Nature Of Children Research Articles

‘The Yeti's on the other Side’: The Narrative Nature of Children's Play

This paper considers the narrative function of children's play by focusing on interwoven elements of story, imagination, and visual expression. It is argued that both story and play are important features of children's lives. When children engage in storytelling they are participating in a form of play which brings into account both their knowledge of the world and their knowledge of narrative conventions. Context is seen as an important factor in shaping and constraining the stories children tell. The paper concludes that storytelling has the potential to enhance literacy and, therefore, children's oral storytelling in classrooms needs to be encircled.

Education and Plato's Parable of the Cave

Plato's image of the cave in Republic Book VII is offered as “an analogy for the human condition—for our education or lack of it.” He tells us explicitly how to unpack some of its details: the cave is the region accessible to sight or perception; the world outside and above the cave is the intelligible region accessible not to perception but to reasoning; the upward journey out of the cave into daylight is the soul's ascent to the intelligible realm. The educator's task is a matter of turning souls around rather than introducing “knowledge into a soul which doesn't have it.” Such reorienting of souls has affective or desiderative dimensions as well as cognitive ones. Early education in mousikê and gymnastikê rechannels desire, wakes up the spirited part of the child's nature and enables it to work together with reason, imbuing the soul with that order and grace necessary for later cognitive development. Book VII outlines a curriculum to free the soul of the things that turn its sight downward and to reorient it towards the truth. Its outlines are Pythagorean, but it is Plato who most compellingly established the curriculum that still forms the basis for much liberal arts education.

Education and Plato's Parable of the Cave

Plato's image of the cave in Republic Book VII is offered as “an analogy for the human condition—for our education or lack of it.” He tells us explicitly how to unpack some of its details: the cave is the region accessible to sight or perception; the world outside and above the cave is the intelligible region accessible not to perception but to reasoning; the upward journey out of the cave into daylight is the soul's ascent to the intelligible realm. The educator's task is a matter of turning souls around rather than introducing “knowledge into a soul which doesn't have it.” Such reorienting of souls has affective or desiderative dimensions as well as cognitive ones. Early education in mousikê and gymnastikê rechannels desire, wakes up the spirited part of the child's nature and enables it to work together with reason, imbuing the soul with that order and grace necessary for later cognitive development. Book VII outlines a curriculum to free the soul of the things that turn its sight downward and to reorient it towards the truth. Its outlines are Pythagorean, but it is Plato who most compellingly established the curriculum that still forms the basis for much liberal arts education.

The Anthropological-Humanistic Direction in Soviet Pedagogy (1920s-1930s)

The use of conceptions and data from psychology by pedagogical science was a characteristic feature of the development of the theory of upbringing at the beginning of the twentieth century, when it was emphatically oriented toward problems of the individual as they were understood and treated then. This direction came to be widespread in the pedagogy of this country during the prerevolutionary period and the first decade following the October Revolution. Its most eminent representatives—P. P. Blonskii, K. N. Venttsel', P. F. Kapterev, A. P. Boltunov, M. M. Rubinshtein, and others—constituted one of the best-known scientific schools at that time. They were united by pedagogical ideas and aspirations of universal human importance—a belief in the powers and possibilities of the creative self-realization of every child, a sensitive attitude toward the interests and needs of the child's nature, and non-coercive, antiauthoritarian methods of pedagogical influence. There were also many differences among them, conditioned by factors that were both objective and subjective.

Early Childhood Teachers’ Beliefs About Promoting Peer Competence

The primary purpose of this study was to describe early childhood teachers’ beliefs about the importance of young children's social competence with peers, and their beliefs about their own influence on children's developing peer competence. Teachers’ beliefs specific to the promotion of peer competence were also examined in relation to their beliefs about developmentally appropriate practice and the observed quality of their classroom environment. Data were collected from 22 teachers of children from age three through six, using interview, various questionnaires, and observations with the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale. Results suggest that teachers valued peer competence in early childhood, but academic goals were more frequently valued than social goals. Teachers viewed peer competencies as more strongly influenced by the child's inherent nature than by teachers’ efforts, but reported a moderate degree of self‐efficacy for the promotion of peer competence. Lower program quality was associated with lesser commitment to social goals, and with the perception that promoting peer competence is an easy task. Lower program quality was also associated with a higher ranking of the influence of parents on children's peer competence. Implications for teacher education and future research are discussed.

“Work” versus “play” and early childhood care

The ancient dispute over the appropriate role of work versus play in the lives of the young rests on assumptions of children's original nature. Those committed to an innate goodness position have been strong advocates of freedom and play; while those distrusting children's natural instincts have pressed for social control and disciplined work. This paper scans the historical antagonism and contemporary views on the function of play. It suggests that a rapprochement can be struck if we consider play and work on an overlapping continuum rather than as polar opposites. At the center of the continuum—play/work—children take pleasure in activities that they have initiated, but those activities are purposeful and culturally sanctioned. When the home takes responsibility for cultural transmission, play/work is an ideal target for early educational inputs. The ideal must be modified, however, as responsibility for social acculturation shifts toward day care programs.

Childrearing knowledge, beliefs, and practices of Cambodian refugees

Forty Cambodian women in Seattle, Washington were interviewed to learn about their childrearing knowledge, beliefs, practices, and information resources. It was found that women who once relied on family and elders for advice now turned to pediatric providers and other clinic staff. Most women reported accurately the ages at which developmental milestones occur, with the exception of vision and hearing milestones. Their treatment of common childhood illnesses included both Western and Cambodian remedies. Beliefs about children's nature, discipline, learning, and reincarnation were explored. Implications for providers trying to support the parenting efforts of Cambodian women in the United States are discussed.

The Nature of Children’s Difficulties with Concepts Concerning the Origin of Babies

Piaget suggested that children’s ideas about the origin of babies should follow the same sequence of cognitive developmental stages as their concepts of physical causality. There is evidence that these concepts do develop in a Piagetian sequence, but they appear to lag behind the child’s understanding of physical identity and causation (Bernstein &. Cowan, 1975). To discover whether it is social causality tasks per se which are difficult or whether there are problems such as embarrassment or lack of information inherent in the theme of the concept of babies task, 75 children (divided into 2 groups, of 5- to 6-year-olds and 9- to 10-year-olds) were each tested on 4 tasks assessing physical identity (Clay), physical causality (Origin of Night), social causality (Origin of Babies) and an additional social causality task (Origin of Illness), which was introduced as a control. The difference in mean scores between the two age groups was statistically significant for 3 of the tasks but not for the Origin of Babies task; the latter was also significantly more difficult than the Origin of Illness task for the 9- to 10-year-olds, suggesting that the extent of children’s difficulties with mastering concepts concerning procreation may be more a product of lack of information and emotional inhibitions than the cognitive demands of the task.

The Nature of Children's Conflict Resolution Styles

Conflict is an integral part of human relationships. As defined by The University English Dictionary conflict denotes a struggle, a clashing of views or statements, a meeting in opposition or antagonism. The position taken in the present study is that a conflict consists of an opposition between two individuals “when one person does something to which a second person objects” (Hay, 1984, p.2). This particular outlook is consistent with that adopted by Kagan, Knight & Martinez-Romero (1982) in their study of children's conflict resolution styles.Paradoxically, while conflict may be an important aspect of human relations, conflict as evidenced in children's relations has received scant attention. Research has identified possible sex differences in children's conflict with boys engaging in more direct conflict than girls (Miller, Danaher & Forbes, 1986; Shantz, 1986). Boys do appear to use different conflict resolution strategies (namely more threats and physical force as opposed to negotiation) than girls (Miller et al, 1981). Some evidence also exists that there are developmental changes in children's conflict resolution strategies such that from 5 to 9 years there is an increasing use of a reconciliation conflict resolution style (Aboud, 1981).

The savage in european social thought; A prelude to the conceptualization of the divergent peoples and cultures of Australia and Oceania

The savage, either Noble or Ignoble, is a European mythical creation a mytheme (Lemaire 1980:16). In European social thought mainly hunting and gathering societies (American Indians, Australian Aborigines) or hor ticulturalists (Pacific Islanders) have served as a model for the develop ment of this mytheme. These societies have been pictured as precisely the opposite of European civilization. As such they have fulfilled a double function in European philosophy and ideology. On the one hand the contrast with European civilization has been phrased in negative terms: no progress but stagnation; not civilized but cruel and primitive; no history but timelessness; not logical but pre-logical. In this respect the concepts 'Primitive' and 'Savage' were antipodes of the European situation and they formed a legitimation for the European process of civilization. However, these societies have been objects not only of antipathy, and even distaste, but also of desire and nostalgia. Again hunting and gathering societies were pictured as the exact opposite of the European way of life, but this time with positive connotations: human beings in these societies were still living in a natural state, free from the oppressive bonds of civilization. These Children of Nature did not yet know what social and sexual restrictions were. They also lived in close harmony with their natural environment, which provided all their material and biological needs. All this has been lost in the process of civilization. In both cases the ideas about the nature of primitive societies are mythical creations which serve as an antithesis for the notion of European civilization: the first-mentioned attitude as a justification for progress, development and even colonization; the second as a fundamental criticism of that selfsame process.

Environmental Education Tools for Elementary Schoolchildren: The Use of a Popular Children's Magazine

Abstract A popular children's nature magazine, Ranger Rick, was evaluated for its ability to increase children's knowledge of animals and the natural world. A pretest/posttest design was used in a classroom comparison of 491 fifth graders from Wake County, North Carolina. Treatment subjects were given three issues of Ranger Rick magazine over a three-month period and all subjects were tested on the contents of the magazine features. Results show that these children increased their knowledge in portions of three different content areas including animals, plants, and ecological principles. Both treatment and control subjects ranked magazines as their primary source of information about wildlife and the environment. The results of this study indicate that the magazine can be used by classroom teachers as an effective environmental education tool.

Perceived Child-Parent Relationships and Child Adjustment in Families with Both Adopted and Natural Children

Abstract The personal and social adjustment and perceptions of child-parent relationships of members of families having only natural children, families having only adopted children, and mixed families having both natural and adopted children were studied to determine whether the children in mixed families encounter unique adjustment difficulties and perceptions of their relationships with their parents. Although the effect was small, children in all-adoptive families reported lower adjustment scores than children in natural families; however, the adopted children in mixed families were similar to the natural children in both the mixed and natural families on all measurements. In addition, natural children in mixed families did not differ from the children in natural families. These results suggest that the placement of an adoptive child in a mixed family does not affect the overall adjustment of the natural child and may, in fact, have positive effects on the adoptive child.

Nature's Children and the Environment

Nature's Children and the Environment

The Fall of Natural Man: The American Indian and the Origins of Comparative Ethnology

Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction 1. The problem of recognition 2. The image of the barbarian 3. The theory of natural slavery 4. From nature's slaves to nature's children 5. The rhetorician and the theologians: Juan Gines de Sepulveda and his dialogue, Democrates secundus 6. A programme for comparative ethnology (I) 7. A programme for comparative ethnology (II) 8. Joseph Francois Lafitau: comparative ethnology and the language of symbols Notes Bibliography Index.

The Child Persona in Taxis and Toadstools

The Child Persona in Taxis and Toadstools Malcolm Usrey (bio) In some of the poems of Taxis and Toadstools, Rachel Field speaks as an adult to children; in a few, she speaks through the persona of a small boy; but in the majority, she seems to be speaking through the persona of a young girl. An examination of the poems reveals some interesting facets of Miss Field's young female persona. Nearly all the poems have either rural or urban settings (hence the title), and the young girl shows herself to be a city-bred child. For example, in "Taking Root," she wonders if she sat the summer through and never moved or stirred, "Could I take root on this pasture slope/ With the bay and juniper?" Though it is a question that either a city or country child might ask, it is one that a country child probably would not have to ask. In "Wood-Strawberries," the child picks strawberries "till my hands were red," and "It seemed there was nothing to do at all/ But fill my hands and eat." As every country-reared child knows, strawberries are for sharing with the family in strawberry ice-cream or in strawberry short-cake and for preserving in jelly and jam for the winter to come. In "Vegetables," after offering some fresh descriptions of a few vegetables, the child asks a question that no country child would have to ask: But when potatoes all have eyes,Why is it they should bePut in the ground and covered up—Where it's too dark to see? [End Page 39] Taxis and Toadstools is divided into ten sections, and in the seventh, "Fringes of Fairyland," the persona, like many children, shows a bright imagination. In "The Visitor," she prepares "bread and a sup of tea" for "an elfin gentleman," who is "Feather-footed and swift as a mouse. . . ." In "The Elf Tree," a poem reflecting some of the folklore about fairies, the persona knocks her "knuckles three times three," just in case it should be the one "tree in all that wood . . . where the elves and fairies hide. . . ." In one of the longest poems, "The Green Fiddler," the child imagines meeting a fairy and giving him "Four bright gold hairs" for his fiddle. The resulting music is so entrancing that "Stock still I stood in the shadowed wood,/ Lest I should miss one note." Nearly all children are disarmingly egocentric, and Rachel Field's is no exception. In "The Peabody Bird," the young girl asks the bird why it keeps calling for someone named "Peabody" when no one answers. Finally, she asks, "Couldn't you look for someone else?/And wouldn't I do instead?" The best example, however, of the child's egocentric nature is in "I'd Like to Be a Lighthouse," where she wants to be one so that she can stay awake all nightTo keep my eye on everythingThat sails my patch of sea;I'd like to be a lighthouseWith the ships all watching me. One of the most appealing qualities of the persona is her sympathy. "Skyscrapers" shows her sympathizing with tall buildings, wondering if they "ever grow tired/Of holding themselves up high?" of if they "ever shiver on frosty nights" or if "they feel lonely . . . Because they have grown so tall?" She feels sorry for the little ceramic dog in "The China Dog" because he can never bark, tease for cake, or wag his tail; and if it were left to her, he'd be a real, live dog, barking, nipping her fingers, licking her hair, and "every single night he'd be/Snuggled up warm in bed with me!" Another remarkable trait of the child is that she is nearly always cheerful. Rain to most of us can be somewhat depressing, but not to this child, who loves to "see it fall," making "Streets of shiny wetness" and "rumbling [a] tune that sings/Through everything I do." There's hardly anything that will depress her ebullient spirit. Even when she comes across a tombstone in "The Lamb," marking the grave of "'Jonathan Preble, agéd three,'" she does not...

A Study of the Nature of Children's Race Preferences Using a Modified Conflict Paradigm

A Study of the Nature of Children's Race Preferences Using a Modified Conflict Paradigm

Diagnostic Classification Decisions as a Function of Referral Information

Educational decision makers (n = 224) participated in a computer-simulated decision-making experience designed to ascertain the extent to which referral information biased classification decisions. Subjects were randomly assigned to 16 different conditions that varied on the basis of the referred child's sex, socioeconomic status, physical attractiveness, and nature of referral problem. Subjects accessed test data, all of which reported performance in the normal range. Only the nature of the referral problem was found to be influential in the simulated decisions. A referred child was more likely to be diagnosed as emotionally disturbed when the referral statement of the problem was listed as behavioral rather than academic. Subjects ignored standardized test information indicative of average performance, and retained the stereotype created by the referral information. The results are discussed with regard to implications for assessment of children and future research.

The Allen School: An Alternative Nineteenth-Century Education, 1818-1852

In this account of an experiment in early American education, Judith Strong Albert draws upon the 1818 to 1852 journals of a distinguished New England teacher, Lucy Clark Ware Allen. Ms. Albert describes a nineteenth-century parsonage school that stressed the "innate goodness" of a child's nature and placed emphasis on practice and experience in education. She contrasts the educational philosophy held by Joseph and Lucy Allen, founders of the Allen School of Northborough, Massachusetts, with the views of the leading educational idealist of that era, Bronson Alcott, and provides an illuminating study of an early model in alternative education.

Intellectual Development in Family Constellations with Adopted and Natural Children: A Test of the Zajonc and Markus Model

Intellectual Development in Family Constellations with Adopted and Natural Children: A Test of the Zajonc and Markus Model

Review: With Nature's Children: Emma B. Freeman (1880-1928), Camera and Brush, by Peter E. Palmquist

Review: <i>With Nature's Children: Emma B. Freeman (1880-1928), Camera and Brush</i>, by Peter E. Palmquist