Children In Context Research Articles

Research work as curriculum work in New Zealand early childhood settings: What should be taught and learned?

Abstract This article draws from experiences in an ongoing study of children’s narrative competence in the early years across early childhood education and school settings. Focusing on the research as it is being conducted in the early childhood context (a kindergarten), the paper inquires into what it means to do research in education settings where curriculum is constituted as everything that happens there, and principles of curriculum demand empowering, responsive and reciprocal, inclusive and holistic practices. Questions of research ethics, children’s rights to assent or dissent to participate, to learn about the findings and consequences of the research, and to have the research recognised as curriculum experience are raised. Sitting at the intersection of research work and pedagogical/curriculum work the paper explores lessons from New Zealand of striving towards a fuller curriculum policy implementation and of addressing demands for ethical research practices with children who are very young.

Inquiring minds: theorizing children’s interests

Children’s interests are a common foundation for early childhood curricula. Yet, little research is available about the fundamental nature of children’s interests and analytical ways to recognize and engage with these. Early work on children’s interests adopted a psychological perspective and associated interests with activity choices. Recent work has taken a sociocultural perspective, arguing that more analytical interpretations of children’s interests can occur through a deeper understanding of children’s funds of knowledge from their lives in their families and communities, and their inquiries that result. This paper draws on a qualitative, interpretivist study in two early childhood centres in Aotearoa New Zealand to extend this work and argue that children’s ‘real questions’ are the fundamental source of their interests. The interpretations presented of children’s questions also challenge earlier psychological research that suggested children cannot imagine their future selves until late in the early childhood period. A revised continuum of children’s interests and examples of interpretations of children’s real questions are proffered for further consideration in other early childhood contexts. Further, the paper argues that interests-based curriculum is justifiable in the early years through likely leading to a range of long-term outcomes valued by societies.

Cute, creepy and sublime unnamed childhood monstrosities

ABSTRACTStrangers, Gods, and monsters are all names for the experience of alterity and otherness within and amongst us. We need monsters in our lives. In this paper we use philosophy as a method to explore language, developmental and cultural instabilities, and terrifying (and discursive) monstrosity located within children's literature and childhood contexts. Philosophy as a method serves as an engagement, an ethical relationship with monstrous thoughts, and as an opening to the philosophical thinking of everyday practices of childhood play (i.e., through objects, practices, language, text, and images). Alongside and through cute, creepy and sublime notions of monsters in children's literature children become monsters–monsters become children. We draw from Derrida's notions of hospitality and hostility and Deleuze and Guattari's deterritorialization of minor literature as well as from literature on monsters, monstrosities, and ugliness. We argue that different representations of childhood monstrosity can help educators and other adults to see the ‘productive’ in childhood otherness, to consider the always present ‘childhood undecidable’ (simultaneous presence of cute and creepy) and the generative in infinitely unknown and unrecognizable childhood objects and discourses.

Thriving and surviving? The incredible problem of constructions of normality and Otherness in early childhood settings

This article explores what it means today for children to survive, thrive and reach their full potential – aspirations set out nearly 25 years ago as rights in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Espoused in the principles of the early childhood curriculum in Aotearoa New Zealand, the spirit and intent of these aspirations are undermined by a range of normalizing strategies endemic to The Incredible Years behaviour management programme imported to promote effective management of challenging behaviour in young children. We draw here on the philosophies of Julia Kristeva and Michel Foucault to question the normalization and consequent othering of children and childhoods, problematizing what it is to be ‘normal’. We confront government ‘solutions’ for education driven more by economic rationality than by educational concern for the complexities of the early childhood context. Our analysis of the normalization of childhoods and the government of teachers as ‘behaviour managers’ culminates in a rupturing of normalizing networks and highlights possible resistances and openings, towards surviving and thriving, and potential.

Gender, stress in childhood and adulthood, and trajectories of change in body mass

Despite substantial evidence of the linkage between stress and weight change, previous studies have not considered how stress trajectories that begin in childhood and fluctuate throughout adulthood may work together to have long-term consequences for weight change. Working from a stress and life course perspective, we investigate the linkages between childhood stress, adulthood stress and trajectories of change in body mass (i.e., Body Mass Index, BMI) over time, with attention to possible gender variation in these processes. Data are drawn from a national longitudinal survey of the Americans' Changing Lives (N = 3617). Results from growth curve analyses suggest that both women and men who experienced higher levels of childhood stress also report higher levels of stress in adulthood. At the beginning of the study period, higher levels of adulthood stress are related to greater BMI for women but not men. Moreover, women who experienced higher levels of childhood stress gained weight more rapidly throughout the 15-year study period than did women who experienced less childhood stress, but neither childhood nor adulthood stress significantly modified men's BMI trajectories. These findings add to our understanding of how childhood stress—a more important driver of long-term BMI increase than adult stress—reverberates throughout the life course to foster cumulative disadvantage in body mass, and how such processes differ for men and women. Results highlight the importance of considering sex-specific social contexts of early childhood in order to design effective clinical programs that prevent or treat overweight and obesity later in life.

The intensification of performativity in early childhood education

Operating within a neoliberal education reform context, performativity and teaching in schools has been a focus of study for a number of years. However, less is known about the effects of performativity on teaching and curriculum in the early childhood (preschool) context. Making a case for the intensification of performativity in Australian early childhood education, this paper reports on findings from a doctoral study and draws on research literature from the past fourteen years to illustrate how performative measures have increasingly affected teaching and curriculum. The way that performativity has intensified is discussed in three chronological phases, performativity emerging, consolidating and normalised. Teacher interview transcripts and curricular related policies were analysed using critical discourse analysis and Ranson’s typology of accountability regimes. Findings reveal that early childhood teachers have different ways of responding to performativity, with the teacher featured in this paper displaying three types of performative accountability: anxiety, confidence, and disregard. An implication arising from this paper’s findings illustrates how the effects of performativity on teaching and curriculum can be complex, contradictory and at times, unintended.

Children’s Voices in Australian School Age Care: What do They Think About Afterschool Care?

Abstract Participation in after school care in Australia has more than doubled since the 1980s with hundreds of thousands of children attending every day. Historically this form of care has been regarded as a service for parents rather than an opportunity for children. There is a paucity of Australian research for school age care (SAC). This study investigated children’s perceptions and experiences of afterschool care. 164 children in Prep/kindergarten to Year 7 across 14 services in Canberra and Logan participated in the research. Five questions were used to survey the children. Their responses supported the notion that SAC settings are important contexts of childhood and development. Afterschool care affords children opportunities to develop skills and competencies, make new friends as well as promoting and protecting play. Areas of health and safety, staffing, relationships with children were revealed as ways afterschool care could improve. Keywords: school age care, afterschool care, out of school hours care, children’s voices ----- Bibliography: Simoncini, Kym/Cartmel, Jennifer/Young, Amy: Children’s Voices in Australian School Age Care, IJREE, Vol. 3, Issue 1-2015, pp. 114-131. http://dx.doi.org/10.3224/ijree.v3i1.19584

Bead Board Letter Media Effectiveness as The Introduction Concept of Reading in Children Aged 5-6 Years

Introducing of reading concept is a process for introducing some words that doing by early introducing on alphabet symbol reading. A study of reading for early childhood is an important thing as preparation for reading readiness because it is the chance for kids as preparation for reading. One of the methods that given for introducing reading concept for kids is using attractive games and activities, such as alphabet beads board. The purpose of this research is for discover the effectivity of alphabet beads board as introducing of reading concept for kids age 5-6 years old (Experimental Research In Masyitoh V Margasari Kindergarten, Margasari District, Tegal County). This research using method Quasi-Experiment with The Static Group Comparison. Sampling technique is using Cluster Sampling with 5th Masyitoh Margasari Kindergarten as the experimental group and Karang Asem Masyitoh Kindergarten as the control group. Homogeneity test (F) showing if test score of the control group and the experimental group has variance difference. Acquired F significant score as big as 0,666. Because the significant score > 0,05; they are 0,666 > 0,005; so H0 is refused. Hypothesis test using t-test estimate (Independent sample t-test) and acquired score as big as 13,599 with ttable score as big as 2,390. Because tcount score > ttable score, they are 13,599 > 2,390; so H0 is refused. That show if there are difference on average test score of introducing of reading concept for kids age 5-6 years old. The conclusion that acquired from this research is there are significant influence by using of alphabet beads board as media for introducing of reading concept on experimental group. The meaning of this research if the using of alphabet beads board is effective as media for introducing of reading concept for kindergarten kids age 5-6 years old. Researcher suggests if we should be give learning process that proper with the personal context of early childhood by using applying and developing for enjoyable, simple, and easy media with some variation and innovative activities.How to citeJuwita, T., & Tasu’ah, N. (2015). Bead Board Letter Media Effectiveness as The Introduction Concept of Reading in Children Aged 5-6 Years. Indonesian Journal Of Early Childhood Education Studies, 4(1), 46-50. doi:10.15294/ijeces.v4i1.9453

Where we used to live: validating retrospective measures of childhood neighborhood context for life course epidemiologic studies.

Early life exposures influence numerous social determinants of health, as distal causes or confounders of later health outcomes. Although a growing literature is documenting how early life socioeconomic position affects later life health, few epidemiologic studies have tested measures for operationalizing early life neighborhood context, or examined their effects on later life health. In the Life-course Influences on Fetal Environments (LIFE) Study, a retrospective cohort study among Black women in Southfield, Michigan (71% response rate), we tested the validity and reliability of retrospectively-reported survey-based subjective measures of early life neighborhood context(N=693). We compared 3 subjective childhood neighborhood measures (disorder, informal social control, victimization), with 3 objective childhood neighborhood measures derived from 4 decades of historical census tract data 1970-2000, linked through geocoded residential histories (tract % poverty, tract % black, tract deprivation score derived from principal components analysis), as well as with 2 subjective neighborhood measures in adulthood. Our results documented that internal consistency reliability was high for the subjective childhood neighborhood scales (Cronbach’s α =0.89, 0.93). Comparison of subjective with objective childhood neighborhood measures found moderate associations in hypothesized directions. Associations with objective variables were strongest for neighborhood disorder (rhos=.40), as opposed to with social control or victimization. Associations between subjective neighborhood context in childhood versus adulthood were moderate and stronger for residentially-stable populations. We lastly formally tested for, but found little evidence of, recall bias of the retrospective subjective reports of childhood context. These results provide evidence that retrospective reports of subjective neighborhood context may be a cost-effective, valid, and reliable method to operationalize early life context for health studies.

Engaging Families in Nontraditional Settings and Nontraditional Ways

Meaningful and appropriate family engagement practices are reflected in a servicelearning project performed at a local homeless shelter by teacher candidates in social studies methods courses at a large metropolitan university. This experience suggests how practicing teachers may incorporate similar nontraditional means to develop better understandings of children's contexts and promote collaborative responsibility for educating children by creating authentic family relationships based on mutual convenience.

Adding learning resources: a study of two toddlers' modes and trajectories of participation in early childhood education

This study focuses on the nature of children's participation in an Australian early childhood context in which their second language is used. The aim is to create knowledge of toddlers' modes and trajectories of participation. Empirical data documenting the participation of two toddlers were gathered through video observations of everyday activities in the childcare programme across six weeks. The concepts of legitimate peripheral participation and changed participation were used as analytical tools for interpreting the empirical data. Interaction of the toddlers is illustrated through images and transcripts. The analysis show how their participation is carried out through non-verbal communication in silence and movement, and how the toddlers moved, in different ways, towards coordinating activities with other children. The children's trajectories illustrate how they come to participate in different ways and with additional learning resources. How the pedagogical approach acknowledges non-verbal actions and offers multiple modes and trajectories of participation is discussed.

Reflections in the Mirror of Reggio Emilia’s Soul: John Dewey’s Foundational Influence on Pedagogy in the Italian Educational Project

This paper articulates John Dewey’s socio-political and historical influence upon the foundation and evolution of the world-renowned Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. It proposes that the pedagogical depth, influence and endurance of the Italian project are grounded in Dewey’s philosophies of education, aesthetics and democracy. An analysis of scholarly and original sources outlines the socio-political climate in post World War II Italy, the work undertaken by several progressive Italian educators and the Italian translations of Dewey’s work during this period to reveal new insights about Dewey’s enduring influence on the pedagogical values which underpin the Reggio Emilia educational approach. In so doing, it acknowledges the direct Deweyan influence on the work of Italian reformers Borghi, Codignola, Malaguzzi and Ciari and on the developing Reggio Emilia project. This revelation of Dewey’s progressive values as interpreted by educators in Reggio Emilia offers inspiration to educators in contemporary early childhood contexts, to researchers and to students of the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education.

International research for the betterment of children worldwide

The book “Early Childhood Education: International Research Report” edited by László Varga is a unique and successful demonstration of global efforts for the betterment of children worldwide. This joint research initiative brought researchers and practitioners from the field of early childhood together to explore the context and culture of childhood as perceived by children, and current and future educators. In sixteen chapters, authors from eight countries across three continents – Europe, Asia and America – investigated diverse aspects of childhood and child development, such as children stories, play, project approach and traditional and non-traditional learning environments. The purposeful selection of countries and authors allows the reader to gain insights into early childhood trends and practices in diverse cultures. The studies conducted in various countries – Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, Turkey, The United Kingdom, Thailand and the United States of America – target the local context of childhood; however the context-specific findings carry features of similarities

Introducing E-portfolio Use to Primary School Pupils: Response, Benefits and Challenges

Electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) have a positive impact on the learning process in a broad range of educational sectors and on learners of all ages. Yet because most e-portfolio-related studies are about their implementation in higher education, this type of research is less usual in the early childhood context, and there is no available research for Greek schools. This study aims to investigate the impact of e-portfolios on learning in a Greek primary school and to provide a resource regarding the educational benefits of e-portfolio in primary education. To do that, it employs the qualitative naturalistic method to collect data, along with mixed methods which were used to achieve triangulation and strengthen confidence in the outcomes. Participants in the research were fourteen 8-year-old pupils, and one of the researchers was their regular teacher. Data evaluation revealed that the e-portfolio added value in pupils’ learning, acted as a medium to involve parents, promoted pupils’ self-esteem, and was acknowledged as a valuable assessment tool and a challenge for the school community. Based on the experience of the e-portfolio implementation, the authors provide some suggestions that would possibly help researchers and primary school teachers adopt and develop e-portfolio systems in their particular settings.

Disrupted relationships: adult daughters and father absence.

Changes in family structures have resulted in many children growing up in non-traditional families, where their father is not resident in the family home. Father absence that occurs as a result of the breakdown of the parental relationship is associated with life adversity and less than optimal outcomes for children and adolescents. However, little research exists that explores this phenomenon from the perspective of the father absent young person. This phenomenological study was conducted in 2005 and aimed to explore women's perceptions about relationships with their fathers within the context of a father absent childhood. Nine women participated in this study. Findings revealed that growing up without their father present in the family home disrupted the relationship these daughters held with their fathers. Due to the perceived lack of interest these daughters felt from their fathers, they expressed feelings of hurt and diminished respect for their fathers. Furthermore, participants felt that their fathers were unable to provide them with the father-daughter relationship that they sought. The findings of this paper provide insights that can help nurses and other healthcare professionals to recognise the emotional impact that father absence can have on young women. Findings suggest a need for further research to gain greater insights into the experiences of family members who undergo disruption of relationships due to family breakdown.

STOCHASTIC EDUCATION IN CHILDHOOD: EXAMINING THE LEARNING OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

This paper presents discussions on stochastic education in early childhood, based on two doctoral research projects carried out with groups of preschool teachers from public schools in the Brazilian cities of Suzano and São Paulo who were participating in a continuing education program. The objective is to reflect on the analysis of two didactic situations related to the learning of statistics in mathematics classes. The results show evidence of the mathematics learning of the teachers who teach mathematics in early childhood. They also highlight the mathematical and statistical relations that children are able to establish when carrying out stochastic activities included in their childhood context. First published November 2014 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

Geographic Effects on Intergenerational Income Mobility

abstract Research on intergenerational economic mobility often ignores the geographic context of childhood, including neighborhood quality and local purchasing power. We hypothesize that individual variation in intergenerational mobility is partly attributable to regional and neighborhood conditions—most notably access to high-quality schools. Using restricted Panel Study of Income Dynamics and census data, we find that neighborhood income has roughly half the effect on future earnings as parental income. We estimate that lifetime household income would be $635,000 dollars higher if people born into a bottom-quartile neighborhood would have been raised in a top-quartile neighborhood. When incomes are adjusted to regional purchasing power, these effects become even larger. The neighborhood effect is two-thirds as large as the parental income effect, and the lifetime earnings difference increases to $910,000. We test the robustness of these findings to various assumptions and alternative models, and replicate the basic results using aggregated metropolitan-level statistics of intergenerational income elasticities based on millions of Internal Revenue Service records.

An Introduction to the Isotopic Studies of Ancient Human Remains

Abstract This paper provides an introduction to methods in archaeology that utilize light isotopes for helping to determine diet and heavier isotopes for information on mobility and provenience of specimens. The common isotopic systems of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, strontium, and lead are described in terms of basic principles, specifically with references of human bone and tooth enamel. Isotopic analyses of carbon and nitrogen in collagen for past diet provides information on certain food types (e.g., C4 plants, marine resources, freshwater fish) and trophic level, while the analysis of oxygen, strontium, and lead can provide information on local vs. non-local origins, mobility, and place of origin. Analysis of tooth enamel provides information on childhood contexts, and the analysis of adult bone provides information on the later years of life. This paper is intended to provide the methodological background for the isotopic analysis of human and faunal materials from the Viking colonization of the North ...

Book Review: Clark A (ed.), Childhoods in Context

Book Review: Clark A (ed.), <i>Childhoods in Context</i>

A Qualitative Metasynthesis of How Early Educators in International Contexts Address Cultural Matters That Contrast With Developmentally Appropriate Practices

Research Findings: The National Association for the Education of Young Children's guidelines for developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) have been imported and researched by others across the globe. A central issue that has arisen for these international early childhood educators is whether these best practices are sensitive to the sociocultural contexts in which they work. To shed further light on this issue, a qualitative metasynthesis was conducted that examined findings from published peer-reviewed studies of DAP in international early childhood contexts that investigated how early educators conceptualized and/or engaged in practices with young children. It then looked at whether these understandings and/or practices culturally contrasted with DAP. In brief, matters involving culture that contrasted with the framework of DAP arose frequently for the early educators in the data set. Yet researchers rarely offered suggestions for early educators to attend to these issues. Practice or Policy: It seems that to address matters involving culture that contrast with the framework of DAP in international contexts early educators should examine the 3 central tenets of DAP simultaneously when addressing the needs of children—their sociocultural, individual, and developmental needs. It also appears that advocates for DAP need to consider whether particular materials, resources, and/or policies should be in place in any early childhood education context for early educators to conceptualize as well as practice DAP. Lastly, there is a need for further research that examines how teachers in international contexts are responding to cultural issues that contrast with DAP in their conceptions of and/or practices in early education.