetics and Special Needs is one of the courses under Nordic Childhoods. It focuses on Nordic culture where nature plays an important role in society, aesthetics and in work with children. Joint events with the other Nordic Childhoods courses are integrated as overnight trips and outdoor excursions. We also visit schools, kindergartens and other institutions. We focus on play, learning by doing, experience and workshops.

Aesthetics has not been a common way of approaching children with special needs. This course tries to change this by focusing on the value of aesthetics for children with special needs. The course is interdisciplinary, and takes a holistic approach to the field.

Aesthetics are important for everybody, including children and young people with special needs. Through literature, storytelling, music, dance, drama and other aesthetic acts, we perceive and understand the world and ourselves. Through aesthetics, we perform and collaborate with others. For some children and young people who lack verbal language; have problems with emotions, communication and interaction or find it hard to take other perspectives; aesthetic communication is particularly important. The aim of this course is:

1) to enhance knowledge about and discuss the relationship between children and young people with special needs and aesthetic expressions,

2) to introduce ways of working in practice with different kinds of aesthetic expressions when targeting various kinds of special needs.

The course is interfaculty and explores different disciplines, and ways of conceptualising and practising aesthetics with respect to a variety of special needs.

The language of all teaching and supervision is English, and the students should therefore have a working knowledge of both spoken and written English.

After completing the course, the student should have the following learning outcomes, defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

· has knowledge of aesthetics and different aesthetic approaches

· has knowledge of historical changes in the views on children and young people, normality and deviance, inclusion and exclusion

· has knowledge of receiver orientation in communication and collaboration with children with special needs and media

Skills

The student is able to

· accomplish and perform an aesthetic project for children and young people with special needs

· reflect on work with children and young people with special needs

· communicate with children and young people through aesthetics

General competence

The student

· has an understanding of aesthetics and its value to children and young people with special needs

· has an understanding of the value of autobiography as a means of critically reflecting on one’s own learning

· is able to analyse and discuss how to understand and respond to children and young people with special needs

· Literature studies/theories

· Lectures and supervision

· Excursions, workshops and seminars

· Individual and group papers/performances

· Self-study

· Project work

· Digital blog

· Dramatisation

· Stop-motion animation

Radio theatre

· Storytelling

· Visits and practice in school, kindergartens and other institutions

· Interactive learning methods, including digital media

Appendix: progress clarification for internal students

(Applicable to Norwegian students only).

The course is open to internal students from the Department of Early Childhood Education (full-time students) in the sixth semester. The students follow the approved course description for Aesthetics and Special Needs - Nordic Childhoods (30 ECTS).

The following clarification applies to internal students:

• Internal students must complete a five-week supervised and assessed period of practical training.
• The exam consisting of three parts counts as the student’s bachelor’s thesis. The assignments must be written in English.
• Internal students retain bachelor supervision resources while taking the course, and are assigned a supervisor from among the teaching staff involved in the course, as far as possible.

The internal students otherwise follow the same programme and coursework requirements as the external students which, together with the written assignments, makes up the basis for the grade awarded for the course.

Se punkt om arbeids- og undervisningsformer i programplanen.

Arbeidskrav 1

Arbeidskrav 1 består av to deler. Temaet er knyttet til omvendt undervisning og bruk av opptak i PowerPoint (eller tilsvarende program) som digitalt verktøy for å lage en presentasjon/film som elever kan se i forkant av en opplæringsøkt. Hensikten med arbeidskravet er å få kunnskap om, og erfaring med omvendt undervisning og egnede verktøy til bruk i dette arbeidet.

Del 1: Det skal lages en multimodal presentasjon med valgfritt matematisk eller matematikkdidaktisk tema fra læringsutbyttebeskrivelsene fra studiet. Det er et individuelt arbeid, som skal deles med medstudenter og lærer. Presentasjonene (7 - 10 minutter) blir gjenstand for medstudentvurdering, diskusjon og erfaringsdeling i grupper på samling.

Del 2: Det skal leveres et refleksjonsnotat knyttet til erfaringene med presentasjonene, erfaringene med medstudentvurdering, og omvendt undervisning generelt. Omfang på refleksjonsnotatet er 1250 ord +/- 10 %.

Arbeidskrav 2

Arbeidskrav 2 er et prosjektarbeid med valgfritt tema. Hensikten med arbeidskravet er å bli kjent med prosjektarbeid som arbeidsform i matematikk, samt utvikle seg i rollen som matematikklærer gjennom refleksjon. Arbeidskravet har to deler, og skal gjennomføres på følgende måte:

Del 1: Klassen deles inn i grupper* (2-4 studenter), som i fellesskap gjennomfører et prosjektarbeid med relevans for læringsutbyttebeskrivelsene. Prosjektet dokumenteres muntlig for medstudenter eller andre, omfang ca. 20 min.

Del 2: Det skal skrives et individuelt refleksjonsnotat knyttet til egen læring gjennom prosjektet, 1250 ord +/- 10 %.

*Del 1 kan løses individuelt ved sykdom eller lignende, etter avtale med faglærer.

Alle hjelpemidler tillatt så lenge regler for kildehenvisning følges

Det benyttes en karakterskala fra A til E for bestått, og F for ikke bestått.

Sentrale temaer i emnet:

• læreplananalyse
• planlegging, gjennomføring og vurdering av og for læring i matematikk
• refleksjon og kritisk tenkning
• matematikkdidaktiske innfallsvinkler til undervisning
• tilpasset opplæring og differensiering
• å samtale om matematikk
• matematikkvansker
• motivasjon og forståelse