Substantive Themes, Methodology and the Use of Video in the Early Years Learning Environment: a Postmodernist Interpretation

This paper seeks to develop a postmodern interpretation of educational research in light of the multimedia possibilities that are becoming increasingly available. Most research is still presented as duo media ie. using only text, charts and sometimes photographs. Computer software now makes the use of multimedia a more realistic option. The postmodern in research aims to retain the lived complexity of the real world and the use of video is an ideal medium supporting this ambition. The use of video provides the opportunity to develop a research orientation that resembles an exploratory journey through a virtual world of multiple classrooms. Images from Impressionist as well as Cubist art forms lend themselves particularly well as ways of mapping the routes taken during this virtual journey. Here there will be no precise research questions, only experiences en route. Clarke (2005) highlights key differences between modernist grounded theory and postmodernist grounded theorising. This view of research in process, as well as Clarke's use of cognitive maps is consistent with the virtual journey leading to multiple relational and positional maps. The current paper represents a work in progress and provides no more than a glimmer of light in the depths of the forest.