Language of Collaboration

In the beautiful book, Cup, the authors, Bridgette Towle and Angela Heape, describe some amazing outcomes as children were carefully supported in carrying out an elaborate and on-going project centered around explorations of plastic cups. Here’s a description of one interesting outcome:

“Over many months of cup building we noticed the emergence of a group ‘lingo’ or special vocabulary between children to describe particular phenomena such as ‘attach’ and ‘bash,’ ‘diamond’ and ‘three-on-three.’ The word ‘attach’ seemed to refer to an intriguing phenomenon that saw tentacle-like arms of cups or blocks reaching in and out of buildings as if seeking connection with others.

When the environment was buzzing with construction, particularly first thing in the morning, the desire to ‘attach’ structures to others was particularly evident. We were intrigued. What was driving this urge to attach buildings? We began wondering if there was an association between the physical attachment of buildings and children’s social interactions, and their sense of belonging to the group. We decided to listen more carefully to see if we could gain deeper insight into the children’s perspectives.” 

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