Reesa Sorin
Associate Professor Reesa Sorin specialises in Art Therapy for Wellbeing, Early Childhood Education and Care; Teacher Education and Professional Development; and Curriculum Development.
She holds a PhD in Early Childhood Education from the University of Wollongong, Australia, where she also completed a Master of Arts (Honours) in Creative Arts and Early Childhood Education. She further holds a postgraduate Specialist Certificate in Creativity and Health from the University of Melbourne.
Prior to this she studied in Canada, including a Bachelor of Arts in English and Psychology; a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design and Photography; a Primary Specialist Certificate in Early Childhood Education; and a Bachelor of Arts in Art Education.
Associate Professor Sorin has worked as an early childhood, primary and art teacher in Canada and Australia. Since 1989, she has worked in the higher education sector, at TAFE, university and as an independent consultant in Australia and southeast Asia. She is currently working as an Art Therapist and Education Consultant.
offerings
• Her research interests are:
• Arts-based, multimodal methods for research, learning and teaching
• Fear and emotional literacy in early childhood
• Conceptualisations of childhood
• Early Childhood education
• Gifted and talented education
• Preservice teacher education
• Dogs in the learning environment
• Scenario-based learning
She holds a PhD in Early Childhood Education from the University of Wollongong, Australia, where she also completed a Master of Arts (Honours) in Creative Arts and Early Childhood Education. She further holds a postgraduate Specialist Certificate in Creativity and Health from the University of Melbourne.
Prior to this she studied in Canada, including a Bachelor of Arts in English and Psychology; a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design and Photography; a Primary Specialist Certificate in Early Childhood Education; and a Bachelor of Arts in Art Education.
Associate Professor Sorin has worked as an early childhood, primary and art teacher in Canada and Australia. Since 1989, she has worked in the higher education sector, at TAFE, university and as an independent consultant in Australia and southeast Asia. She is currently working as an Art Therapist and Education Consultant.
offerings
• Her research interests are:
• Arts-based, multimodal methods for research, learning and teaching
• Fear and emotional literacy in early childhood
• Conceptualisations of childhood
• Early Childhood education
• Gifted and talented education
• Preservice teacher education
• Dogs in the learning environment
• Scenario-based learning
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Arts-based Teaching, Learning and Research by Reesa Sorin
Symbol Mastery (Davis and Braun, 1994) is a process where students work with clay to create visual interpretations of a word’s meaning and then connect it to the word’s spelling and pronunciation, resulting in a multisensory approach to learning to spell. Davis (Davis and Braun, 1994) developed Symbol Mastery, based on his belief that creativity is an important component of learning. This belief is supported by Silverman and Freed (1991), Warwick (2005; cited in Ambrose and Cheong, 2010), Lehmann and Murray (2005; cited in Kast et. al., 2011), and Poole (2008). Davis and Braun (1994) proposed that the process of discovering what a word means and creating an image of the word three-dimensionally would not only give ownership of the process to students, but would also be a vehicle through which they could master spelling words. Davis and Braun (1994) build on the “active and dynamic way of knowing” (Kalantzis and Cope, cited in Healy, 2008, p 88) in the development of the Symbol Mastery steps.
The process of Symbol Mastery was the focus of a Qualitative Case Study Research project with four dyslexic students who had completed an individualized program and eight one to one tutorial sessions. Data was gathered through pre and post program interviews with students and parents, researcher observations, and artifact collection. As well pre- and post tutorial spelling tests were administered. The results showed that through engaging with the word visually and creatively, spelling was retained and student participants were more engaged in the learning process.
Available at https://cgscholar.com/bookstore/works/dance-anyway
They have caused immense suffering and destruction. In recent years, natural disasters have increased due to climate
change. Further, the need for public awareness of catastrophic events has also increased, along with the media push to
prepare for these events. Disaster preparedness has reduced loss of life and property, and children have demonstrated
that they have the capacity to be actively involved in disseminating important and useful disaster information and the
ability to assist with disaster preparedness in their families. Therefore, disaster preparedness is now an established part
of the school curricula. However, while the topic of natural disasters is increasingly being included in school curricula,
teachers may still feel uneasy introducing students to this topic. If they have not experienced a natural disaster and are
not aware of the severity of disasters, teachers may lack the necessary information to best educate and support children.
Further, teachers may need to tread a fine line between transmitting facts and shocking students with the emotive results
of disasters. This is further exacerbated by media reporting. Arising from a document study of children’s drawings from
the 2006 Cyclone Larry natural disaster in tropical north Queensland, Australia, and research into cyclones, this paper
presents strategies, including a poem, for teachers to introduce natural disasters to students in the upper primary school
years. It may help to facilitate understanding about natural disasters and preparedness for these occurrences.
increasingly becoming disengaged with their learning. The Arts in all its forms are presented at best minimally, such as
for an hour or two at the end of the week, with preference being given to literacy and numeracy. This Collaborative
Autoethnography project offered upper primary school students in a public school in Queensland, Australia the chance to
be expressive and playful through joining a creative writing club, which was held for one hour a week for a school term.
The findings have included that students produced expressive writing beyond their original levels, have made a notable
shift in their willingness to engage with writing, and have demonstrated a joy in expressing themselves creatively. These
are indicative of increased engagement, in its three components, cognitive, behavioural, and emotional, through
participation in the writing club.
We begin with a discussion about how to introduce sensitive historical material, such as the Holocaust, to young children. Current teaching models about the Holocaust are based on factual texts (Keith, 2013) or fictional writings (Epstein, et al., 2013). This is followed by a poem, developed out of the first author’s research, introducing the Holocaust while conferring facts about the life of a fictitious child in the Terezin concentration camp. Teacher notes elaborate on how to implement this poem in class. We found that art, such as poetry, can be utilised to teach children about sensitive issues like the disaster of the Holocaust.
Fear and Emotional Literacy by Reesa Sorin
Symbol Mastery (Davis and Braun, 1994) is a process where students work with clay to create visual interpretations of a word’s meaning and then connect it to the word’s spelling and pronunciation, resulting in a multisensory approach to learning to spell. Davis (Davis and Braun, 1994) developed Symbol Mastery, based on his belief that creativity is an important component of learning. This belief is supported by Silverman and Freed (1991), Warwick (2005; cited in Ambrose and Cheong, 2010), Lehmann and Murray (2005; cited in Kast et. al., 2011), and Poole (2008). Davis and Braun (1994) proposed that the process of discovering what a word means and creating an image of the word three-dimensionally would not only give ownership of the process to students, but would also be a vehicle through which they could master spelling words. Davis and Braun (1994) build on the “active and dynamic way of knowing” (Kalantzis and Cope, cited in Healy, 2008, p 88) in the development of the Symbol Mastery steps.
The process of Symbol Mastery was the focus of a Qualitative Case Study Research project with four dyslexic students who had completed an individualized program and eight one to one tutorial sessions. Data was gathered through pre and post program interviews with students and parents, researcher observations, and artifact collection. As well pre- and post tutorial spelling tests were administered. The results showed that through engaging with the word visually and creatively, spelling was retained and student participants were more engaged in the learning process.
Available at https://cgscholar.com/bookstore/works/dance-anyway
They have caused immense suffering and destruction. In recent years, natural disasters have increased due to climate
change. Further, the need for public awareness of catastrophic events has also increased, along with the media push to
prepare for these events. Disaster preparedness has reduced loss of life and property, and children have demonstrated
that they have the capacity to be actively involved in disseminating important and useful disaster information and the
ability to assist with disaster preparedness in their families. Therefore, disaster preparedness is now an established part
of the school curricula. However, while the topic of natural disasters is increasingly being included in school curricula,
teachers may still feel uneasy introducing students to this topic. If they have not experienced a natural disaster and are
not aware of the severity of disasters, teachers may lack the necessary information to best educate and support children.
Further, teachers may need to tread a fine line between transmitting facts and shocking students with the emotive results
of disasters. This is further exacerbated by media reporting. Arising from a document study of children’s drawings from
the 2006 Cyclone Larry natural disaster in tropical north Queensland, Australia, and research into cyclones, this paper
presents strategies, including a poem, for teachers to introduce natural disasters to students in the upper primary school
years. It may help to facilitate understanding about natural disasters and preparedness for these occurrences.
increasingly becoming disengaged with their learning. The Arts in all its forms are presented at best minimally, such as
for an hour or two at the end of the week, with preference being given to literacy and numeracy. This Collaborative
Autoethnography project offered upper primary school students in a public school in Queensland, Australia the chance to
be expressive and playful through joining a creative writing club, which was held for one hour a week for a school term.
The findings have included that students produced expressive writing beyond their original levels, have made a notable
shift in their willingness to engage with writing, and have demonstrated a joy in expressing themselves creatively. These
are indicative of increased engagement, in its three components, cognitive, behavioural, and emotional, through
participation in the writing club.
We begin with a discussion about how to introduce sensitive historical material, such as the Holocaust, to young children. Current teaching models about the Holocaust are based on factual texts (Keith, 2013) or fictional writings (Epstein, et al., 2013). This is followed by a poem, developed out of the first author’s research, introducing the Holocaust while conferring facts about the life of a fictitious child in the Terezin concentration camp. Teacher notes elaborate on how to implement this poem in class. We found that art, such as poetry, can be utilised to teach children about sensitive issues like the disaster of the Holocaust.
bonds, or partnerships, between teachers, parents, children and the community, we may be
making positive strides towards addressing fear and other emotions in young children.
Partnerships, as this term is used in this research can be defined as interaction and
participation between teachers, families, children and community members to achieve
greater understanding of children's experiences, qualities, needs and backgrounds and to
implement action based on this understanding to further enhance children's development
and learning (Arthur et al, 1999; Dwyer, 1989). This can be achieved through partners
sharing information about children's fears and other emotions to develop an increased
awareness of the emotional spectrum of young children, and through sharing ideas about best practice in responding to these emotions as a way of helping young children to understand and develop appropriate ways of expressing these emotions. Through
supporting children's growing understanding of emotions, we encourage the development of emotional literacy, which helps children to achieve both within the school setting and in life in general.
The study is qualitative in design, using a constructivist framework to examine fear and adults' responses to fear by collecting individual constructions from preschool children, their parents, their caregivers and the researcher. This was undertaken using a variety of tools, including: Parents' Surveys, Caregivers' Surveys and Focal Group Interviews; observations by the researcher; and a reflective journal kept by the researcher. Data were collected over a six-month period from four early childhood settings available to children aged three to five in the area: a long day care centre, an independent preschool; a preschool attached to a school; and a multifunctional Aboriginal children's. Total participants included forty-five children aged between three and five years old, forty-six parents and twenty-one caregivers.
The eight basic emotions surveyed were reported as present in preschool children, however reports of fears varied greatly between parents, caregivers and the children themselves. Caregivers reported the least awareness of fears in children. This may be accounted for by the limited time and context that caregivers have with children. However, if caregivers' jobs are to prepare children for learning and for life, they need to be aware of all aspects of child development and of how they can help each child to reach her/his potential.
A variety of methods were reported by both parents and caregivers to respond to children's fears. However, not all of these methods proved effective; some even seemed to invalidate the emotion of fear in young children. For example, denying fear or modelling non-fearful behaviour may give children unrealistic messages about the emotion.
A discrepancy between parents' reports of their own responses to fear and of caregivers' responses was noted, even though many parents reported similarities in parental and caregivers' approaches. Parents reported that they responded to children's fears in both verbal and physical ways. Yet parents expected caregivers to respond to children's fears by talking to them; few mentioned physical responses such as giving the child a cuddle. This may be due to the current social context where child protection is focused on by the mass media.
While caregivers were often reported to be extensions of parents in their responses to fear, some caregivers reported implementing teaching and planning strategies in addressing fear. Many participants reported that caregivers' responses to children's fears could be more effective, and some offered suggestions for further responding to children's fears.
Most participants seemed to view fear as negative and in need of eradication. The literature, however, suggests that it is important to understand all emotions and to be able to express them in ways that are both individually and socially acceptable. This means a shift in social/pedagogical thinking to a more emotion-based curriculum, supportive of emotion understanding and expression.
Available at https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/705/
ensure their survival following traumatic events. Because of this, parents and teachers need
to be conversant with ways of encouraging children’s agency to support their health and
efficacy throughout the lifespan. This paper takes the form of a literature review covering
historical and recent developments in the field of childhood, child abuse and child agency. It
offers the findings of a qualitative document study that aimed to explore how childhood and
child agency have been conceptualized historically in the Western world. It begins with a
summary of theories and typologies of childhood throughout history, exploring the unique
social and historical concepts in which theories of childhood and child agency developed.
Furthermore, a paradigm shift in Western society towards women achieving agency is
revealed. With this came greater attention to the child, especially the abused child. Focusing
on abuse to which children have been exposed, this study looks at child agency and how it
can be actualized for children’s wellbeing. Research findings make a strong case for the arts
to provide valuable tools of resilience for the developing child. Arts-based activities have been
increasingly appreciated as providing a voice for traumatized or abused children. Therefore,
the findings of this study into agency and child abuse were distilled into a poem to
demonstrate the potential impact on a child and to help adults better understand the historically
perceived voiceless victim. The poem, as seen from the perspective of the child,
offers a distinctive contribution to the literature on child abuse. Key findings of this study are
discussed, including the importance of increasing understanding of children’s agency. It is
argued that a shift in childrearing, incorporated child protection laws and agentic experiences
build children’s confidence to challenge the traditional adult-child power relationship. The
results of this research help to contribute to teacher knowledge about the intricate background
to child abuse and child agency.
Play, in this conceptualization, might be seen as problematic; an imposition on the adult world. Play is therefore restricted, adult-controlled and rule-bound, with little room for choice or initiative on the part of the child.
This paper examines ten constructs of childhood (Sorin & Galloway, 2005), their relationship to adult constructs, and how play would be envisaged for each of these constructs. These constructs include: the child as innocent, the child as evil, the child as miniature adult, the child as adult-in-training, the noble/saviour child, the commodified child, the snowballing child, the out-of-control child, the child as victim and the agentic child.
and actual classroom practice. Yet, as Adam (in Errington 2010) notes, “There is a certain ‘complementarity’ between
theory and practice that is perhaps most productive at the nexus between the two” (97). Scenario-based learning (SBL) is
a means through which that nexus can be explored; theory applied to practice; and preservice teachers more supported
in their transition to professional practice. SBL is based on Lave and Wegner’s (1991) concept of situated learning,
where apprentices are “schooled” in the ways of the profession by expert practitioners, in what they term, “legitimate
peripheral participation.” Scenarios are hypothetical situations created to situate learners in a “real life” context within
the safety of the classroom and as a way to practice and trial ways of responding to various professional issues. In this
research, SBL was introduced into an online Early Childhood Education university subject and developed over a number
of years using an Action Research framework. Through learner and colleague feedback and critical reflection, scenarios
have been refined to more closely align with learner needs and changes to early childhood policy and practice. This
paper reports on the process of developing scenario-based learning, from its inception through to its current delivery.
participation and the subsequent pressure on
work placement opportunities where students,
as would-be professionals, can articulate and
present their experience has resulted in a reevaluation
of what is possible in embedding
graduate attributes while studying at university.
Added to this pressure is the Australian
Government’s insistence on institutions helping
students bridge perceived gaps between subject
theory and professional practice.
Scenario-based learning (SBL), based on
situated learning theory incorporating
contextual knowledge, may provide one
approach for getting students nearer to the
realities of their intended workplace through the
construction and analyses of authentic learning
experiences and the conscious embedding of
graduate attributes—as the building bricks for
employability. SBL is not used to replace workbased
experiences but rather to supplement
them.
This brief article summarises the journey made
so far by five colleagues from four discipline
areas and Teaching and Learning Development
at James Cook University (JCU), whose
collective aim is to embed graduate attributes
into their four curriculum areas using scenario-based learning
ranging from marine, coral reefs, to the arid and semi-arid outback, to tropical rainforests.
Young children’s perceptions of, and attitudes to their environment carry with them into
adulthood, determining their capacity to learn about and interact with their world. To sustain
Australia’s unique landscapes it is essential that these future adults have an informed
knowledge of the role, value and function of the country’s environment. To ensure that we
are helping the youth of today understand the natural environment we must first determine
their current perceptions of it.
This research describes an Arts/Science nexus; while traditional data collection methods,
such as surveys, interviews and focus groups are often used to determine children’s
understandings, these methods are limited by their reliance on words. Children, particularly
young children, do not always have the words to describe what they see, think or feel. The
Arts, however, can be used as tools to help children express their ideas and feelings. So our
research question was: how can we use an Arts-based methodology to determine children’s
perceptions of their environment?
To answer this question, five arts-based strategies were trialled, tested and refined. This
article elucidates these different strategies, including the methods used and the impact of
these methods on children’s expression of their environmental understandings. It concludes
with a description of the researchers’ key learnings relating to arts-based data collection methods to determine children’s environmental perceptions.
understanding and knowledge of life. Memorial: The Silence of Extinction is a community art project designed to
heighten awareness of the annual loss of plant and animal species due to extinction. People from around the globe were
invited to commemorate the loss of a species by creating an image that was placed in a pocket in a panel in the Memorial
work of art. As images were added, Memorial grew until it spanned over fifty metres, revealing thousands of images.
Memorial was exhibited at venues in Australia and globally. During one of these exhibitions, participants were asked to
complete a survey about their understandings of extinction before, during and after creating their image. Findings from
their surveys showed that involvement in this community art project was engaging and thought provoking. Further,
participants seemed to gain an enhanced understanding of the scale and currency of extinction.
satellite, interest in gifted education, which had waned in the years leading up to the Second
World War, was once again reignited in Canadian education. North America looked to its
human capital, particularly in the areas of mathematics, science, and engineering to keep up
with the Soviets. Departments of education in Canada and the United States prioritized the
identification and nurturing of the “best and brightest” students for the sake of the nation. The
Major Work program in Winnipeg, which began in 1954 and ended rather abruptly in 1972,
seventeen years before the end of the Cold War, was one of many gifted programs introduced
in Canada and the United States in an attempt to address the supposed innovation gap with
the Soviet Union. This article looks at the rise of Winnipeg’s Major Work program in the
1950s, when society-centred rhetoric replaced earlier child-centred rhetoric and then itself was
overridden by the 1970s social, economic, and political reforms, which again tended towards
child-centred, integrated education. https://historicalstudiesineducation.ca/index.php/edu_hse-rhe/article/view/4671
many people’s social support network. While such animals, particularly dogs, have since been successfully used as
therapy dogs in clinical situations since the 1960s, the use of dogs in the learning environment has only recently been
trialled. Turner (2011) evaluated the use of dogs within the adult learning environment, ultimately concluding that dogs
can be a beneficial bridge between adults and education. Jenkins (2009) and Sorin (2012) investigated the value of dogs
within the primary school system, finding benefits including enhanced literacy, and improved social skills. Bassette and
Taber-Doughty (2013) found that on-task behavior increased in primary school students with emotional and behavioural
disabilities through a dog reading program. Increasingly, the value of dogs within a variety of learning environments, is
being recognized. In Australia, the Delta Society’s ‘Classroom Canines’ program, where children read to dogs, was
developed to assist children with literacy and/or social/emotional skills. This research investigated the impact of the
Classroom CaninesTM program on the reading, social/emotional skills and motivation to attend school of 11 students,
aged 5 – 11, in a primary school in Australia. All students had been identified as falling below, or being at risk of falling
below, the academic benchmarks for their year level. The study used both quantitative and qualitative data, including
reading scores, attendance records, classroom observations, interviews with teachers and students, and researcher
journals. The study found that reading scores and attendance improved, but further that children were more motivated to
learn, felt better about themselves as learners, and seemed to get along better with their peers.