Intellectual Pursuits of Young Children Through Picture Book Literacy, Focusing on Italian Preschools

Abstract

In this article, I will examine the use of picture books as a means of supporting the intellectual pursuits of young children. Theoretical frameworks will be discussed as they pertain to the integration of these books in the Municipal Infant Toddler Centers and Preschools of Reggio Emilia and Pistoia, Italy. The pedagogical framework of these schools will be discussed depicting how the sociocultural and the constructivist theories are evident and developed through the careful guidance provided through the triangulation of school personnel, community, and the home. This triangulation places the child at the center of their own learning through investigations, inquiry, and curiosity. A focus will be on the use of picture books in the Italian school culture and how the artistic genre of these books plays an important role in the transference of ideas and subliminal but important messages of literacy.