Nursery School Children Research Articles

L’insegnamento dell’italiano nella scuola materna ed elementare italiana «Maria Montessori» di Barcellona

This article outlines teaching activities carried out at the Italian School in Barcelona, for the teaching of Italian as a second language. The above experiences involved students whose first language is either Spanish or Catalan. The first part describes, in outline, how the teaching of a second language through games increases the comprehension and speaking of Italian at nursery school (children of 3-4-5 years of age). The second part explains the techniques used in introducing primary school students (children of 6-7 years of age) to reading and writing skills. The acquisition process should take students from a state of non-understanding to a state of zero uncertainty. The third part outlines how students attending primary school (children of 8-9-10 years of age) express themselves through writing. The children reached a good development of speaking, reading and writing skills and enjoyed experimenting different ways of communicating by writing texts and poems.

Researching nursery children’s awareness of the need for sun protection: towards a new methodology

Describes a small study to evaluate the usefulness of a song tape to promote sun protection messages to children in nursery schools and to find a method of researching young children’s views that could be used with small groups of children which would be simple to administer and analyse, and which would provide reliable data. Finds that the song tape was useful in stimulating work about the skin and the sun in nursery schools, although it was not the only cause of increased awareness of sun protection issues among the children as a result of the study. From the several methods considered, “draw and talk”, in which the children drew pictures in response to a suggestion and then talked to the researcher, proved to be the most successful in eliciting children’s levels of awareness of the need for sun protection. Draw and talk is an illuminative approach which provides quantifiable data and which could be used for development of other curriculum materials or for evaluation of existing programmes for the nursery age group.

保育園児を対象としたチンパノグラム１年間の観察例

保育園児を対象としたチンパノグラム１年間の観察例

Michael Faraday on the Learning of Science and Attitudes of Mind.

The paper makes use of Michael Faraday's ideas about learning, in particular his thoughts about attitudes to the unknowns of science and the development of an attitude which improves scientific decision-making. An invented scenario involving nursery school children demonstrates some attitudes displayed there. Discussion of the scenario and variation in possible outcomes suggests that Faraday's views are relevant to scientific learning in general. The main thesis of the paper is that it is central to learning in science to acknowledge that there is an inner struggle involved in facing unknowns, and that empathy with the fears and expectations of learners is an essential quality if genuinely scientific thought is to develop. It is suggested, following Faraday, that understanding our own feelings while we teach is a pre-requisite to enabling such empathy and that only then will we be in a position to evaluate accurately whether or not our pupils are thinking scientifically.

Preschool antecedents of defense mechanism use in young adults: a longitudinal study.

Preschool antecedents of the use of defense mechanisms were longitudinally studied using data from 90 nursery school children who were again evaluated at age 23. Defense use was determined by coding Thematic Apperception Test (H.A. Murray, 1943) stories with a method previously shown to be reliable and valid. The findings indicated continuity between preschool personality and subsequent defense use for male participants but little continuity for female participants. Young men's use of the age-inappropriate defense of denial was predicted by indications at ages 3-4 of low ego resiliency and psychological difficulties in the areas of emotion, intellect, impulse control, and social interactions.

Peut-on améliorer le sommeil des enfants ? Une recherche action en éducation pour la santé à l'école maternelle

An educational project in nursery schools was carried out with the aim to improve children's sleep. Its effectiveness was tested in terms of awareness of families and length of sleep of children. The method was a prevention trial based on the random division of classes of 3-year old into two groups (intervention group and control group) comprising children enrolled in nursery schools in the Rhône region (France) in 1992. The project, lasting 2 years, relied on physicians from the community (Maternal, Child Health Service and School Health Service), their role being to mobilise the teaching teams, distribute specific teaching tools and raise awareness of families to respect the sleep patterns of children, during routine medical examinations. The study was carried out in 140 nursery schools with 1,500 children in each group. The evaluation was based on the application of a logistical regression model taking potentially confounding factors into account, and an analysis in sub-groups in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of intervention on particularly exposed groups. The results show: 1) the feasibility of such an intervention among nursery school children on a large scale, 2) the effectiveness of the action, with a reduction of the risk of "poor knowledge" among parents (OR = 0.76), particularly in urban areas, and a reduction in the risk "short nights" in the sub-group of children who had " little sleep at 3 years" in low social class families (OR = 0.50).

Visual guidance of passing under a barrier

The theory of affordances proposes that organisms control their actions according to the fit between the organism and the environment. This study set out to examine the proposal that actions are attuned to environmental demands on the basis of body-scaled information and how modifications to such actor–environment synergies might be influenced by speed of locomotion and locomotor ability. The paradigm task was walking and running under a barrier set at different heights. The subject groups comprised normal adults, nursery school children, cerebral palsied children, and infants with less than 6 weeks' independent walking experience. A body-scaled critical point, at which they began to duck under the barrier, was observed for all but the infant subjects. In addition, the nursery school children were found to be more cautious in their behaviour than adults both when walking and running. The cerebral palsied children compensated for their poorer ability to control vertical position in space by allowing an even greater safety margin when passing under the barrier. The results provide support for an affordance theory of perception, in which body size, speed of locomotion and level of motor control are considered important properties of the actor–environment fit. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Visual guidance of passing under a barrier

The theory of affordances proposes that organisms control their actions according to the fit between the organism and the environment. This study set out to examine the proposal that actions are attuned to environmental demands on the basis of body-scaled information and how modifications to such actor–environment synergies might be influenced by speed of locomotion and locomotor ability. The paradigm task was walking and running under a barrier set at different heights. The subject groups comprised normal adults, nursery school children, cerebral palsied children, and infants with less than 6 weeks' independent walking experience. A body-scaled critical point, at which they began to duck under the barrier, was observed for all but the infant subjects. In addition, the nursery school children were found to be more cautious in their behaviour than adults both when walking and running. The cerebral palsied children compensated for their poorer ability to control vertical position in space by allowing an even greater safety margin when passing under the barrier. The results provide support for an affordance theory of perception, in which body size, speed of locomotion and level of motor control are considered important properties of the actor–environment fit. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Occlusal relationships and spacing or crowding of teeth in the dentitions of 3-4-year-old Nigerian children.

A study of 525 3-4-year-old children in nursery schools and day-care centres was carried out to assess occlusal relationships and the presence of spacing or crowding of teeth. No significant differences in occlusal relationships were found between boys and girls (P > 0.05). Bilateral straight terminal planes of molars and class 1 canine relationship were the most prevalent features (74.5% and 73.3% respectively). Most of the children had 'normal' vertical and transverse occlusal relationships. The most common sites of spacing were mesial to maxillary canines and distal to mandibular canines. 32% of the children were found to have generalized anterior segment spacing, 4% showed exclusively anthropoid spaces, and 18% had either contact between all the teeth or crowding in the anterior region.

TOTs: A time‐on‐task analysis of ethnic minority children in a multilingual nursery school

This paper presents a time‐on‐task analysis for a group of six 3‐year‐old children during their first term in a multilingual nursery school. The children are third‐generation British, born to families who are settled migrants. Data were collected using observation schedules specially designed to gather contextual data (Geertz, 1975), to describe the ways in which these young pupils spent their time in the nursery school. The children were observed on two separate occasions, on their first day in the nursery and then again 12 weeks later towards the end of their first term in formal education. Data analysis will be presented in the form of graphs to demonstrate the change in the patterns of time‐on‐task during the period of enculturation into the school environment. Findings differ from previous time‐on‐task analyses for monolingual children of a comparable age in a similar setting (Sylva et al., 1980).

Mrs Lily's spring story

‘Thanks, Mrs Lily’ called the nursery school children as they crossed the road and went in through the school gate.

Survey on the masticatory capability in nursery school children in Gosyogawara District.

Survey on the masticatory capability in nursery school children in Gosyogawara District.

保育園児のう蝕治療における医師誘発需要の検討

保育園児のう蝕治療における医師誘発需要の検討

The role of typical contours in object processing by children

Draughtsmen depicting objects often do so by means of outlines derived in a systematic manner from the objects' surfaces. These outlines represent those points on a solid's surface where the surface appears to change rapidly; a line joining these points of maximum change is here termed a typical contour. Previous research (Dziurawiec & Deregowski, 1992) has shown that children's distorted drawings of animal models may be explained by the child's tendency to depict typical contours for different regions of an object, e.g. head, trunk, tail, and bring these together in a single drawing. The present paper extends this research to the role of typical contours in the discrimination and recognition of unfamiliar solids. In Expt 1 results collected from 108 nursery school children indicate that learning to discriminate between unfamiliar models is significantly improved when the models' typical contours are presented in the participants' fronto‐parallel plane. In Expt 2 data collected from a further 107 nursery school children established that when all views of an unfamiliar object are available, nursery school children readily abstract the typical contours and use them as an aid to subsequent recognition. The utility of the typical contours approach, previously demonstrated for object depiction, is confirmed for object recognition.

Dental caries prevalence in relation to socioeconomic status of nursery school children in Goiânia-GO, Brazil.

The study was carried out to assess dental caries in the primary dentition of pre-school children in Goiânia-GO, Brazil, and to assess the influence of socio-economic status. The study population comprised 0-6-yr-old pre-school children (n = 2267) attending public (low SES children) and private (higher SES children) nursery schools. Mean dmft and percent caries-free were 0.09 (96.4%) at 1 year and younger, 0.40 (87.3%) at 2, 1.14 (69.9%) at 3, 2.18 (49.5%) at 4, 3.18 (36.1%) at 5, and 3.94 (29.4%) at age 6 years respectively. Caries prevalence was higher in those attending public nursery school than in those attending private schools (P < 0.05). Amongst children from public nursery schools the highest dmf component was untreated decay while in private nurseries it was filled teeth. The results indicate that social inequalities exist, which influence dental caries experience. It was concluded that oral health programmes for pre-school children emphasizing preventive measures and dental health education should be developed mainly in areas of social deprivation.

The outbreak of mumps in a small island in Japan.

A major mumps outbreak occurred on a small island, Ikeshima. in Nagasaki Prefecture from August 1994 to February 1995. There were 236 patients with the mumps at Ikeshima Miners' Hospital during that period. The Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR, Toitsukabu) vaccination coverage in the 43 children at the nursery school was 65.1% and it was 61.9% in the 21 children aged 4-5 years not attending the nursery school. Coverage was 66.6% in the 63 kindergarten students and 53.7% in 56 first-graders. The overall MMR vaccination coverage among these children was 61.7% (113/183) from 1989 to 1992. Children from the second grade to junior high school received monovalent mumps vaccine, Torii strain. None received Zishakabu MMR. The age of the patients ranged from 1 to 43 years, with a mean of 9.1 years. The majority (77.5%) were primary school children. The attack rates for vaccinated and unvaccinated children in grades one to six were: 6.7% (2/30) and 88.5% (23/26), 25% (3/12) and 44.1% (30/68), 11.1% (1/9) and 64.4% (29/45), 25% (2/8) and 60% (45/79), 22.2% (2/9) and 35.9% (28/78). 0% (0/5) and 24.7% (18/73), respectively. The overall frequency in the primary school was 41.4% (183/442 children). The frequency in the nursery school for children aged 4-5 years was 14.0% (6/43). It was 17.5% (11/63) in children aged 5-6 years in the kindergarten, 5.2% (11/213) in children not attending school with an age range of 1-5 years, and 4.2% (10/237) in junior high school students. Although the frequencies of MMR coverage for the nursery school children and kindergarteners were not high enough to eradicate mumps outbreaks, the MMR vaccination program was thought to have influenced the low frequency of mumps among the children. Close physical interactions among the first-graders would have contributed to their high frequency of mumps. Some patients presented with suspected mumps parotitis several times, but no such serological confirmation of reinfection was obtained.

Prevalence and incidence of enuresis before puberty

— A mixed study of prevalence and incidence of enuresis carried out at schools in the province of Sassari was planned over a 2-year period. 734 children aged between 3 and 11 years from 3 schools representative of the urban, suburban and rural areas of Sassari, were selected by “cluster” sampling. In this first stage of the project a study of prevalence on children aged 3, 6 and 9 years was carried out. The second stage encompassed a 2-year longitudinal study on those selected in the first stage and provided incidence data pertinent to children aged 4, 7 and 10 years. At the end of the second year of follow-up incidence data relative to children aged 5, 8 and 11 years will be available. Information about children's families and possible urologic disease was collected by means of a questionnaire. Urologic examination then followed. Cross sectional study. In the 73 children aged 3 years, who attended nursery schools, 7 cases of enuresis (9.6%) were ascertained. In the 306 6-year-old children of the first year of primary school, 22 cases of enuresis (7.2%) were observed. In the 355 9-year-old students of the fourth year of primary school, 10 cases (2.8%) were reported. Focusing on the geographical origin of the students, we observed 11 cases of enuresis (5.2%) in cluster I (suburban quarter), 11 cases (6.3%) in cluster II (urban area), and 17 cases (4.9%) in cluster III (rural area). Follow-up. No case of enuresis was observed among the nursery school children (aged 4 years); 2 new cases (0.7%) were ascertained in the 7-year-old group. In the group of children aged 10, only 1 new case (0.57%) was encountered. Taking into account the results of every single cluster, we observed 2 new cases (0.99%) in cluster I, one (0.61%) new case in cluster II and no cases in cluster III. Prevalence of enuresis reached 5.3% in the whole sample, showed a progressive decrease from the younger to the older age group (9.6% in 3-year-olds; 7.2% in 6-year-olds and 2.8% in 9-year-olds), with a clear though not significant male predominance. When data were analysed according to geographical “clusters” a higher prevalence of enuresis was observed among subjects living in the urban area (cluster II). Our results did not differ significantly from those collected by other Authors in similar surveys (Bloom 1993).

Teaching the World's Children: ESL for Ages Three to Seven

The language that young children use is the language they learn. This practical primer explains how early childhood educators and primary teachers can support the efforts of non-English speaking children in nursery schools, day-care centres and classrooms to use -and learn - English as a second language. Featuring ideas and advice from two ESL teachers, it is a guide to developing a sensitive, welcoming start for all the world's children.

Fluoride Retention after Sodium Fluoride Mouthrinsing by Nurseryschool Children

Fluoride Retention after Sodium Fluoride Mouthrinsing by Nurseryschool Children

Cross‐sectional comparisons of caries time trends in nursery school children in Sendai, Japan

The aim of this study was to clarify the trends in caries experience in the primary dentition of nursery school children in Sendai, Japan, over a period of 20 yr. An annual clinical dental examination of children aged 2-5 yr at 13 nursery schools in Sendai City was carried out in 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987 and 1992. Data obtained from all five surveys were compared in each age group respectively. The percentages of 2-, 3- and 4-yr-olds free from caries increased remarkably until 1977, while that in 5-yr-olds started increasing several years later. After such increments, percentages in all age groups except 3-yr-olds remained almost at the same level with slight fluctuations. The mean deft and defs values per child in 2-, 3- and 4-yr-olds decreased remarkably until 1977, but then remained almost at the same level thereafter. That in 5-yr-olds continued decreasing slightly during the 20-yr period. The marked reduction of caries experience in nursery school children shown during the 1970's did not continue through the 1980's or the beginning of the 1990's.