‘Dead Forever’: An ethnographic study of young children's interests, funds of knowledge and working theories in free play

This ethnographic case study explored how children build and use working theories in play (Hill, 2015), specifically theories about existential matters of life, death and dying, human nature, and the social, physical and natural world. The concepts of funds of knowledge and interests are integrated to theorise children's agency and competence in how they collectively build working theories. This conceptualisation reflects contemporary socio-cultural theories in which peer cultures, relationships and interactions are central to play and learning, with interaction conceived as multimodal, encompassing artefacts, embodiment and affect. Data is presented from research conducted with children age 4–6 (Hill, 2015), using videotaped episodes of their ‘Dead Forever’ play, and post-video discussions with children and parents. Findings indicate that children's interests and working theories are sources of knowledge in peer-led learning, as evidenced in the social, cognitive, cultural and affective content of their play. We propose a complex understanding of play and learning within child-led Zones for Proximal Development. The extent to which children's interests and working theories are understood by teachers to connect with curriculum goals is problematized in the context of contemporary ECE frameworks.