Seeing spaces, inhabiting places: Hearing school beginners

Children are often the most silenced participants in the educative process. While being asked to write, read, draw, group, regroup, line up, pack up and otherwise conform to institutional expectations, their perceptions of schooling are often missing from considerations of optimal school environments. This chapter explores researching with children as germane to understanding not only perspectives of particular children, but the potency of the research methods employed. Findings from two studies reported here reveal children's interest in place as sensitive, thoughtful and often idiosyncratic. Agency (in the context of nature) and relationships are foregrounded with greater emotional power than teaching routines or instructional spaces. The studies discussed here contribute to conversations about this rich terrain, and the value of sharing both lived and memoried experiences with children to assist in adult understanding.