Educational Toys Research Articles

Disciplining women?

SummaryOn the basis of an analysis of works for children published by Ellenor Fenn (1743–1813) in the 1780s, an argument is offered concerning the significance of English grammar to the domestic education of elite boys and girls. The topic is contextualized in overviews of the high social value of grammar and of the maternal educator, idealized for her ‘civilizing’ influence, especially on men. Some elite mothers were criticized by Fenn and her contemporaries for preferring public life to domestic responsibility or for indulging their children. While acknowledging the difficulties of child-rearing and the challenges to women’s domestic authority, Fenn and others spell out the consequences of failing to train young males in particular. The author argues that educational toys and age-graded books like Fenn’s encouraged loving mothers to socialize their children while simul­taneously displaying their wealth. Grammar, because of its associations with order, was central to this domestic curriculum. While not overtly challenging conventional gender roles, Fenn represented ‘sprightly’ young females not as intellectually superficial but as naturally quick to learn and playfully able to teach young males and females. Their pedagogical duties justified young women’s education and granted women educators domestic authority and public importance.

Constructing a Joint Story-Writing Space: The Dynamics of Young Children's Collaboration at Computers

This study explored kindergartners' and first graders' collaborative processes to understand the nature of peer collaboration and the learning opportunities afforded by peer discourse. Data were drawn from 6 dyads who participated in a computer writing project for 2 school semesters. Children's videotaped interactions were analyzed with the focus on understanding how children's collaborative roles and patterns changed over time. Examination of video data and children's computer products revealed that (a) children's interaction patterns changed from a more independent style toward a more integrative style, as shown in their distribution of control over mouse and keyboard and in the written outcomes of their collaboration; (b) a shift in role patterns emerged across repeated instances of peer collaboration so that children began alternating the roles of leader and observer, and less competent children began carrying out more important tasks; and (c) the computer served as an object of reference for children to sustain their interaction and stay on task.

Disciplining Women?: Grammar, gender, and leisure in the works of Ellenor Fenn (1743–1813)

On the basis of an analysis of works for children published by Ellenor Fenn (1743–1813) in the 1780s, an argument is offered concerning the significance of English grammar to the domestic education of elite boys and girls. The topic is contextualized in overviews of the high social value of grammar and of the maternal educator, idealized for her ‘civilizing’ influence, especially on men. Some elite mothers were criticized by Fenn and her contemporaries for preferring public life to domestic responsibility or for indulging their children. While acknowledging the difficulties of child-rearing and the challenges to women’s domestic authority, Fenn and others spell out the consequences of failing to train young males in particular. The author argues that educational toys and age-graded books like Fenn’s encouraged loving mothers to socialize their children while simul­taneously displaying their wealth. Grammar, because of its associations with order, was central to this domestic curriculum. While not overtly challenging conventional gender roles, Fenn represented ‘sprightly’ young females not as intellectually superficial but as naturally quick to learn and playfully able to teach young males and females. Their pedagogical duties justified young women’s education and granted women educators domestic authority and public importance.

Effects of Home and School Computer Use on School Readiness and Cognitive Development Among Head Start Children: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial

Data from 122 Head Start children were analyzed to examine the impact of computer use on school readiness and psychomotor skills. Children in the ex- perimental group were given the opportunity to work on a computer for 15-20 minutes per day with their choice of developmentally appropriate educational software, while the control group received a standard Head Start curriculum. Four standardized tests were administered at baseline and 6 months later to as- sess their school readiness, visual motor skills, gross motor skills, and cognitive development. The experimental group performed significantly better than the control group on the school readiness test. The effect of computer use at school was strongly enhanced by the children's home computer experience. The data were inconclusive regarding the potential effect of computer use on motor skills. These findings underscore the importance of early childhood computer use in the development of minds and bodies of children from socioeconomically dis- advantaged families.

The Eye-Care PC

Myopia is a serious consequence of continuous usage of the computers for long hours and inappropriate sitting distance from the monitor. The proposed Eye-Care PC will help to reduce the child's risk of suffering from myopia and allow parents to monitor their child's computer etiquette conveniently.

The influence of social-demographic determinants on secondary school children's computer use, experience, beliefs and competence

This study examines the impact of socio-economic status and gender on computer ownership and the computer profile of 518 pupils in Dutch-speaking secondary education in Brussels (Belgium). Computer profile is introduced as a concept gauging computer experience, intensity of computer use and beliefs towards computers. Results indicate that socioeconomic status affects computer ownership only moderately. The effect of socio-economic status on the computer profile variables is entirely mediated through the educational track: pupils in vocational education (on average from a lower socio-economic background) reported a more negative computer profile. The effect of gender on the computer profile was much more pronounced: girls reported less experience with computers, a lower degree of home and school use of computers, and less favourable beliefs towards computers in general. However, girls do not seem to differ from boys concerning study-related computer beliefs.

Frederick Lock's Scrapbook: Patterns in the Pictures and Writing in the Margins

In 1990 there appeared on the antiquarian market a scrapbook of engravings assembled around 1791. Its twenty-two pages, bound in light-yellow wrappers, are filled with neatly arranged images of plants, animals, and people cut out of late eighteenth-century prints. Many of the prints had been daubed with watercolor by an amateur, and a fair number have facetious captions written in at least two different hands in pencil or ink. Frederick Lock, the youngest child of William Lock of Norbury Park, made the scrapbook when he was about five years old. His name is written in another hand on the inside of the front wrapper (figure 1). By the time of the appearance of Frederick's book on the market, all artifacts created by children—poetry, copybooks, or scrapbooks—as well as objects manufactured for their exclusive use, had begun to attract the attention of both serious collectors and scholars.1 Thus the sale of this unique item by a leading antiquarian bookseller to a major private collector of children's books, manuscripts, and educational toys fully reflected the sea change that had taken place in the status of juvenilia.2 Scrapbooks present an especially interesting case. So few assembled by young people before the Victorian era had survived that it was taken for granted that scrapbooking was virtually unknown before the manufacture of ephemera printed especially for this activity. Frederick Lock's scrapbook not only belies that assumption, but also raises a number of important questions. Where did he find the images he assembled? Why was he making a scrapbook? Are there discernable patterns underlying the selection and arrangement of the materials, and, if so, are they similar to those in an adult's scrapbook, or do they conform to those of children's writing? Would the discovery of information about Frederick's identity, circumstances, and childhood significantly enhance the analysis of the scrapbook's contents? This essay will try to answer these questions in [End Page 65] order to suggest just how much a handmade object like Frederick Lock's scrapbook can reveal not just about its young compiler's interests and milieu, but also about the roles print could play in a child's acquisition of literacy during the late eighteenth century. Click for larger view Figure 1 Frederick Lock's name, possibly in the hand of his older sister Amelia. All illustrations reproduced courtesy of the Cotsen Children's Library, Princeton University Library.

More than 'just a game': the implications for schools of children's computer games communities

At the present time there is significant interest in the application of computer games technology within educational settings. Much of this attention, however, is focused on the games' interfaces. Drawing on recent research into children's use of information and communications technology outside school, and on complementary research within media, cultural and youth studies, this paper argues that formal education settings might also benefit from understanding the social practices that develop as children play computer games outside school. In particular, the paper identifies the importance of experts, talk, text-based and digital artefacts, and wider cultural and media contexts, in supporting children's learning about computer games. It concludes by proposing ways in which these elements might form a model for learning activities in school settings

Children's Computation of Implicatures

(2004). Children's Computation of Implicatures. Language Acquisition: Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 71-82.

Adventures in group theory: Rubik's Cube, Merlin's machine, and other mathematical toys

Group theory deals with symmetry, in the most abstract form possible. It is a core part of the undergraduate math curriculum, and forms part of the training of theoretical physicists and chemical crystallographers. In this book, David Joyner uses mathematical toys (primarily the Rubik's Cube and its more modern cousins, the Megaminx, the Pyraminx, and so on) as well as other mathematical examples (for example, bell-ringing) to breathe new life into a time-honoured, and usually dry, subject. Why, asks the author, two such different topics, mechanical puzzles and abstract group theory, be related? This book takes the reader on an intellectual trip to answer this curiosity. The book should not only appeal to maths enthusiasts and interested general readers but should also find use in the classroom as a supplementary text in any abstract algebra or group theory course.

A Comparison of the Literacy Development Context of United States and Japanese Families

ness of print, and a motivation to become self-sufficient Families have a major impact on their children’s readers. Reading together provides a setting for literacy lives. During the last decade, researchers have focused learning; children and adults generate a close, warm retheir attention on non-“mainstream” family practices. The lationship during book sharing within the family circle. results of their studies have led to the elaboration of famChildren engage themselves in literacy learning when ily literacy programs (Orellana, Reynolds, Dorner, & they use educational toys, interact with print, pretend to Meza, 2003) and have called attention to family membe reading, and attempt to identify words and letters on bers’ influence on their children’s literacy development. t-shirts and cereal boxes (Saracho, 2002). Families parIncreasingly, the importance of families reading to their ticipate in a variety of literacy experiences at home. These children in the home environment and the critical nature literacy experiences consist of reading storybooks, reciof literacy experiences from early childhood through adopes, cooking instructions, newspapers, telephone book, lescence have been shared with educators, parents, policypersonal letters, personal notes, homework assignments, makers, and citizens (Morrow, Tracey, & Maxell, 1995). and school cafeteria menu (Saracho, 2000b). Family litFamilies who provide their young children with literacy goes beyond the home to include its community’s eracy experiences can influence their school-based litercultural resources and practices. acy development. Studies (e.g., Barillas, 2000; Janes & Families have rich cultural resources and practices Kermani, 2001; Saracho, 2000a, 2000b, 2002; Stainbased on the unique culture and language of the families thorp & Hughes, 2000; Tett, 2000) indicate that there is and communities. Janes and Kermani (2001) report on a strong relationship between the literacy experiences in a Family Literacy Tutorial project for immigrants from the home environment and children’s school-based literprovincial areas of Mexico and Central America. Apacy development. Interest has increased among researchproximately 30% of the families in this project learned ers and practitioners on the role of the family and the to use storybooks and questioning strategies with their value of home–school collaborations (Baker, 2003). Acchildren. The techniques families use to introduce text to cording to Rasinski, Bruneau, and Ambrose (1990), famtheir children may conflict with the ones used at school ily members have similar responsibilities in the home that (Saracho, 2002). For example, the Family Literacy Tutohelp young children acquire the language and literacy rial project used techniques that conflicted with the famlearning that teachers provide in the classroom. ilies’ cultural styles. Janes and Kermani (2001) found In families with young children, daily practices frethat the families changed the school’s literacy procequently consist of storybook reading at different times dures and used their own cultural resources, such as the throughout the day, with one or more children and with stories. The project organizers used stories that deviated multiple texts. When children listen to stories that are from the families’ culture; therefore, the families altered

Children's Computer Use at Home and at School: Context and continuity

ABSTRACT The home computer use of 33 children aged between 7 and 11 years is described. These children and their parents were interviewed on four occasions. In addition, domestic computer use was monitored for 30 days in respect of the identity of user(s) and the nature and duration of their software use. Although parents had strong aspirations that household computers should support their child's learning and although parents' main software purchases were educationally oriented, children spent most of their time on games of a sort not typically found in their classrooms. This observation was explored through a comparative analysis of the home and school ecology. Description of the school setting was achieved by engaging with pupils and teachers attending the five schools from which the home‐based sample was drawn. Patterns of school computer use conformed to practices commonly reported for early education. However, this classroom context of computer use was shown to be very different to that sustained in homes. Parents took few steps to orchestrate the content or motive of children's computer activity and they rarely become directly involved in that activity themselves. These observations are discussed in relation to contemporary ambitions to influence the interface of home and school through the mediation of information and communications technology (ICT).

“Funny Face”: Shareware for Child Counseling and Play Therapy

SUMMARY “Funny Face,” an off-the-shelf children's computer game, is used in play therapy and counseling with preschool and latency age children by the author/designer, who also serves as the therapist.

Cumulative trauma disorder risk for children using computer products: results of a pilot investigation with a student convenience sample.

Cumulative trauma disorder is a major health problem for adults. Despite a growing understanding of adult cumulative trauma disorder, however, little is known about the risks for younger populations. This investigation examined issues related to child/adolescent computer product use and upper body physical discomfort. A convenience sample of 212 students, grades 1-12, was interviewed at their homes by a college-age sibling or relative. One of the child's parents was also interviewed. A 22-item questionnaire was used for data-gathering. Questionnaire items included frequency and duration of use, type of computer products/games and input devices used, presence of physical discomfort, and parental concerns related to the child's computer use. Many students experienced physical discomfort attributed to computer use, such as wrist pain (30%) and back pain (15%). Specific computer activities-such as using a joystick or playing noneducational games-were significantly predictive of physical discomfort using logistic multiple regression. Many parents reported difficulty getting their children off the computer (46%) and that their children spent less time outdoors (35%). Computer product use within this cohort was associated with self-reported physical discomfort. Results suggest a need for more extensive study, including multiyear longitudinal surveys.

Cumulative trauma disorder risk for children using computer products: results of a pilot investigation with a student convenience sample

Objectives Cumulative trauma disorder is a major health problem for adults. Despite a growing understanding of adult cumulative trauma disorder, however, little is known about the risks for younger populations. This investigation examined issues related to child/adolescent computer product use and upper body physical discomfort. Methods A convenience sample of 212 students, grades 1-12, was interviewed at their homes by a college-age sibling or relative. One of the child's parents was also interviewed. A 22-item questionnaire was used for data-gathering. Questionnaire items included frequency and duration of use, type of computer products/games and input devices used, presence of physical discomfort, and parental concerns related to the child's computer use. Results Many students experienced physical discomfort attributed to computer use, such as wrist pain (30%) and back pain (15%). Specific computer activities-such as using a joystick or playing noneducational games-were significantly predictive of physical discomfort using logistic multiple regression. Many parents reported difficulty getting their children off the computer (46%) and that their children spent less time outdoors (35%). Conclusions Computer product use within this cohort was associated with self-reported physical discomfort. Results suggest a need for more extensive study, including multiyear longitudinal surveys.

The Home Computer in Children's Everyday Life: the case of Greece

The purpose of this paper was to explore the degree of children's access to home computers. From this perspective research was carried out into the following: the initiative to purchase a home computer; the child's familiarisation with a computer at home; the child's computer activities. The research was based on a random sample of 993 children, of whom 305 had a home computer. The children learned about the computer through their older siblings or parents. The computer at home was used by children mainly for games but also in combination with other applications. The results of the research raise questions about the connection between the different use of the computer at home and at school.

Children's and Families' Use of Computers in Australian Homes

Children's approaches to learning may be changing as a result of their interactions with modern technologies. In Australian society there have been quantum leaps in the use of and reliance upon computers and information and communications technologies. An understanding of the lived experiences and interactions of children of various ages with computer technologies in their homes is the focus of this article. Such an understanding informs the work of educators who wish to provide effective instructional environments that draw on children's starting points and the positive aspects of their home computing environments. The research found that children's family computer resources, patterns of use and sociocultural contexts combined to affect children's computing experiences. Several discourses exist surrounding the use of computers by families. These discourses are the importance of computers for education, for the future and as productivity tools. From children's discussions emerged a comfortable co-existence of ‘toy use’ (for playing games) and ‘tool use’ (for purposeful work and leisure tasks) when using the computer and a preference for an exploratory mode of learning. A number of key elements present in domestic computing environments were identified as contributing significantly to children's learning. Implications for teachers are discussed.

Resources

This month, we review some of the best new educational baby toys currently on the market. So if you want to spoil your little ones… just take your pick.

Nonlinear electrodynamics and FRW cosmology

Maxwell electrodynamics, considered as a source of the classical Einstein field equations, leads to the singular isotropic Friedmann solutions. We show that this singular behavior does not occur for a class of nonlinear generalizations of the electromagnetic theory. A mathematical toy model is proposed for which the analytical nonsingular extension of FRW solutions is obtained.

Children and Computers: Greek Parents' Expectations

This survey investigated the expectations of Greek parents with regard to the potential impact of children's computer use on the fields of education, interpersonal relationships, and professional and social life. A questionnaire was used, which was answered by 1,028 parents of children aged 10-11 and 14-15, from schools in Thessaloniki, Greece. The factors that were studied were: the socio-cultural environment of the parents, the sex and age of the children, and whether or not the parents had any knowledge of computers, kept informed about computers, used computers at work, or had a home computer. The results show that parents have positive expectations of their children's use of computers in the professional and social domain and to an extent in education, while many parents express technophobic feelings with regard to their children's interpersonal relationships. Negative expectations are limited to the educational and professional/social sphere, and are particularly strong with regard to the domain of interpersonal relationships. Lastly, uncertain expectations are considerable, and concern both education and interpersonal relationships. Les enfants et les ordinateurs: Les attentes des parents grecs. Cette enquête a etudié les attentes des parents grecs concernant l'impact de l'ordinateur sur les enfants dans le domaine de l'éducation, des relations interpersonelles et de la vie professionnelle et sociale. On a utilisé un questionnaire qui a été répondu par 1028 parents des enfants Âgés de 10-11 et de 14-15 ans, de differents établissements scolaires de Thessaloniki, Grèce. Les facteurs étudiés étaient les suivants: le status socio-culturel des parents, le sex et l' Âge des enfants, la connaissance et l' information des parents sur l' ordinateur, l'usage de l' ordinateur par les parents au travail et la possession d'un ordinateur À la maison. Les résultats ont montré que les parents ont des attentes positives À l'usage de l'ordinateur par les enfants en ce qui concerne le domaine professionnel et social et dans une certaine mesure, le domaine éducatif. Toutefois ils expriment des sentiments technophobiques dans le domaine des relations interpersonelles. Les attentes négatives sont limitées dans les domaines éducatif et professionnel/social mais elles sont particulièrement fortes dans le domaine des relations interpersonelles. En fin les attentes incertaines sont significatives tant dans le domaine éducatif que dans le domaine des relations interpersonelles. Kinder und Computer: Erwartungen griechischer Eltern. Diese Umfrage untersucht die Erwartungen griechischer Eltern über die Auswirkungen auf ihre Kinder durch den Einsatz von Computern im Lernbereich, Zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungen und im Berufs- und Gesellschaftsleben. 1028 Eltern mit Kindern zwischen 10-11 und 14-15 Jahren an den Schulen in Tessaloniki, Griechenland, füllten einen Fragebogen aus. Folgende Faktoren wurden beachtet: das sozio-kulturelle Umfeld der Eltern, Geschlecht und Alter der Kinder , haben die Eltern Computerkenntnisse oder interessieren sie sich für Computer, benutzen sie sie am Arbeitsplatz oder daheim. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Eltern positive Erwartungen an ihre Kinder haben im Umgang mit Computern im beruflichen wie auch im gesellschaftlichen Bereich und zum grossen Teil auch im Unterrichtsbereich. Im Gegensatz dazu haben viele Eltern technophobische Gefühle in bezug auf den interpersonellen Umgang ihrer Kinder. Negative Erwartungen beschränken sich auf den schulischen und professionellen/sozialen Bereich und insbesondere auf die interpersonellen Beziehungen. Der Anteil ungewisser Erwartungen ist hoch und betrifft Schule und interpersonelle Beziehungen.