Mapping children's sense of belonging through multimodal composition in the classroom

Drawing insights from an ethnographic study with two young refugee-background children, this paper examines the multiple contexts that influence their identity negotiations during their first three years of resettlement to the United States. The analysis aims to expand the growing literature on funds of identity (FOI) with specific attention to structural barriers that defund their FOIs. The findings are categorised in three intersecting themes: 1) transnational and translinguistic funds of identity, which are challenged by xenophobia, monolingualism and social class barriers; 2) funds of intercultural identity, which are jeopardised by racial and religious exclusion; and 3) funds of academic identity in the home which are threatened by social class challenges. The paper concludes with the implications of the analysis for theory and practice.

The Avatar Project was a two-week English project in which Chinese high school students in an internationalised school in Shanghai China explored the topic of cultural and individual identity. The project synthesised prospective education with the Funds of Identity approach, both of which have particular relevance within an internationalised teaching context. During the project, students created three identity texts: a written reflection, a word cloud and an avatar which were later used as data for this article. This article presents findings from the project and critically evaluates the effectiveness of avatars and word clouds as strategies for detecting students’ funds of identity. A multimodal approach to data collection and analysis was adopted in order to ensure that the interpretation of students’ work remained situated within their lived experience. The project revealed the existence of social, practical, institutional and cultural funds of identity. However, it also detected more problematic forms of funds of identity related to political and philosophical beliefs which I label ideological and existential funds of identity. While avatars and word clouds were effective in drawing out students’ out-of-school identities, the written reflections were ultimately more useful in revealing students’ funds of identity and also ensuring that any interpretations remained within the participants’ horizon of intended meaning. The project also brought about significant transformation in the way I viewed my students.

As food consumption increased in quality and quantity after WWII, children in Japan and South Korea grew in height at unprecedented speed, with South Korea some two decades behind Japan due to the Korean War (1950-53). Children in the younger ages ceased to grow taller in Japan shortly before the economy plunged into stagnation in the early-1990s. Children in South Korea kept increasing in height to catch-up with Japanese peers in the mid-1990s and overtook them by 3-5 cm in height in the mid-2000s and then plateaued in the expanding economy toward the end of the 2010s. Have Japanese and Koreans depleted respective gene potentials in height? Children in Japan started to turn away from fruit in the late-1970s and ate far less than one-tenth the volume eaten by older adults in their 50s-60s in 2010. Children in South Korea started to steer away from vegetables in the early-1990s and ate less than one-tenth the volume eaten by older adults in their 50s-60s in the end of the 2010s. Unhealthy diets, with so little fruit/vegetables, likely caused plateauing of children’s height in both Japan and South Korea. It is premature to assume that genetic potential for adult height has been reached.

This paper presents a methodology for mapping and localization of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) based on the integration of sensors from different modalities. Particularly, we integrate distance estimations to Ultra-Wideband (UWB) sensors and 3D point-clouds from RGB-D sensors. First, a novel approach for environment mapping is introduced, exploiting the synergies between UWB sensors and point-clouds to produce a multi-modal 3D map that integrates the estimated UWB sensors position. This map is further integrated into a Monte Carlo Localization method to robustly estimate the UAV pose. Finally, the full approach is tested with real indoor flights and validated with a motion tracking system.

In this paper, we present a novel multi-sensor fusion framework for tightly coupled monocular visual-LiDAR odometry and mapping. Compared to previous visual-LiDAR fusion frameworks, our proposed framework leverages more constraints among LiDAR features and visual features and integrates that in a tightly coupled approach. Specifically, the framework starts with a preprocess module which contains LiDAR feature extraction, visual feature extraction and tracking, and visual feature depth recover. Then a frame-to-frame odometry module is established by fusing visual feature tracking and LiDAR feature match between frames, aiming to provide a coarse pose estimation for next module. Finally, to refine the pose and build a multi-modal map, we introduce a multi-modal mapping module that tightly couple multi-modal feature constraints by matching or registering multi-modal features to multi-modal map. In addition, the proposed fusion framework also functions well in sensor-degraded environment (texture-less or structure-less), which increases its robustness. The effectiveness and performance of the proposed fusion framework are demonstrated and evaluated on the public KITTI odometry benchmark, and results show that our proposed fusion framework achieves comparable performance compared with the state-of-the-art visual-LiDAR odometry frameworks.

Contemporary therapeutic trauma practice privileges symptom-based models that overlook the potential of materiality and space in trauma healing. The responsibility for recovery is situated in the individual (i.e., the parent). We suggest that trauma and lived experiencing produce and are produced by the complex relational entanglings of parent, infant, and the dyad with the world. Employing a new materialist orientation to perinatal and infant mental health and trauma, we propose multimodal mapping as an approach that can move with the multisensorial, multidimensional rhythms of trauma and trauma healing as they unfold in a series of now moments; moments that emerge within the context of the parent–infant relationship. This article re-presents the conceptual material and multimodal maps that emerged from our presentation and experiential invitation at the Big Trauma, Big Change Forum, 2024. Organised into two interconnected parts, we begin by emphasising the capacity of multimodal mapping to enable a nuanced translation of lived experiencing for parents and infants, in research and practice, that can transform trauma and potentiate healing. The second part brings focus to a new mapping experiment whereby the audience engaged in a multimodal process of re-configuring the lived experiencing of parent–infant night-time spaces using collage, images, and group process. We include three illustrations of night-time spaces common to parents and infants, exploring the power of materiality, the arts, and objects in transforming the affective, sensory, and embodied affordances that shape mental health. Arts-based mapping interventions can profoundly shape how we understand and respond to trauma, moving us towards a “more-than” conceptualisation of lived experiencing that is sensed and animated in everyday and every “thing” moments. Our hope is to inspire the audience in adopting a relational orientation that innovates new processes of discovery by mapping the human and more-than-human elements involved in parent–infant well-being and the unravelling of trauma.

Research has consistently reported the association between intergenerational relationship quality and mental health outcomes in later life. However, few studies have examined the link among very old parents and their older children, and even fewer studies investigated whether the relationship quality matters similarly to parents and children. Employing a dyadic approach, this study examined how one’s own and partner’s perceptions of relationship quality (i.e., support and conflict) are associated with depressive symptoms among very old parents and their children. Data from 105 dyads of parents (age 81-97; M = 87.92, SD = 2.80) and their children (age 65-72; M = 65.87, SD = 1.23) in South Korea were used. Results showed that parents tended to report significantly higher levels of intergenerational support and lower levels of intergenerational conflict, compared to their children. Regarding the actor effects of relationship quality, one’s own perceptions of intergenerational conflict were positively associated with depressive symptoms for both parents (β = 0.26, p < .01) and children (β = 0.37, p < .001), whereas intergenerational support was not significant. In terms of the partner effect, intergenerational support (reported by parents) was negatively related to depressive symptoms only for children (β = -0.21, p < .01), but the partner effect of conflict was not significant. The findings highlight the centrality of perceptions of intergenerational relationship in understanding well-being in later life. Further, children’s depressive symptoms were susceptible to how their parents view the relationship. Findings were discussed in the context of Intergenerational Stake Theory.

Within the framework of theoretical developments in so-called participatory culture and the context of funds of identity, incorporated within what is known as the funds of knowledge approach, an innovative teaching methodology is implemented that allows students to actively participate in knowledge construction. The project translates into a proposal for educational contextualization and personalization, based on the students’ funds of identity; that is, those resources (people, artifacts, places, activities, institutions) they consider to be most relevant and significant to defining themselves. Once these have been identified through identity artifacts, such as collages or self-drawings, students link some of these funds of identity to curricular content of the subject and produce a video that shows the results of this academic work. The final product is shared on a YouTube channel containing the videos of all of the students in the class. The phases of the project are described and illustrated. We argue that the proposed teaching and learning project, which is cross-disciplinary in nature, allows for principles such as educational contextualization, funds of identity and participatory culture to be incorporated into what we call here the funds of identity 2.0 approach, putting it into educational practice.

The aim of this study was to estimate the incidence of acute pesticide poisoning among children in South Korea and describe the related epidemiologic characteristics. We evaluated the age-standardized rates of incidence of pesticide poisoning among children in South Korea from 2006 through 2009 using National Health Insurance claims data. A total of 1232 children aged 0-14 years were identified from the acute pesticide poisoning cases reported across South Korea during the study period. The annual average age-standardized rate of incidence from acute pesticide poisoning was 3.6 per 100 000. The majority of the cases were identified in the categories of the 1-4-year-old age-group (56.5%), outpatients (80.0%), single-day visit to a hospital (70.4%) and summer occurrence (43.3%). Acute pesticide poisoning is prevalent among children in South Korea; therefore, intervention efforts are needed to reduce the cases of pesticide poisoning among children.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the extent of the difference in health status between South Korea (SK) and North Korea (NK) by comparing indicators relevant to maternal and child health.Methods: The maternal and child health status of SK and NK considering population, birth, and mortality was reviewed using 2 Korean statistics, United Nations Children’s Fund, and United Nations databases from 1950 to 2017.Results: The annual number of total live births in SK had decreased from 1,006,600 in 1970 to 326,900 in 2018, and that in NK had declined from 530,000 in 1970 to 360,000 in 2015. The percentage of children among the total population was higher in NK than in SK, and the decrease in the percentage of children in SK is remarkable, which is related to a low fertility rate in the last few decades. However, the mortality rates related to children were higher in NK than in SK. In 2017, neonatal mortality rates (per 1,000 live births) in SK and NK were 1.5 and 9.0, respectively. The fertile female population of SK and NK in 2015 was 50.2% and 52.0%, respectively, and SK and NK’s aging index (%) in 2017 was 107.3 and 46.1, respectively.Conclusion: This study shows the different population distributions and maternal and child health statuses between SK and NK, which may have a negative impact on social integration after reunification. Therefore, it is important to understand the indicators of maternal and child health to become the powerbase of efficient healthcare system integration by minimizing the impact at the beginning of the reunification.

First detection of group C rotavirus in children with acute gastroenteritis in South Korea

The creation and enforcement of a cisgender binary throughout the history of the United States has led to the establishment of trans* identities as “deviant” or “deficient” others—mentalities that bleed into the policies, practices, and pedagogical environments of higher education institutions. Often, these understandings lead researchers, practitioners, and pedagogues alike to understand trans* students as being at an innate deficit when entering higher education based on their gender identities, and seek one-size-fits-all solutions to work with these students without critiquing their complicity in the systems of power that create trans*-exclusive environments. In order to transform institutions and subvert trans* oppressive practices, it is necessary to view trans* collegians as assets to their educational environments. Using a queered funds of identity approach, this qualitative study explores the ways of knowing trans* collegians develop throughout their lives as well as how students employ these world views in navigating often oppressive classroom environments. Findings from this study contribute to a growing body of literature centering the voices of trans* collegians in research on their collegiate experiences through a critical, asset-based lens. Presenting narrative profiles of three participants holding a wide range of gender, racial, ethnic, class, ability, and other social identities, this article dispels understandings that all trans* collegians experience gender, the classroom, and higher education identically. Findings also inform future research and pedagogical practice by postulating funds of identity as an ideal framework for engaging trans* students at the collegiate level.

Funds of identity is a recent entrant to the field of identity theories. Located within sociocultural theory, the concept developed from the notion of funds of knowledge to consider all life experiences that collectively shape identity development. It draws attention to the relationships, settings, experiences, and cultural tools and symbols that are personally meaningful to people, and ways these mediate engagement with identity development. I make two contributions to advancing funds of identity theory. First, I provide empirical evidence with respect to a very young child’s engagement with funds of identity. I report findings related to Zoe, a child who participated with her family in a qualitative project on the interests of children aged from birth-to-five years old in Auckland, New Zealand. Second, I extend funds of identity theory through arguing that agency and imagination ought to be explicit concepts in this theory given that it foregrounds the capacity for humans to act on and imagine their worlds. Interest, agency, imagination and identity are concepts that can promote the dynamic view of development Vygotsky championed, and help to explain the way ongoing sociocultural mediation determines developmental possibilities and learning trajectories.

This study reviews the current state of multicultural education for migrant children in South Korea and calls for a critical reorientation of multicultural education for all. Racism was deepened during the colonial period in Korea, and continues to this day. Thus I argue that the ambivalent, dualistic ethnic prejudice distorted by colonialism can be resolved only through a decolonization of thinking. Currently South Korea is moving from being a homogeneous and mono‐cultural community into a heterogeneous and multicultural society. In this context, immigrants are subject to discrimination and excluded from ethnocentric Korean society, and abused in terms of universal human rights. This is the environment for the urgently needed multicultural education. Multicultural education is one of the avenues through which we are able to confront racism today throughout the world. Multicultural education in Korea needs to be reconsidered in accordance with the rights to education for all children and in keeping with global justice.

Case study of bibliotherapy for 2 groups of 67 children at age 416 from North Korean defectors’ families was implemented for 8 weeks on the weekly basis in different districts of Seoul, South Korea. Findings of the current study show that defensive attitudes of the participants had been decreased, however, psycho-social, cognitive, cultural, and lingual needs have to be met with intimate and long-term programs at microand macro level of national NK defectors support system in South Korea.