Involvement In Outdoor Activities Research Articles

Tantric Nuances Arguing Gender Order in Mithila Paintings

This article reviews the Tantric influence in the traditional Mithila paintings and argues how Tantra’s emphasis on femininity can challenge the traditional patriarchal notion toward women in general. In doing so, firstly, the article examines the studies in Tantra and its views toward women in general. Secondly, it analyzes the studies in Mithila paintings and their connection with Tantra and the actual women context in the Maithil community. Lastly, it reviews some of the examples of Mithila paintings to study the presence of tantric symbols, as claimed by the studies in Mithila paintings, followed by a conclusion. The findings suggest that being a highly patriarchal culture, with limited authority to women even in their personal life decisions, Mithila culture yet contains seeds of resistance within itself. On the one hand, Maithil women lack the liberty of sexual expressions, decision makings, and involvement in outdoor activities as the veil in their head symbolically separates them from the rest of the society, except the traditional feminine chores. On the other hand, traditional Mithila paintings mocks the patriarchy through the feminine images and symbols as eminent cosmic power, a source of creation, and destruction. The Tantric images and signs in Mithila paintings shout out the power of femininity, challenging patriarchal beliefs of men as a center and women as a margin. This article stresses that Tantric dualism and its equal emphasis on femininity reflected in Mithila paintings can be used as a powerful religious, cultural, and artistic tool to empower women and subvert the general binary of men and women. Mithila paintings that have become a source of economic empowerment, emotional expressions, and means of awareness of women in the present-day, can also be used to harmonize the male-female tensions and as an effective religious, cultural, and artistic device to tear-off shackles of patriarchy.

Teacher Factors That Create a Dilemma in the Implementation of Learners’ Psychomotor Curriculum Activities in the Early Childhood Development Education

Psychomotor activities that are especially conducted outside the usual classroom environment assist in addressing areas of child's physical well-being, social-emotional learning and having an in-depth level of commitment, learning and improved educational performance. Some studies have sought to find out factors that hinder learners' involvement in outdoor activities but pre-primary teachers' dilemma in implementing of learners psychomotor or outdoor activities has been given limited attention. The purpose of this study therefore sought to establish teacher factors that create a dilemma in implementing learners' outdoor activities in Hamisi Sub-County, Vihiga County, Kenya. The study adapted a mixed method research design. Maria Montessori theory of children' play was used for the study. Stratified proportionate sampling, simple random, purposive and census techniques were utilized to select the sample size. A sample of 33 ECDE lead teachers, 27 ECDE teacher trainers and 12 learners from a target population of 110 ECDE lead teachers, 27 ECDE teacher trainers and 4400 learners was selected. A questionnaire, interview schedule and observation guide were the instruments to collect data. A pilot study was conducted from the neighbouring Sabatia Sub County to ascertain the strength of the reliability and validity of the instruments. Validity was ensured based on construct and content validity. Reliability was ensured through test-retest technique. A reliability co-efficient of 0.7 using Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient was attained for both instruments and therefore deemed appropriate for use in the actual study. The study enhanced ethical considerations. Qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, and percentages and findings presented in pie charts, bar graphs and tables. Inferential statistics ANOVA was used to establish the relationship between independent and dependent variable at 0.05 confidence level. The findings established that pre-school teachers had a negative attitude towards outdoor play activities and concentrated more in teaching academically oriented activity areas at the expense of outdoor play. The results showed a significant difference in the means of the different teacher factors and the implementation of outdoor play activities in the curriculum {F (6, 25) = 2.552, p = .000}. Therefore the null hypothesis was rejected and the alternative hypothesis accepted that there is a significant difference in the means of the different teacher factors and the implementation of learners outdoor play activities in the curriculum. The study concluded that ECDE center parents and teachers should discuss the importance of outdoor play activities and let teachers teach them just like other activity areas in ECDE curriculum prepared by Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development. The study recommended that the Quality Assurance and Standards officers should regularly visit ECDE centers and give appropriate guidance to teachers teaching in ECDE centers on importance of outdoor play activities in holistic development of children. The study suggested that A similar study to this study should be carried out in other neighboring sub-counties of Vihiga County.

Epidemiology of myopia and prevention of myopia progression in children in East Asia: a review.

Myopia (short-sightedness) exhibits high prevalence in East Asia. Methods to mitigate myopia progression are important in preventing the vision-threatening complications associated with high myopia. In this review, we examine the regional epidemiology of myopia and provide updated evidence regarding interventions to slow myopia progression in children. We performed a literature search using PubMed from the date of inception through 25 June 2018. Studies involving myopia epidemiology and control of myopia progression were selected; only studies published in English were reviewed. Preference was given to prospective studies, as well as those conducted in Hong Kong or East Asia. Atropine eye drops and pirenzepine eye gel are highly effective for controlling myopia progression in children. Orthokeratology, peripheral defocus contact lenses, bifocal or progressive addition spectacles, and increased involvement in outdoor activities are also effective for controlling myopia progression; however, myopia undercorrection and single vision contact lenses are ineffective. Although various methods are effective for controlling myopia progression in children, no curative remedy exists for myopia. Health care professionals should be aware of the available methods, as well as their risks and benefits. Treatment should be individualised and based on the preferences of the patient's family, after full discussion of the risks and benefits of each modality.

Selected nutritional behaviors and physical activity among elementary school children

Introduction: Proper nutrition and physical activity are very important elements in the proper functioning and development of children. The lack of daily, systematic physical effort in younger and younger age groups is a public health problem. Purpose: To evaluate the nutrition and physical activity of children attending primary school. Materials and methods: The study was conducted among 707 pupils form randomly selected elementary schools using the authors’ own questionnaire in the school year 2013/2014. The questionnaire included questions on selected dietary habits and physical activity as well as the socio-economic conditions of the families. Results: Among the studied children, 88.6% consumed 4 or 5 meals a day. There was a statistically significant relationship between the number of meals consumed and the age of the children. Breakfast was consumed by 86.4% of children, more often residents of the city than the village (88.0% vs. 81.7%, p <0.05). Daily consum-ption of second breakfast was declared by 71.5% of boys and 74.2% of girls. The vast majority of the studied students (86.8%) have always taken part in physical education classes. Outdoor leisure time was declared by 75% of the surveyed children. Rural students showed greater involvement in outdoor activities than students from the city (86.1% vs. 70.2%, p <0.001). A total of 62.2% of boys and 51.8% of girls (p <0.05) participated in sports activities. Conclusions: Inappropriate nutrition and lack of physical activity affected both girls and boys, and the abnormalities were dependent on where they lived and were age-related.

Adolescent drinking in different contexts: What behaviors do parents control?

Previous research suggests that the context in which drinking occurs contribute to specific alcohol-related problems. In the current study we assessed how often adolescents attended different contexts in which they could drink, how often they drank in those contexts, and whether drinking patterns and parental monitoring were related to alcohol use in those contexts. We collected survey data from 1217 adolescents 15–18years of age in 24 midsized California cities. Measures included past-year frequencies of attending and drinking in restaurants, bars/nightclubs, and outdoor places, typical hours spent at home (i.e., own home or someone else's home), perceptions of parental control and disclosure to parents about free time activities, and demographics. Multilevel zero-inflated negative binomial models were used to assess associations between drinking patterns, parental control, and disclosure and frequency of attending and drinking in specific contexts. There were large variations in attending contexts in which drinking could take place. More frequent drinking was related to less time spent at home, while heavier drinking was associated with more time spent at home. Parental control was related to less frequent attendance at bars/nightclubs, and disclosure to less frequent involvement in outdoor activities and spending more time at home. Among drinkers, frequencies of attendance were strongly related to frequencies of drinking in all contexts except the home. Parental control and disclosure were related to more frequent drinking at restaurants and exposure to bars/nightclubs and drinking at outdoor activities. Parental monitoring may reduce exposure to risks by shifting adolescent contexts for alcohol use.

Ecological literacy and psychographics: lifestyle contributors to ecological knowledge and understanding

ABSTRACTKnowledge and understanding about how the ecological systems of the Earth support life form the foundation for ecological literacy, which, in turn, is of critical importance for sustainability. There is widespread concern that levels of ecological literacy within many contemporary human societies are too low to enable effective decision-making about how to live sustainably. This paper presents and discusses the findings of an ecological literacy assessment of South Australian adults. The assessment tested for knowledge and understanding of ecological systems and interconnections with human society. Analyses revealed significant relationships between assessment scores and a range of value-based and behavioural characteristics. Such characteristics included the value placed on nature, time spent outdoors and in nature, involvement in nature-based activities, and perceived sources of ecological knowledge and understanding. Higher average scores were correlated with higher values accorded to involvement in outdoor activities, importance of the outdoors to enjoyment of life, importance of nature in the household, volunteer environmental activity and growing food. Higher scores were also correlated with higher education, research activities, outdoor lifestyles, place-based experiences, volunteer activities, mentors and colleagues, and books and magazines. Lower scores were achieved by those who considered media, natural disasters and environmental marketing to be major contributors to their ecological knowledge. These findings contribute to a broader study of the relationships between ecological literacy and a range of both socio-demographic and psychographic characteristics. They invite serious consideration from any society that values the participation of an informed population with the capacity to make sustainable environmental decisions.

Diversity and distribution of tick species (Acari: Ixodidae) associated with human otoacariasis and socio-ecological risk factors of tick infestations in Sri Lanka.

Tick infestation in humans is a major public health concern. The diversity and distribution of tick species associated with human otoacariasis was studied in five districts: Anuradhapura, Kandy, Kurunegala, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura in the main agro-climatic zones of Sri Lanka. Ticks from patients attending the ear, nose and throat clinics of the General Hospitals were collected during a 3year period. In total 426 ticks were collected. Most human otoacariasis cases were reported from Kandy (33.8%) and the fewest from Nuwara Eliya (8.2%). Of the five tick species identified, nymphs of Dermacentor auratus constituted 90.6% of the collection. Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Hyalomma isaaci, Haemaphysalis bispinosa and Otobius megnini were found rarely infesting humans possibly as an accidental host; H. bispinosa and O. megnini in the human ear canal were first time records in Sri Lanka. Females and children under 10years were identified as risk groups of human otoacariasis. Subsequently, a field study was carried out to determine socio-ecological risk factors of human tick infestations in the five districts. Based on hospital data, eight villages with high prevalence of otoacariasis were selected from each district. A total 40 villages were visited and 1674 household members were interviewed. Involvement in outdoor activities, presence of wild animals around the house, location of the house in close proximity to a forest and occupation were identified as major risk factors.

Medicosocial profile of rural elderly and its covariates in Northern India - A community-based study

Background: India has 8.6% of its population more than 60 years with old dependency ratio of 142. Providing health services to this ever-increasing segment of society is an unenviable task. Objective: To analyze the medicosocial profile of elderly population and its sociodemographic covariates. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study on 280 subjects was conducted in a rural area of 5 villages. Every fifth elderly person was selected from all the villages after taking their consent. A predesigned, pretested, semistructured schedule was used for the purpose. Result: About half (47.1%) of the subjects presented 1 episodes of an acute disease in the last 1 month. Maximum subjects gave history of fever (23.2%), followed by diarrhea (14.6%), backache (13.2%), and upper respiratory tract infection (12.5%). About 83.9% of geriatric population presented 1 chronic diseases (self-reported). Maximum subjects reported eye problems (53.2%) closely followed by locomotor problems (47.9%), oro-dental problems (38.6%), and respiratory problems (27.9%). The sociodemographic covariates of acute disease found to be statistically significant were increasing age, decreasing education level, illiteracy, >10 members in the family, involvement in outdoor activities, and having no decision-making power in the family whereas of chronic diseases were decreasing education levels, illiteracy, and no involvement in outdoor activities. Conclusion: This study has identified an increasing need of nationwide efforts for facilitating the access to medical care of the elderly people in India.

In the eye of the stakeholder: Changes in perceptions of ecosystem services across an international border

Integration of the ecosystem service (ES) concept into policy begins with an ES assessment, including identification, characterization and valuation of ES. While multiple disciplinary approaches should be integrated into ES assessments, non-economic social analyses have been lacking, leading to a knowledge gap regarding stakeholder perceptions of ES.We report the results of trans-border research regarding how local residents value ES in the Arabah Valley of Jordan and Israel. We queried rural and urban residents in each of the two countries. Our questions pertained to perceptions of local environmental characteristics, involvement in outdoor activities, and economic dependency on ES.Both a political border and residential characteristics can define perceptions of ES. General trends regarding perceptions of environmental characteristics were similar across the border, but Jordanians tended to rank them less positively than Israelis; likewise, urban residents tended to show less affinity to environmental characteristics than rural residents. Jordanians and Israelis reported partaking in distinctly different sets of outdoor activities. While all groups reported little economic dependence on ES, rural Israelis reported the highest dependency.We suggest that social approaches to ES assessment can complement the predominant ecological and economic approaches thereby strengthening the relevancy of ES assessments to policy-making.

A Longitudinal Study of Rural Youth Involvement in Outdoor Activities throughout Adolescence: Exploring Social Capital as a Factor in Community-Level Outcomes

A Longitudinal Study of Rural Youth Involvement in Outdoor Activities throughout Adolescence: Exploring Social Capital as a Factor in Community-Level Outcomes

Foreword

vii Foreword We are pleased to present this issue of the Research in Outdoor Education (ROE) journal. This marks the 12th volume of ROE and also represents an important point of transition for the journal. Following this volume, ROE will be published annually instead of being a biannual publication. In addition, ROE will now be published in cooperation with Sagamore Publishing, with Dr. Tim O’Connell from Brock University serving as the new editor. Relative to this current volume, six articles are presented for your perusal and reflection. We start with an essay by Thomas Beery titled “People in Nature: Relational Discourse for Outdoor Educators.” We stay in the theme of discourse and involvement in nature with Michael Griswold and his colleagues in their paper, “Exploring the Social Impacts of a Summer Camp for Youth with Tourette Syndrome.” Jayson Seaman and his fellow researchers explore the connection between rural youth and outdoor activities with their study, “A Longitudinal Study of Rural Youth Involvement in Outdoor Activities Throughout Adolescence: Exploring Social Capital as a Factor in Community -Level Outcomes.” Benjamin Mirkin examines the social climate of a group and individual peer interactions in his article, “Group Social Climate and Individual Peer Interaction: Exploring Complex Relationships on Extended Wilderness Courses.” Changing tack a bit, we have an article by Scott Schumann and Jim Sibthorp on “The Development and Scaling of the Teaching Outdoor Education Self-Efficacy Scale.” This ROE volume concludes with a study by Pohja, Ocobock, and Gookin titled “Energy Expenditure in the Backcountry.” As is usually the case, and certainly with ROE, the success of any journal is heavily contingent upon the quality of both the submissions and the reviews. Over the years, ROE has been fortunate to have a pool of dedicated and competent reviewers and this year is no exception. We are indebted to the following people who served as reviewers for this volume, including M. Deborah Bialeschki, (American Camp Association), Tim O’Connell, (Brock University), Keith Russell (Western Washington University), Jim Sibthorp (University of Utah), Frank Vernon (University of Wisconsin), and Alison Voight (Indiana University). Many thanks and kudos for all their efforts. Finally, a special thanks to Yun Chang for serving as the assistant editor with this volume of ROE. She immeasurably contributed to this effort through her attention to detail, ongoing communication to the authors and reviewers, and overall insight and suggestions made during the editorial review process. Thank you, Yun! viii And, of course, we acknowledge the faculty and staff at New York State University at Cortland who are involved in both ROE and the Coalition for Education in the Outdoors. Of particular note are the efforts of Andy Young and Charles Yaple, for without their efforts, ROE would probably not exist. Alan Ewert, Editor Research in Outdoor Education ...

그리스 시대의 남성복과 여성복에 표현된 젠더(gender) 특성 분석

Ancient Greece was a patriarchal society that distinguished gender roles between men and women. Although their costumes were composed of simple rectangular fabric without any technical complications in itself, the Greeks did try to express gender differences in their clothing. The final look of the Greek costume was dependent on the way the cloth draped onto its wearer as well as the wearer's identity. Greeks costume could just be seen as a rectangular fabric when it was not draped on a person's body. The purpose of this study is to examine how the gender differences were expressed in the ancient Greek drapery costume, which was made by using a completely different technical process, compared with the modern tailored costume. There are four elements of the costume that give the costume its formative shape, which are the wearer's body, the rectangular fabric (material as the first formative costume), the way the fabric is draped, and the final appearance as the second formative costume (the relationship between the wearer's body and the costume) and this study analyzes these elements individually. It is intended to analyze the gender characteristics and how each element appears in a different way from the perspective of Structuralism, an analytical method that considers a phenomenon as a total sum of the elements. Literature research was conducted and representative sculpture, painting and pottery, were used between the Archaic Period (B.C. 800~500) and the Classical Period (B.C. 500~323). The results show that the gender differences appear in each formative element of costume: First, the body was distinguished by the ancient Greek custom. The man's nudity was accepted while the woman's body was concealed. Second, in regards to the first formative costume, which was the rectangular fabric, men's were made with thick high quality wool because their involvement in outdoor activities meant that they needed clothes to stay warm, while the women wore clothes made of thin wool or hemp cloth, because their most of their activities were at home. Third, the way to drape the fabric shows the gender differences by changing the length of the clothing and its design ; men's short khiton was practical for big movement and at the same time the clothing exposed the man's body. The woman's doric khiton diversified its decoration by the size of the apotigma and by using the belt. Finally the second formative costume reflected the Greeks' social distinction between a man's body and a woman's body. The man's costume naturally exposed the man's body. On the other hand, the woman's long costume has a variety of shapes on the ground, that concealed her lower body, while the ornamental function was more accentuated than the man's costume. The gender differences expressed in Greek costume fundamentally reflected the point of view of the male and female body and their social roles in society.

Scunthorpe Cycling Group

Boredom and vandalism amongst young teenage clients in a run-down mining village provided the spark for the author's involvement in outdoor activities with clients. With a life-long interest and participation in outdoor activities and with a leadership experience in the scout association and youth clubs, he started cycling activities in 1967 and it has developed into a useful Intermediate Treatment provision.