Mealtime as a teaching/learning space: What do children learn by eating at school

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Luisa Fernanda Estrada Gómez

Abstract

Objetive. This study explores the school mealtime as a cultural teaching/learning space and analyzes the areas of participation that are negotiated, the roles played by adults and children and their changes over time. Method. The participants were 10 boys and 5 girls between 5 and 6 years old and their teacher from a private school in Madrid, Spain. Following an ethnographic approach, we observed and video-recorded the mealtime twice a week along 5 months. Interviews were conducted with the teacher, the counselor and the school head, and the documentation about the mealtime practice was analyzed. Results. Using the triangulation of the information we identified 18 negotiation areas that were distributed in four moments of the practice: planning, preparation of the scenario, mealtime, and the clean-up time. For each moment, the levels of participation of the children and their change were identified. Conclusions. It is discussed how the children participation and the changing roles favors the appropriation of cultural rules about the mealtime practice, while opening spaces for the development and learning of cognitive/communicative and emotional skills that allow children to become increasingly autonomous self-regulated when participating in the mealtime practice.

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How to Cite
Estrada Gómez, L. F. (2022). Mealtime as a teaching/learning space: What do children learn by eating at school. Pensamiento Psicológico, 20, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.11144/Javerianacali.PPSI20.mtls
Section
Monográfico Psicología Cultural en el contexto de Iberoamérica: Diálogos transdisciplinares

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