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Learn How Children Learn Through Reggio Emilia Exhibit in Williamsburg

By Serena Dai | January 6, 2015 2:00pm
 Children play with natural materials such as sticks and rocks as part of the Reggio Emilia method.
Children play with natural materials such as sticks and rocks as part of the Reggio Emilia method.
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Jane Racoosin

WILLIAMSBURG — Locals curious about Italian early educational method Reggio Emilia — and how children learn from it — will soon have the opportunity to visit a traveling exhibit in Williamsburg this year.

"The Wonder of Learning," a Reggio Emilia museum exhibit that's been touring the world since 1987, will be on display at Williamsburg Northside School for free between Jan. 15 and May 15.

It's just the second time the exhibit, which intends to show alternative ways that children learn, has stopped in New York.

Many educators have visited Reggio Emilia, Italy, in order to see the early education method — which allows children to have more control — in action, and the exhibit is a way for people to learn about it without leaving home, said Jane Racoosin, who helped bring the show to New York and runs Beginnings Nursery School.

With the city's focus on pre-K education, locals should have the opportunity to learn about different ways for young children to learn, she said.

"This is saying, children can learn in this way, and they don't have to be tested all the time," Racoosin said. "Learning can also happen if you're taught in a way that's not so structured."

The exhibit will have five galleries showing projects from children in Reggio Emilia programs, such as how children used materials they found outdoors to create paint, or how babies played with white materials like paper.

The 299 North Seventh St. exhibit will also feature two hands-on studios where children can play with light and shadows or work with "natural materials" such as stones or leaves.

Watching children play allows adults to understand how they learn, Racoosin said.

"It helps you get into the mind of a child and see the amazing potential, and the depth of what they're thinking about," she said.

"Sometimes we — especially New Yorkers — need to slow down and see what a child says about a sunflower that's disintegrating."

The exhibit will be open Wednesdays to Sundays from noon to 6 p.m. It will be open until 8 p.m. on Feb. 4, March 5, April 2 and May 7.