Vamos ficar lá no quintal": sentidos produzidos por uma coordenadora de creche sobre o espaço externo

Abstract

This master's research is linked to the “Discourse, Practices, Ideas and Subjectivities in Educational Processes” research line of the Graduate Program in Education at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora – MG. The study question was: What are the meanings about the daycare's external environment – the “backyard” – produced by the institution's pedagogical coordinator? The achievement of the following general objective was pursued: to understand the meanings about the daycare's external environment – the “backyard” – produced by the institution's pedagogical coordinator. The research was developed at a daycare center accredited by the city of Juiz de Fora – MG, which has a green area with several spatial interventions planned and organized by the coordinator and teachers of the daycare center. The study discusses the external environment/space from an interdisciplinary perspective, weaving dialogue between studies in Architecture, Environmental Psychology, Geography, and the historical-cultural area, taking Lev Vygotsky’s and Walter Benjamin’s ideas as theoretical support. The research is of a qualitative nature and constitutes a Case Study. For the production of the empirical data, some instruments and methods were used: participant observation, field notes, photography, video recording (phase 1) and a narrative interview with a dialogical perspective conducted with the daycare center coordinator (phase 2). Data analysis focused on three aspects: memories of childhood experiences; teacher training; and children's interactions and games in the yard. The results showed that the “backyard” was designed based on the coordinator's childhood experiences, and was enhanced with in-service training. In the coordinator's perception, the “backyard” has favored children's free and autonomous play. It is hoped that this study can contribute to the improvement of knowledge about the potential of external areas in child development and that it can, especially, problematize this theme in the Early Childhood Education network in Juiz de Fora – MG.