Deepening connections with people and place

This article draws from a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative research project that aimed to explore how three early childhood centres support children to experience and learn about their local area, including its stories, geology, biodiversity, and cultural meanings. The project helps children envision socioecological futures. This article focuses on one of the research settings that participated in this study, Pakuranga Baptist Kindergarten, and how the pedagogy of listening and an unhurried approach to learning supports children to deepen both their understandings of and connection to place.