Taking a child-centred view of education and learning, this multidisciplinary exploration of childhood shows how children make sense of the world through everything they come into contact with, and all their interactions. The book takes a broad assessment of all children's roles and experiences, covering a diverse range of topics including:

• global and historical childhoods
• the child as meaning-maker and active learner
• learning in the context of family, culture, group, society
• representing and re-representing the world
• the development of symbolic representation
• the child and culture
• understanding roles, identity, race and gender
• making sense of science and technology
• brain functions and development.

Sandra Smidt depicts children as symbol users, role-players, investigators and creative thinkers, and follows children's progress in forming their understanding of their environment, asking questions about it, and expressing it through music, dance, art and constructive play.