Studying Children in Context: Theories, Methods, and Ethics
... This design allowed us to Source: Authors' own dive deep into the ecosystem and observe patterns across each domain, focusing specifically on the case of agricultural social enterprises. We wanted to ensure that our findings were reliable and unbiased, so, we used a methodological triangulation approach, as suggested by Graue and Walsh (1998). This involved combining multiple data collection methods, including document analysis, semistructured interviews and participant observation (Kabbaj et al., 2016). ...
... To begin our research, we administered a thorough document analysis, reviewing existing documents on the history of all the organizations and stakeholders involved in this study. This helped us to gain a better understanding of the context and background of the ecosystem and also served to prevent bias in our analysis (Graue and Walsh, 1998). Next, we conducted semistructured interviews with key stakeholders from each domain of the entrepreneurship ecosystem, as outlined by Isenberg (2011). ...
Purpose
This study aims to work toward understanding the entrepreneurship ecosystem of agricultural social enterprises in the Philippines by exploring the interactions between policy, culture, supports and human capital domains.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors considered using an exploratory single-embedded case study approach, involving methodological triangulation of document analysis, semistructured interviews and participant observation. The authors analyzed the data using a narrative approach to map the ecosystem.
Findings
Through the research, the authors discovered that while each domain functions effectively individually, disconnects exist when interacting collectively as an ecosystem. The authors come to know that there is no policy consensus on social enterprise definitions, which limits specialized policy support. Although support services like incubators are available, the authors observed that awareness and accessibility vary based on location and business maturity. The authors also noted that human capital helps translate concepts into frameworks, but research tailored to agriculture and social entrepreneurship is limited. The authors come to the conclusion that collaboration and openness across domains are needed to strengthen connections and synergies.
Research limitations/implications
The study was geographically limited to Luzon Island, and the authors did not include the finance and markets domains of the ecosystem model in the analysis.
Practical implications
Based on the findings, the authors identify strategies to reinforce connections, such as increasing awareness of support services, developing tailored policies for social enterprises, conducting specialized research and promoting collaboration across domains. The authors are convinced that implementing these strategies can further develop the agricultural social entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Originality/value
The study provides unique empirical insights into the agricultural social entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Philippines. The authors captured the narratives and experiences of key ecosystem stakeholders along the process. The authors have confidence that what the authors found can strategically guide policymakers and support organizations, educational institutions and social entrepreneurs to accelerate ecosystem development for greater social impact.
... This contextualization of the research in a realistic and familiar environment (space, equipment, and tools; see also Mortari et al., 2020) is of paramount importance in order to study children's behaviors in the contexts in which the phenomenon under study commonly occurs (Bronferbrenner, 1976;Lincoln & Guba, 1985;Erlandson et al., 1993). Studying children in context (Graue et al., 1998) involves diverse ethical issues that do not form part of the ethical guidelines given in the parents' informed consent (see pp. 45, 74, 96). Indeed, ethical challenges emerge at any stage of research (Morrow & Richards, 1996) and require responsible conduction focused both on the promotion of familiarity and trust between the researcher and the children (see pp. 47; 96; 187) and on the consideration of each child as a subject of the research instead than an object to investigate (Creswell, 2012;Bronfenbrenner,1976;Hill, 2005). ...
... The above impediment is part of the educational research in context. Indeed, while conducting ecological research in a school (Bronferbrenner, 1976;Graue et al., 1998;Mortari et al., 2020), several factors such as school policies, meteorological or health emergencies, practical issues related to the building, the spaces, staff, etc. should always be considered. Considering the limitation on the number of participants, the analysis focused more on the qualitative aspects of the children's drawings (e.g., description and categorization of the drawings and the qualities of the marks) and verbal explanations (e.g., voices of the piece described in the drawings, and the arousal attributed to the music) for which quantitative processing only had a synthetic function and not a statistical value. ...
As increasingly confirmed within the paradigm of embodied music cognition, the body shapes the way listeners perceive and make sense of music. Accordingly, this Ph.D research project aims to understand the role of body movement on children’s musical sense-making through two empirical studies setup in an educational ecological setting of primary school. In both studies, the children’s graphical representations of the music and their verbal explanations of the drawings were used to probe children’s musical sense-making. The first study investigated how and in what way a verbal vs. bodily interaction with the music influences the children musical sense-making. Results offer relevant insights into the role of body movement to enhance the identification of more musical features and their temporal organization. Based on the findings of the first study, a second study was carried out to investigate the influence of different qualities (discrete vs. continuous movements) of bodily interactions with music on children’ music meaning formation. Findings of the second study show that based on the quality of movement interaction the children changed the categories of visual representations, arousal, and number of voices of the music described. At a meta- perspective level, the adoption of a multimodal approach (e.g., bodily, visual, and verbal) emerged to be an effective mean to enhance a deeper music understanding. In addition, body movement appears to be a viable way to foster a creative listening through creative navigation of the musical affordance landscape.
... 3 This was possible by making my way through the classroom milieu, mingling in the dynamics of children's everyday lives. Graue and Walsh (1998) observe that the data of studying children not only concerns children in context, but also grasps the researcher in context: ...
This study details the methodology of a case study conducted with children aged 6–7 on COVID-19, emphasizing their important roles as co-researchers. During the study, children’s competencies were highlighted, and their voices were listened to with minimal adult interference. The research was conducted using the research with-children method, and 14 first-grade students from a private primary school in Istanbul, Turkey, actively contributed. Children participated in the research as researchers through their drawings, photographs, and individual and group interviews. The research process revealed that when children choose their research topics and create their questions, they enthusiastically engage and take ownership of their learning, fostering leadership and active participation. Research involving children should not be viewed merely as asking questions through adults. Using participant-friendly methods can enhance the enjoyment and meaning of the study for everyone involved.
In der vorliegenden Bachelorarbeit wird die Anwendung eines Qualitätsmessinstrumentes in der elementarpädagogischen Praxis analysiert, welches zur Messung der Interaktionsqualität aus Kinderperspektive eingesetzt werden kann - die GrazIASKinderperspektive (Lassotta et al., 2022). Aus Sicht der aktuellen Forschung spielt die Interaktionsqualität zwischen Fachkräften und Kindern eine entscheidende Rolle, damit sich Kinder in elementarpädagogischen Einrichtungen gut entwickeln können (Walter-Laager et al., 2022). Ein Messinstrument zur Erhebung der Interaktionsqualität ist die Grazer Interaktionsskala 0-6 (Walter-Laager et al., 2022). Sie steht mittlerweile in Form einer Fremdevaluierung durch externe Evaluator*innen, in Form der Selbstevaluierung der pädagogischen Fachkräfte, sowie als Erhebungsinstrument für die Kinderperspektive zur Verfügung.
Die Perspektive der Kinder erfährt zunehmend Bedeutung in der aktuellen Kindheitsforschung, welche vermehrt auf den Einbezug aller Akteur*innen zielt. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit soll der Prozess der Erhebung der Kinderperspektive mittels der GrazIASKinderperspektive App (der digitalen Version des Erhebungsinstrumentes) in der pädagogischen Praxis der Autorin, sowie die von den Ergebnissen abgeleiteten evidenzbasierten Maßnahmen, dargestellt werden. Dabei steht die Frage nach der Praktikabilität dieses Instrumentes, die Nutzbarkeit der gewonnenen Daten für die pädagogische Fachkraft und dadurch ableitbare Maßnahmen für den pädagogischen Alltag im Vordergrund. Die generierten Erfahrungen werden mit der vorliegenden schriftlichen Arbeit wieder in einen wissenschaftlichen Kontext gebettet, sowie Ideen zur Verwertung der Daten und mögliche Adaptionen zur Optimierung der Anwendbarkeit angestoßen.
In this bachelor thesis the appliance of a standardized instrument to measure interaction quality from children´s perspective in the early childhood educational field, will be analysed the GrazIASKinderperspektive. Current research shows, that the quality of interaction between child and professional workers in early childhood education facilities, plays a crucial role to enable children to develop well (Walter-Laager et al., 2022). The Grazer Interaktionsskala 0-6 (Walter-Laa-ger et al., 2022), hereinafter referred to as GrazIAS, is an assessment instrument for scaling the quality of interaction. Currently there are three different scales available to collect data, based on GrazIAS - an external evaluation done by special trained evaluators, self-evaluation for professionals and the GrazIASKinderperspektive App to collect data on children´s perspective.
Including the perspective of children has become an increasingly important approach in current childhood studies and aims on including perspectives of all engaged individuals. This thesis will describe the process of collecting data via GrazIASKinderperspektive App (the digital tool to capture interaction quality from children`s perspective) in the early educational institution of the author, as well as derived measures based on those results. The thesis will question the practicality of the instrument, the usability of data for educational professionals and possible evidence-based measures in their everyday educational field.
This critical qualitative policy research study examines the intersection between policymakers’ neoliberal kindergarten reforms and children figuring themselves as learners within a publicly funded schooling community. Engaging in this examination of the biopolitical kindergarten space, which is shaped by standardized teaching and learning experience designed to prepare kindergarteners for the high-stakes reforms that await them in later grades, creates the opportunity to consider whether school spaces are designed to prepare the next generation of democratic citizens. It also provides insight as to how critical qualitative policy researchers can investigate as well as propose tangible policy responses through their work that seek to change the current era of policymakers schooling children through their neoliberal reforms.
Work integrated learning (WIL) forms a pivotal component contributing to pre-service teacher development. Whilst research highlights the advantages and challenges pre-service teachers experience during work integrated learning, there is a dearth of research that focuses on how children participate in WIL which adopts an adult perspective. In this theoretical chapter, we provide an overview of why children’s participation as to how they experienced the lesson is required through a child centered perspective for work integrated learning. We conclude by offering potentialities for policy makers, public and private higher education institutions to reimagine and reconceptualize the role of young children and older children’s participation in work integrated learning. Considerations are also presented for empirical studies to be carried out to explore the impact of children’s participation in the form of feedback to how children experienced the lesson for both pre-service and in-service teachers teaching.
In the present article, I discuss important ethical considerations that I made as a doctoral researcher while conducting a partially virtual research study on a sensitive topic during COVID-19. I start by briefly discussing my research topic. Following this, drawing from unanticipated situations that I encountered, I critically analyze procedural ethical guidelines by asking ethical committees to consider flexibility to fulfill the desired research objectives. Furthermore, I take examples from my research to describe how I tried to establish rapport and trust with participants involving minors and key workers amidst the pandemic. I then discuss how I solved the ethical challenges involving students’ informed consent and complicated phases of negotiation concerning data collection. I adopted a responsible-cum-response-able strategy, which developed eventually as I progressed through my study during the successive stages of the pandemic. The key to this strategy was to go with the flow flexibly, realistically, and responsibly without losing sight of the ethical considerations. I conclude by maintaining that it is vital for a researcher to practice reflexivity throughout the study not simply to tick boxes for institutional approval but to ensure integrity for rigorous research.
This chapter seeks to address how to retain teachers by empowering preservice teachers within their teacher preparation program through advocacy and activism. Drawing from a longitudinal study on preservice teachers, among other studies, this chapter applies Freire's critical pedagogy as a framework to outline these main ideas and explain ways to implement them in a teacher education program: (1) Preservice teachers must recognize that they are functioning within a neoliberal system; (2) Preservice teachers must recognize that they have the power and voice to change and disrupt the system through advocacy and activism; (3) Preservice teachers must recognize that they can use their voice to change education and education-related policies that affect their students and their teaching; (4) Preservice teachers must recognize that they can use their voice to change social policies that affect their well-being and day-to-day life as teachers.
Children’s decision making in early childhood education is highly contributory to their learning and development. This study explores children’s understanding of decision making and where in the early childhood center do they make decisions. A qualitative approach located within the interpretivist paradigm was selected A focus group conversation was conducted with twenty children aged between the ages of 4 and 5. Findings revealed that children’s understanding of decision making emanates from experiences in the home through given choices for ultimately making decisions. Another important finding revealed that children make decisions in the early childhood center related to play and art and this occurred on free play Fridays, whilst teachers make decisions in relation to the teaching of subjects such as language. This study has important implications as it foregrounds the importance of supporting children’s decision making in all activities including formal activities of the early childhood program and not just restricted to making decisions only for play and art. If teachers understand that children’s decision making should not be only confined to art and play but that children’s decision making should also be evident in formal activities such as language and maths then learning for young children will become more meaningful. Children will also understand that they are valued as co-constructors of knowledge and they will be motivated to learn. This study has important implications for further research about how children can be supported to make decisions in formal activities and how policy in South Africa should be redesigned to allow teachers the space to include children’s decision making.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child argues for children’s involvement in research. Oral health research frequently excludes children with disabilities and their voices. This study takes a rights-based approach by devising methods to include disabled children in oral health research. This is an ethnographic study. Methods utilized interviews, guided tours, symbols, drawings, pictures, and games. The selection of method depended on the ability and preference of each child. Using pictures and games as prompts enabled child participation. The guided tour activity facilitated the development of relationships with the children. It also increased their ability to chat informally and appeared to reduce power imbalances compared to formal, structured interviewing. Focus group interviews, symbols, and drawings acted as barriers to children’s participation. Involving children with disabilities in oral health research requires using appropriate methodological designs and innovative, pluralistic methods drawn from different disciplines. This promotes a rights-based approach, which recognizes diversity and aims to reduce the discrimination and disempowerment of children with disabilities.
To better understand the effectiveness of any implemented early childhood curriculum, it is vital to pay attention to the experiences of early childhood educators who practiced that curriculum. The purpose of this research is to investigate early childhood educators' experiences with the Creative Curriculum that has been implemented at the Early Childhood Center of Qatar University since 2015. In this phenomenological research, the methodology includes: (a) in-depth phenomenologically based interviews, (b) follow-up online interviews, and (c) a focus group meeting with the teachers. Eight early childhood educators with a wide range of experiences presented their own experiences with the Creative Curriculum. The findings revealed that by implementing the Creative Curriculum, teachers were encouraged to integrate all aspects of the Curriculum. Teachers were inspired to pay close attention to their children’s physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development and to respond appropriately. This research provides insights and future implications about this specific curriculum in the early childhood field.
Scholars of early childhood education have urged qualitative researchers to adapt their methods for use with young children. However, unjust social imaginations of childhood (e.g., who is considered a “child”) play out in qualitative research, particularly for young children who are made most vulnerable by intersecting oppressions (e.g., racism, linguicism, ableism). Extending Morrison’s metaphor of “the white gaze,” we argue that qualitative research is often framed through an “adult gaze,” which presumes children’s worth in terms of who they will ultimately become and differentially imagines who is considered a child in the present. Informed by theoretical understandings from the fields of critical childhood studies and early literacy studies, we consider how qualitative researchers might disrupt the adult gaze and honor multiply marginalized children by centering their wholeness, orienting toward their agency, and creating space for their brilliance.
In this article, I examine how a sample of principals in Texas and West Virginia made sense of the learning experiences of kindergarteners and how such sensemaking appeared to affect them as instructional leaders. Examining these issues creates the opportunity to consider the types of support school leaders might need to address the changing kindergarten as well as how they might work with teachers, children, and their families so that all students are on a trajectory for school success. I employed case study methodology using sensemaking theory to examine: a) how twelve principals made sense of the learning experiences kindergarten students are and should be having as they begin elementary school, and b) how such sensemaking appears to affect them as instructional leaders. These principals appeared to make sense of kindergarteners’ learning experiences in a complex manner that was shaped by their own beliefs about the purpose of kindergarten as well as the neoliberal contexts in which they worked. Yet, such sensemaking did not appear to translate into their decision-making as instructional leaders, even though these principals worked in different state-level policy contexts and had varying resources available to them within their schools. Instead, policymakers’ neoliberal demands for academic achievement in the later grades seemed to dictate their point of emphasis in their decision-making process. To address these issues, I provide several suggestions to support principals in developing their understanding of early education so that they can instructionally lead these programs in a manner that supports children’s success in school.
Aim
To describe the application of selected creative and participatory research methods in nursing science.
Design
Research methodology paper.
Methods
Researcher‐initiated role play, stimulated recall interviews, the Storycrafting method, painting and drawing. Altogether, 11 children (5–7 years old) and 12 parents participated in the research.
Results
Each small group (n = 3) acted differently during the data collection. Not every child wanted to play, draw or tell stories, but they all expressed their views through some method. Although the same themes emerged from children's narratives, they could not have been verified by just one method.
Conclusions
Using creative and participatory methods and the principles of studies of child perspectives are applicable ways of conducting research in nursing science. Children must be treated as individuals during the research process, and they must have opportunities to use several communication methods to express their views.
Implications for the profession and patient care
Understanding different ways to interact with children and hear children's views will help nurses to encounter children.
Impact
In this article, we present a valid way of conducting research with children. By following our protocol, nursing research from a child perspective can be implemented.
Reporting Method
Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ).
Patient Contribution
The child participants were involved in choosing physical places for data collection and the usage and order of the selected methods. Both the children and the adult participants took part in interpreting the research data.
Children's relationship with time in preschools is an under‐researched area. Young children rarely know how to measure time using a clock, but their experiences of time may contribute to understanding children's well‐being and debates about quality in preschools. This paper brings together two empirical exploratory studies conducted in preschools in Iceland and Croatia, respectively, and is based on participatory research methods that highlight young children's perspectives on their sense of time. First, the paper provides examples of young children's understanding of the sequence of events in preschools. Most days were marked by regular routines, such as mealtimes, circle time and outdoor activities. These stepping stones were seen as providing a rhythm for the day. Children's conversations and drawings indicated an embodied sense of time that is subjective, relational and situational. Second, questions have been raised about the impact of different time practices on young children's everyday lives in preschools. In some cases, the management of time appeared to have unintended consequences for factors relating to quality in preschools. Adherence to daily visual schedules could lead to fragmented days with fewer opportunities for uninterrupted play than time management based on ‘flow’. The subjective nature of children's sense of time is complex, and shared understandings between adults and children are not guaranteed. Careful and imaginative listening is required in order to deepen understandings on this topic. This could, in turn, support teachers to further consider the impact on children's daily experiences of preschool when planning based solely on ‘clock time’.
Christmas plays an important role in kindergartens in all the Nordic countries. While for many, Christmas is a time for belonging, for others it is a time for withdrawal or longing. This article applies ethnographic data to examine how staff and children manage Christmas in the context of a religiously diverse Norwegian kindergarten. Describing how Christmas dominates the kindergarten from late November and through December, I analyze how this affects children’s practices, narratives, and opportunities to belong. Building on Yuval-Davies’ concept of the politics of belonging, I develop a typology of four interrelated ways of navigation: identification, silence, separation, and imagination. This typology illuminates how children may be affected by the politics of belonging, but also how their agency and creativity lead to different ways of navigation, influencing processes of belonging. By providing a child-centered perspective on belonging, this article provides an empirically based contribution to discussions about inclusivity relating to religious and cultural diversity in ECEC.
This study follows Mikah, an African American twice exceptional (2E-gifted and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]) kindergarten boy, in a U.S. classroom over the course of an academic semester, considering the research questions: How did Mikah (a pseudonym), age 5, experience microaggression in kindergarten? How were the microaggressions structured by the school/classroom and between home and school? A case study using ethnographic methods and critical discourse analysis methods was used. Data sources were collected and analyzed, including participant observation in the kindergarten classroom; interviews with teachers, children, parents, the coach, principal, and superintendent; children’s work samples; and classroom, school, and district media. The research findings showed how, across the year, Mikah switched his position from a victim of microaggressions by White people to the perpetrator of microaggressions toward Black peers and how Mikah’s White classroom teacher placed both Mikah and his father in perpetual need of disciplining because neither can completely avoid the “need” for her guidance on school-based normativity. The research indicated that racial microaggressions could spread and intensify when White teachers are not trained and committed to inclusive anti-racist approaches in the classroom, and to listening to Black children’s strengths and their parents’ wisdom.
The importance of school outdoor use of kindergarten students
In the high‐pressure world of education, mindfulness practices have been offered to help teachers and students to handle stress and manage their emotions. Here we describe how two fifth‐grade teachers experienced a mindfulness intervention, using the construct of figured worlds. We explore how they negotiated mindfulness in their practice, illustrating the power of an anthropological look at a typically psychological construct.
This study employs critical ethnographic child–parent research to examine Korean American children’s lived experiences related to anti-Asian racism, looking closely at children’s ordinary interactions in their everyday lives at home. Children’s conversations at home were audio – and video-recorded and artifacts created by children and from school were collected. While children as co-researchers actively participated in the research, they shared their perspectives on race and anti-Asian racism, noticing the invisibility and stereotypes of Asian Americans. The children’s counterstories from child–parent research reveal that racialized discourses toward Asians and Asian Americans are not discussed at school even though children experience them.
This study opens more conversations to understand and navigate Asian American children’s perspectives on race and racism and methodological insights for racially minoritized parent research with children.
Avhandlingens tema er brukermedvirkning og hvordan brukermedvirkning blir til som
politisk, organisatorisk og sosialfaglig praksis i barnevernets undersøkelser. Ved hjelp av Niklas Luhmanns systemteori og begrep om «iakttagelser av iakttagelser» har jeg i studien utforsket barnevernets egen måte å se og spørre på. Jeg utforsker hvordan brukermedvirkning trer frem som en bestemt type praksis, men hvor det ikke er barnevernet som organisasjon, eller den enkelte saksbehandlers eller families handlinger som er gjenstand for analyse, ei heller brukermedvirkning som begrep. Heller har jeg fra ulike analytiske blikk sett hvordan ulike teknologier, med sine bestemte iakttagerblikk, setter bestemte forskjeller som det deretter styres etter, og som dermed får betydning for barnevernets praksis. Jeg gjør en forskyvning fra å se på barnevernet fra et ideelt blikk og med dette blikket studere hva de
gjør, til å se på feltets egne iakttagelser. Avhandlingen viser hvordan barnevernets ansatte er underlagt ulike makt-teknologier som virker styrende på praksis uten at disse styringsmekanismene umiddelbart er synlige for den enkelte. Brukermedvirkning trer dermed frem som en makt som gjennom styring retter
seg mot å få både sosialarbeider og klient til å styre seg selv etter «maktens ønske». Maktens definering av rommet er et handlingsrom uten skjønnsutøvelse. Fra tradisjonelt å være en homofon organisasjon som i sine undersøkelser har benyttet seg av det sosialfaglige funksjonssystemet, hvor utøvelse av skjønn og vurdering er sentralt, trer barnevernets undersøkelser nå frem som en polyfon organisasjon med et utall funksjonssystemer. Dermed er det ikke gitt hvordan den enkelte barnevernssak skal forstås og behandles. Jeg har imidlertid ikke bare analysert frem de ulike makt-teknologier som blir bestemmende for barnevernets praksis, men jeg har også, ved hjelp av Michel Foucaults dispositive analyse, analysert frem den styringsteknologien, det dispositiv, som ligger bak de ulike makt-teknologiene. Dispositivet «barnets beste», med sitt bestemte iakttagerblikk, trer frem som et generelt blikk som er å finne bak de ulike teknologienes virke. Dette dispositivet
trer frem som den nærliggende og selvfølgelige praksis det ikke stilles spørsmål ved. Poenget er imidlertid at idet «barnets beste» trer frem som et dispositiv, får «barnets beste» en bestemt form som legger til rette for bestemte forståelser som virker direkte regulerende på den sosiale praksisen. Slik det trer frem er det nemlig kun «barnets beste» som en generell størrelse som disponerer barneverntjenestens praksis, ikke hensynet til det konkrete og individuelle barnet. Dispositivet «barnets beste» trer dermed frem som et hensyn som risikerer å true de hensyn
det er satt til å ivareta.
The chapter presents a case study of a classroom intervention that examined the effectiveness of ‘tableau’ and ‘writing in role’ (established classroom drama conventions) as pedagogical tools to represent and track comprehension of main ideas about the solar system. The intervention, informed by theories related to embodied learning, was implemented over six sessions with a class of third grade students in a semi-urban area of the south-eastern United States. After reading informational texts about different aspects of the solar system, students worked in groups to create a still image (tableau) representation of a main idea and for two of the sessions students also wrote from the perspective of the role they had enacted in the tableau (writing in role, [WriR]). Varied data sources – audio recordings, photographs and WriR compositions – captured unfolding interpretations of the scientific texts and evidence of student comprehension of key concepts related to the solar system. Analysis of the data sets was guided by the essential research question, ‘What did the drama do for the learning of science?’ The case study concludes that the application of drama conventions with a curriculum science unit about the solar system caused the students to actively engage with scientific abstract concepts in order to embody them as tableau representations. As a result students acquired an enhanced understanding of key concepts and therefore these findings support the cognitive value of learning science through drama.KeywordsTableauWriting in roleEmbodied learningMain ideaSolar system
How are religiously based eating regulations navigated in kindergarten , and how does the pedagogical context influence the children's understandings of religion and nationality? This article builds on a qualitative case study involving observations and group interviews with children in a Norwegian kindergarten. At mealtimes, some children ate different food than their peers due to religiously based eating regulations. Notably, no children connected these differences to religion. Utilising Paul Gilroy's concept of conviviality, I argue that the staff contribute to a convivial concealment of religion. Their approach avoids reducing children to their religious background, and facilitates connections based on shared experiences and interests. However, it fails to give children a deeper understanding of religious diversity and does not address problematic aspects of some children's working theories. Thus, convivial concealment may contribute to subtle, but significant, processes of exclusion. The study contributes to discussions of everyday religious diversity in educational settings, coining the term 'convivial concealment of religion' and analysing consequences of this pedagogical practice.
Contemporary children encounter far more unfiltered information than did children of previous generations, whose unmediated and direct experiences with people, places, and things served as primary sources of knowledge. Thus, when children are given the choice of what they will draw, the full range of influences shaping their knowledge of the world materializes on the drawing page, as images supplied by commercial culture vie for space with the traditional subjects of child art. Children's choice of imagery determines the form and content of their drawings from the time they begin to produce graphic symbols. The choices made by young children, influenced by media and peer culture, produce idiosyncratic developmental trajectories that differ markedly from classic descriptions of child art that emphasized the developmental priority of autobiographical images based upon the directly experienced. The increasing complexity of young children's lives, evidenced by changes in the everyday contexts of schooling and friendship and in the ready appropriation of images and ideas from popular culture, suggests the need for critical reassessment of the developmental and cultural assumptions that continue to guide early art education.
Policymakers’ demands for standardization and increased academic achievement have led various stakeholder groups to call for more professional development (PD) in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Federal initiatives and state agencies' quality improvement initiatives also position PD as a key component to improve access to quality programs for all. Yet, much of the PD consists of single-day workshops despite scholars continued calls for more critical approaches such as inquiry-based professional learning (IBPL). While research has emerged that examines the implementation of IBPL, little is known about how teachers and center leaders themselves make sense of such practices. This article therefore adds teachers’ and directors’ voices directly into the conversation as early childhood teacher educators continue to research and advocate for more critical and holistic approaches to PD. Findings from this research bring to light at least three main investments policy makers, teacher educators, classroom teachers and center leaders, and teachers-in-training can make to implement, sustain or improve IBPL in more ECEC spaces.
Writer’s workshop is a popular curriculum opportunity in most US schools. This case study of two Black boys engaging in a Kindergarten writer’s workshop richly contextualizes their writing identities and practices. A critical childhood studies framework was used to show how Black boys and their White teachers improvised writing-related relationships. The research questions for the study were: (1) How did Black boys use creativity and strength to push back against the semi-scripted curriculum in Kindergarten writer’s workshop? (2) What can teachers and teacher educators learn from their examples? In the findings Black boys strove to think, understand, and practice writing freely and to use their personal and cultural resources outside the constraints of teaching scripts. However, when teachers did not navigate the semi-scripted curriculum, all the children were robbed of their writing identities but Black boys were most deeply affected. Reflection questions and suggestions for teacher educators and professional developers are designed to support the use of improvisational practices and African diaspora literacy in early childhood and elementary school writing contexts.
The foundations of an applied family social systems theory for explaining the multiple determinants of child well-being, learning, and development, parenting beliefs, behavior and practices, and family well-being are described. The theory is derived from tenets of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and other social, family, and contextualized theories. The applied theory was used to develop an activity setting model of young children’s everyday learning opportunities and a family systems intervention practices model for ensuring parents and other caregivers have the time and psychological energy to provide young children with development-instigating and development-enhancing learning opportunities in the contexts of everyday family and community life. Results from three different lines of research are described which provide support for the applied systems model and the two associated intervention models. Results showed that different child characteristics, setting characteristics, parenting behavior and practices, family and social systems variables, and practitioner measures were empirically related to variations in child, parent, and family outcomes. There were also discernable pathways of influence between family systems intervention model practices, parenting practices, and child outcomes mediated by parent self-efficacy beliefs and parent well-being. The contributions of the theory, models, and research findings to child studies are described.
Policymakers’ neoliberal education reforms have altered teaching and teacher education. These neoliberal policies reframe teaching and teacher education through conceptions of standards, academic achievement, data, and accountability. By doing so, many new and experienced teachers have left the field, and this has caused many who remain to question their ability to attain policymakers’ objectives and what it means to be a teacher. Yet, little is known about the impact of these neoliberal reforms on preservice teachers. In this article, we begin to attend to this issue by examining how a sample of preservice teachers made sense of their role as teachers and the profession they are entering. We then analyze whether such sensemaking reflects policymakers’ neoliberal framing of these constructs. Based on these findings, we outline opportunities for teacher educators to work with their preservice teachers to interpret, critique, and respond to policymakers’ neoliberal reforms.
New cultural geography is concerned with the meaning of cultural landscapes. People living in different regions have their own unique understandings of vernacular landscape, which is a part of local knowledge. Youth may play a much important role in cultural protection of vernacular landscapes if they identify the meaning of vernacular landscapes. Based on constructivism theory and Tuan’s concept of topophilia, our hypothesis is that the environmental perception of living experience impacts the school students’ identity of the vernacular landscape much more than the local knowledge education. This study took Dongshan Town as the research area to prove our hypothesis. Dongshan Town is a famous old town in South China. The analysis results of the questionnaires are as follows. Firstly, local life experience is the constructivist base for the vernacular landscape identity of school students in Dongshan Town. Secondly, quantitative analysis shows a different result from qualitative analysis. Living experience impacts less in the quantitative result than in the qualitative result. So, the conclusion of this study is that the qualitative method is better to prove the hypothesis than the quantitative method. Although it supports Yi-Fu Tuan’s viewpoint of topophilia again, we cannot say it is absolutely right in any instance.
This article considers the ontology of theory as a shaping phenomenon in qualitative research by opening up its intersection with artistic dimensions of knowing and knowledge. We argue that the plurality of practices and perspectives for research hinges on what theory is understood to be. Thus, rather than approaching theory as something predefined, we draw on conceptualizations of the experience of art to articulate the being of theory as an aesthetic renewal of a shared human movement of becoming. We then illuminate theory's potential as a multidimensional artful being by engaging with a subset of photographs of street art collected in Colombia.
Return migration is critical to regional endogeneity, especially in rural areas. In recent years, short videos, such as those on TikTok, have become very popular in rural China, which has attracted many people to return to their hometowns and become cyber-celebrities, profiting from the production of short videos to showcase local agricultural culture. The question focused on in this paper is to what extent the popularity of short videos has influenced return migration and what role it has played in promoting regional endogeneity. We conducted a qualitative survey of cyber-celebrities in Qingyang City, one of the poorest regions in northwest China, using NVivo12 software to validate a mechanistic model linking the popularity of short videos and return migration, and further explored the positive implications of reviving local agricultural culture through new technologies for regional endogeneity. The results show that (1) the popularity of short videos has a positive impact on return migration, (2) technical and financial support from local communities has a positive effect on the popularity of short videos, and (3) emotional strategies and local knowledge are key factors for the popularity of short videos. This study could help local communities build more competitive strategies while helping cyber-celebrities produce more communicative works to showcase local agricultural culture. The popularity of short videos is believed to have a positive impact on the preservation of regional agricultural heritage.
Artikkelen drøfter abduktiv analyse (AA) – en strategi for teoriutvikling som har fått økt oppmerksomhet det siste tiåret. AA handler om å videreutvikle teori gjennom å oppdage og gi mening til data som bryter med teoretiske forventninger. Strategien forutsetter inngående kjennskap til samfunnsvitenskapelige teorier og dyptpløyende analyse av et rikt datasett. Målet er å gjøre forskeren best mulig disponert for å oppdage fruktbare avvik til eksisterende teori, som man så kan bruke for å utvikle teorien videre. Artikkelen argumenterer for at AA er en ambisiøs og konstruktiv strategi for teoriutvikling, men at den vil være tjent med en utvidet forståelse av teori: AA retter oppmerksomheten nærmest utelukkende mot videreutvikling av vitenskapelig teori og overser med det det betydelige omfanget av ikke-vitenskapelig teori som produseres og sirkuleres på utsiden av tradisjonelle vitenskapelige kanaler. Artikkelen foreslår at AA kan brukes til å videreutvikle også denne typen teori og bygger med det bro mellom litteraturen om teoriutvikling og den offentlige, samfunnskritiske sosiologien vi har lang tradisjon for i Norge. I sum bidrar artikkelen til en mer opplyst samtale om AAs muligheter og begrensninger, noe som kan bedre vilkårene for å utvikle interessant og nyttig teori i samfunnsvitenskapene.
Policymakers’ demands for improved academic achievement by all children and the standardization of instructional practices continue to alter the landscape of early childhood education. Many within the early childhood education community are examining how these changes impact stakeholders' conceptions of school readiness. Yet, little has been done to examine how these same stakeholders make sense of the changed practices of kindergarten itself—the program for which children are getting ready. This article addresses this issue by examining findings from an instrumental case study that examined how a sample of urban prekindergarten program stakeholders in the Midwest made sense of the changed kindergarten. Investigating this issue created the opportunity to consider whether preschool stakeholders are conceptually prepared for children transitioning into kindergarten, which may impact how children’s transition into elementary school unfolds, as well as whether they believe the changed kindergarten is an appropriate learning environment for children. Such findings also offer the chance to consider how early childhood stakeholders might work to alter the current framing of the changed kindergarten.
The idea of knowledge within the field of teacher education is constituted by certain arguments. Our concern is that the discussions of knowledge within teacher education do not include issues of race, class, gender, or power relations. Within this article, we examine pervasive ideas about knowledge, briefly addressing perceptions in popular media, and then move on to discuss the professional literature and especially the idea of a knowledge base for teacher candidates. We look at the idea of a knowledge base for the gaps and ideas that are missing, especially in the area of questioning the effects of social, cultural, and historical movements as well as power relationships. Questioning such discussions about knowledge for teacher educators requires a tool for making connections between such academic discussions and social movements and we present social mooring as such a tool.
This article examines how prospective teachers just beginning a professional education program think about working with parents. Through interviews with students in an elementary teacher education program, I explore how biography shapes dispositions toward families by setting expectations for the roles and the activities of participants. Merging cognitive, cultural, and narrative frameworks for teacher development, I suggest that prospective teachers must cross-traditionally consider cultural boundaries of race/class/gender but are also challenged as they move from being a child and student in family and school to the professional position of teacher. I argue that the role of teacher education is to manage the identity work necessary to integrate the tools of biography and the process of learning to relate to others in a new role.
Background
Although concerns about unintended negative consequences of standards-based accountability (SBA) reform for children's socioemotional development have been raised, few studies have systematically examined early childhood teachers’ perceptions of and practices for children's behavior and bodies under such policy. This study was conducted against the backdrop of the intersection of the accountability policy and the increasing prevalence of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) among children, including preschoolers.
Purpose
The study investigated how early childhood teachers’ perspectives of and practices for the behavior and bodies of children considered at risk of being identified with ADHD later in schooling were related to the increasing concern over school readiness under SBA reform.
Research Design
Data for a qualitative case study were generated through multiple methods, including video-recorded observations in two African-American children's pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms, interviews with their teachers, and artifact collection.
Results
The focal children's teachers appropriated the authoritative discourses of ADHD and readiness for school to perceive the children's bodies as uncontrollable and unready for school. The teachers taught the children a variety of bodily techniques to enculturate them in public school and to develop docile student bodies. Keeping their authoritative practices intact, the teachers hardly incorporated the children's areas of strengths into the curriculum and instruction. School was introduced to the children as a carnivalesqueless place, and both SBA reform and ADHD contributed to disembodiment in the public early childhood education settings.
Conclusions
This study suggests the need for reframing the notion of school readiness; bringing teachers’ folk theories about children's behavior and bodies to their critical awareness; and intentionally balancing serious, rigid parts of the daily classroom routine with relaxed, pleasurable moments.
In the field of early childhood education, play has become synonymous with curriculum but is sometimes viewed narrowly as a pedagogical tool to enhance child development. However, it is known from a range of multidisciplinary work that child-initiated and child-guided forms and contexts of playing can offer rich insight into diversity in childhood(s), peer cultures and children's meaning-making. This article draws on an ethnographic study that was conducted in a full-day childcare centre in Singapore and focused on children's everyday world of self-initiated play, improvisation and peer culture. Specifically, it presents examples of songs and rhythmic chants created by a group of 4-year-olds . Such ‘musicking’ is a form of social play that illustrates children’s ways of teasing, relating with others and sense-making within their contemporary social world. The article argues for educators to look beyond the instrumental value of play in the preschool curriculum, inviting all to take some time to allow children's multifarious play activities to influence their adult sensibilities.
Drawing on Bakhtin’s (Discourse in the novel, University of Texas Press, 1981) notions of dialogism and appropriation, this case study explored how a 5-year-old Latina named Lucia negotiated the gender discourses involved in designing and building robots. The study findings revealed that Lucia performed her gender by appropriating different gender discourses and by using both robotics knowledge and gender tactics to position herself as a competent robotics engineer. Lucia’s fluid gender performativity combined with her skillful robot design legitimized her entry into the masculine peer group while affirming her robot as an empowered agent. This study unpacks the complexity of gender ideologies that female students may experience as they engage in the engineering design process. The study also shows how robot designing and building can be a technological and material practice through which young girls can explore and express fluid gender subjectivities. We conclude the article with implications for early childhood engineering and robotics education.
Historically, research about classroom management has been instrumental in nature. Although some studies have engaged a critical perspective, few have studied management from the perspectives of children. Through interviews with third‐grade children, this study asked: How do third graders make sense of a “clip chart” classroom management system in relation to themselves and their classmates? Findings provide insights into how management practices impact both children's behavior and their understandings of themselves and others.
Research that ‘grows apart’ from its original design and proposal is not uncommon, especially when involving participatory and creative methods. However, the disconnect between research intentions and research realization is seldom probed for the insights offered; this paper addresses this gap. Taking up the conceptual lens of research imaginaries, this paper dives into the tensions and discoveries experienced in between the design and the practice of a multi-site participatory research project. The study involved two groups of young people, in two cities in two countries, with a focus on digital lives. In a commitment to collaboration with artists, senior researchers, research assistants, and young people in community spaces, a complex project emerged. This paper describes the tensions and possibilities of an emergent methodology and in doing so argues for increased attention to the movement of research designs; rather than the adherence to them.
Dual language immersion (DLI) programs were developed in the U.S. with the expressed goal of supporting intercultural connections, bilingualism, biliteracy, and respect for diversity. However, these programs are still influenced by broader social ideas and power dynamics. From this perspective, this year-long ethnographic case study uses a sociocultural approach to examine the nature of young children’s social experiences in DLI contexts. In particular, this study investigates how kindergarten children in a DLI class discern and navigate socially-constructed racial ideas. Data for this qualitative case study was collected through field notes, semi-structured interviews, and video recordings. The findings shed light on how race becomes a category that separates children and attaches particular meanings to individual subjects. This exploration helps to address antiblackness in DLI settings by analyzing how social constructions shape social practices, racial perceptions, and the socialization process in these programs.
The classroom is a crucial, everyday element of children's geographies with important socio-spatial characteristics that demand scholarly attention. This study ethnographically investigates the production of meanings in the classroom space through seating. Building on the conceptual framework of spatial dialectic (Lefebvre, H. 1991. The Production of Space. Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith. Oxford: Blackwell), it theorizes that classroom space is a fluid process that shapes and is shaped by the everyday spatial practices of teachers and students. Specifically it draws on the fieldwork conducted at a suburban middle school in China's underdeveloped northwest region, exploring the process by which the hierarchical seating arrangements are used as a pedagogical tool for creating a charged space conducive for learning at the classroom level. The study reveals that the built space in the classroom has been transformed into a space imbued with moral terms, in and through which students are expected to commit themselves to schoolwork.
This article uses intersectionality as a lens for exploring the literacies and identities of James, a young transnational student with autism. Qualitative analysis of data drawn from two years of a longitudinal case study reveals James’s many linguistic and literate assets and their marginalization in school. Across home, community, and school contexts, James’s identities both shaped and were shaped by his literacies. The authors argue for intersectionality as a valuable lens for understanding how youth use literacy to navigate identities and relationships. Deepening our understanding of youth at the intersections can help envision educational spaces that engage and support students’ multiple literate identities.
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