Children's Perceptions

Schooling is a form of misopedy and a fundamental structure in conditioning societal acceptance of domination in other registers. The subordination of children begins with the misguided notion that they are incapable of autonomy, reinforcing a dichotomous understanding of adult/child or teacher/student. Schooling should not be confused with education. The former represents the interests of oppression, molding societal consciousness to accept the conditions of subjugation. In contrast, education in its idealized form is a process of self-discovery, an awakening to one’s potential, and a desire to see such abilities realized. To ensure the absence of coercion in education children need to explore for themselves, making their own decisions about what their interests are, and how those curiosities might be fulfilled. Presenting a broad range of opportunities is crucial, but the decision about what path to follow should be determined by the child. When bound to a classroom we often mistake obedience for education. Yet learning, as geographers recognize, best occurs 'through the soles of our feet' and when children explore the world through unschooling, they live into their creative potential, opening an aperture on alternative ontologies. Unschooling is, in short, one of the most powerful forms of anarchism we can engage.

In this essay, Susan Engel argues that curiosity is both intrinsic to children’s development and unfolds through social interactions. Thus, it should be cultivated in schools, even though it is often almost completely absent from classrooms. Calling on well-established research and more recent studies, Engel argues that interactions between teachers and students can foster or inhibit children’s curiosity. She offers an explanation for why curiosity is not a priority in our educational system and calls for greater attention to children’s interests and explorations, which, she argues, are the mechanisms that underlie authentic learning.

The children, more and more introduced in the consumption culture, represent to the corporations an expressive consumption market, that seeks for the constant improvement of it’s products to attend this new public’s wills and needs. The packing design has the important function to dialogue with this public, approaching them to the big corporations, through the application of the chindren’s world elements.The aim of this article is to verify, through the field research with children, the preference for packages of a same kind of product. More specifically, three different packages of kids lunch, of distinct fast-food corporations will be analysed. This paper will investigate how happends this predilection of the kids on the investigated packings.

(Full article in portuguese)

Qualitative research provides opportunities to study bullying and peer harassment as social processes, interactions and meaning-making in the everyday context of particular settings. It offers the possibility of developing a deep understanding of the culture and group processes of bullying and the participants’ perspectives on peer harassment as well. It gives participants opportunities to discuss their own understanding and experiences of bullying in their own words. This article reviews qualitative studies on bullying or peer harassment in school (including some studies in which qualitative and quantitative methods — so-called mixed methods — have been used).

The aim of this qualitative case study is to investigate how learning in “democratic participation” is constituted by the social interaction and conversation pattern in school democratic meetings in a Swedish primary school. According to the findings, a pupil control discourse and the Initiation-Response-Evaluation pattern dominates the conversations. The teacher initiates by asking a question, the pupils respond by answering the question, and then the teacher evaluates that response. The findings show no discursive shift from traditional classroom talk to democratic deliberative talk. Instead there is an emphasis on the “right answers” and subordinating authorities rather than deliberative dialogue and democratic participation, which influences pupils to adopt a naïve or a cynical attitude to democracy.

The aim of the present study was to explore how teenagers explain why bullying takes place at school, and whether there were any differences in explaining bullying due to gender and prior bullying experiences. One hundred and seventy-six Swedish students in Grade 9 responded to a questionnaire. Mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative methods) were used to analyze data. The grounded theory analysis generated five main categories and 26 sub categories regarding accounts of bullying causes. Results indicated that youth tended to explain bullying in terms of individualistic reasons (bully attributing and victim attributing) than in terms of peer group, school setting, or human nature/society reasons. Girls were more likely to attribute bullying causes to the bully and much less to the victim, compared to boys. Moreover, youth classified as bullies were more likely to attribute the reason for bullying to the victim and much less to the bully, compared to victims, bystanders, and victims/bullies.

Arndt, S., & Tesar, M. (2015). Early childhood assessment in Aotearoa New Zealand: Critical perspectives and fresh openings. Journal of Pedagogy, 6(2), 71–86. doi:10.1515/jped-2015-0014

This paper engages with assessment practices in Aotearoa New Zealand. Te Whāriki, the internationally recognized early childhood curriculum framework, lies at the root of contemporary narrative assessment practices, and the concept of learning stories. We outline historical and societal underpinnings of these practices, and elevate the essence of assessment through learning stories and their particular ontological and epistemological aims and purposes. The paper emphasizes early childhood teaching and learning as a complex relational, inter-subjective, material, moral and political practice. It adopts a critical lens and begins from the premise that early childhood teachers are in the best position to make decisions about teaching and learning in their localized, contextualized settings, with and for the children with whom they share it. We examine the notion of effectiveness and 'what works' in assessment, with an emphasis on the importance of allowing for uncertainty, and for the invisible elements in children's learning. Te Whāriki and learning stories are positioned as strong underpinnings of culturally and morally open, rich and complex assessment, to be constantly renegotiated within each local context, in Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond.

The aim of this paper is to investigate children's views and experiences of democracy and pupil participation in relation to everyday school life, and to let their voices be heard on these issues. The data for this paper was derived from two ethnographic research projects conducted in three elementary schools in Sweden. In the classes investigated at two of the three schools, the adults are those who make decisions about school and classroom rules. Pupils are seldom given any opportunity to create, modify or repeal formal rules through open negotiations. In contrast, at the third school, children's influence and their ability to have a say are an important explicit goal for the teachers. Nevertheless, as well as in the two other schools, even in this school with the declared goal of working with democracy in this way, we found obstacles and limitations that counteracted school democracy: (a) discontinuity, (b) the long-term interaction pattern of teacher power and pupil subordination in the school organisation, which in turned encouraged and educated compliance with authority rather than deliberative democratic participation, (c) naive trust in teachers, (d) the school process of suppressing children's voices, and (e) unfair inconsistencies constructed by teachers.

Critiques of child participation within aid programming suggest that it is superficial and insubstantive for the fulfilment of children’s rights. By employing former child research participants as youth research assistants, the collaborative research design developed for my research project on the survival strategies of African orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) has yielded insights with implications for policy and practice that could not be gained without the extended ethnographic inclusion of children, as both participants and researchers. In this article, I share my reflections on doing participatory ethnography with children and youth to demonstrate that ethnographic research is appropriate to the tasks of increasing both children’s participation and the effectiveness of children’s rights – especially when it models children’s participation in its own research design. Further, I argue that involving young people in research can yield greater ownership of organizational practice and become transformative of young people and their relationships with their communities.

This study investigated 202 elementary school children’s judgements and reasoning about transgressions when school rules regulating these transgressions have been removed in hypothetical school situations. As expected, moral transgressions were judged as more wrong and less accepted than structuring, protecting and etiquette transgressions. In turn, etiquette transgressions were judged as less wrong and more accepted than moral, structuring and protecting transgressions. Structuring transgressions were judged beyond expectations as more wrong and less accepted than protecting transgressions. Judgements and justifications made by the children showed that they discriminated between transgressions as a function of school‐rule category (relational/moral rules, structuring rules, protecting rules and etiquette rules). The findings confirm as well as extend previous social‐cognitive domain theory research on children’s socio‐moral reasoning.

School rules are usually associated with classroom management and school discipline. However, rules also define ways of thinking about oneself and the world. Rules are guidelines for actions and for the evaluation of actions in terms of good and bad, or right and wrong, and therefore a part of moral or values education in school. This study is a part of a larger ethnographic study on values education in the everyday life of school. Here the focus is on school rules and students’ reasoning about these rules. Five categories of school rules have been constructed during the analysis: (a) relational rules; (b) structuring rules; (c) protecting rules; (d) personal rules; and (e) etiquette rules. The findings show that the students’ reasoning about rules varies across the rule categories. The perception of reasonable meaning behind a rule seems to be – not surprisingly – significant to students’ acceptance of the rule. According to the students, relational rules are the most important in school. Students also value protecting and structuring rules as important because of the meaning giving to them. Etiquette rules are valued as the least important or even unnecessary by the students.

The aim of the present study is to investigate schoolchildren's social representations on the causes of bullying. Individual qualitative interviews were conducted with 56 schoolchildren recruited from five elementary schools in Sweden. Mixed methods (grounded theory as well as descriptive statistic methods) were used to analyze data. According to the findings, the most prevalent social representation on bullying causes among the children is to view bullying as a reaction to deviance. The second most frequently used explanation type is to view bullying as social positioning. Other social representations on bullying causes are to explain bullying as the work of a disturbed bully, a revengeful action, an amusing game, social contamination, and a thoughtless happening. Social representations of bullying causes appear to be linked to the more general process of social categorization and seem in many bullying cases to promote moral disengagement among the children.

The purpose of the study was to understand the perceptions of the school administrators and psychological guidance
counselors towards guidance service for early childhood education. The main objective of the study was
to comprehend the perceptions of the administrators, and guidance counselors in regards to the psychological
services given in pre-school. This study was qualitative in nature and data collection was conducted using qualitative
methods. Data collection was conducted through the collection of personal information and open-ended
questions on a survey. A descriptive content analysis method was used in analyzing the data and each author
carried this out. The authors agreed on the main themes that emerged from the data. The findings suggest that
the psychological counselors and administrators had not received enough education to apply counseling to
pre-school child. Especially at the undergraduate level, courses were very limited and insufficient in preparing
counselors for that particular age group. Specific training is needed for that age level so that guidance counselors
feel confident that they may be able to provide knowledgeable guidance services in the early childhood age
group. This is crucial because we know that there are many advantages to early intervention. This type of service
is necessary if we want children to develop to their full potential.

The aim with the present study was to investigate bystander actions in bullying situations as well as reasons behind these actions as they are articulated by Swedish students from fourth to seventh grade. Forty-three semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with students. Qualitative analysis of data was performed by methods from grounded theory. The analysis of the student voices of being a bystander in bullying reveals a complexity in which different definition-of-situation processes are evoked (a) relations (friends and social hierarchy), (b) defining seriousness, (c) victim’s contribution to the situation, (d) social roles and intervention responsibilities, and (e) distressing emotions. There are often conflicted motives in how to act as a bystander, which could evoke moral distress among the students. Our analysis is unique in that it introduces the concept of moral distress as a process that has to be considered in order to better understand bystander actions among children The findings also indicate bystander reactions that could be associated with moral disengagement, such as not perceiving a moral obligation to intervene if the victim is defined as a non-friend (‘none of my business’), protecting the friendship with the bully, and blaming the victim.

This chapter deals with the agency of children and young people in child-headed households in South Africa. It is argued that, though such youngsters need to run their own household,  have to execute adult tasks and responsibilities and sometimes are legally adults (eighteen years or older) they do not have adult status. This is because childhood and adulthood is not defined by biological age and not reached when a child turns eighteen. Understandings of childhood and adulthood vary widely between and within cultures. The concept 'generational constructions' is used to point to these social cultural meanings of childhood. The ideas about and characteristics of childhood and adulthood result in generational rules that severely limit children’s room to manoeuvre in coping. Agency is perceived as both the observable actions of children and the meaning, motivations and purposes which children bring into their actions. By focussing on the latter, it becomes clear that children are able to bend the generational rules. The author discusses children’s narratives on the support they receive and seek, the choices they were able to make and their position as children with adult responsibilities.

Current elementary school students are inundated with technology daily, taking them away from socializing and being involved in a physical or creative outlet.  Teachers are swamped with academic demands and may not have the time or means to support the growth and development of students’ self-esteem through creativity and social emotional activities.  One, maybe two, counselors within the school are typically employed and engage with the student population. Even if there is a counselor at the school, they may not be able to support every student about his or her emotions and issues as they arise.  Because of these issues and limitations within a school setting, student voice and personal self-esteem development needs may not be addressed. 
Children’s confidence and involvement in activities is crucial to support self-esteem growth and development.  In this qualitative study, students’ perceptions of self-esteem are represented through their awareness of personal pride or failure in relation to his or her connection to areas of personal belonging and interest.  The research within this study addressed children’s perceptions of self-esteem and reflected confidence in academics, support from caring adults, and involvement and connection to groups such as school or home.  Qualitative interviews, a short answer response survey, and accompanying drawing artifacts supported students, between the ages of seven and twelve years old, to express their perceptions of self-esteem. 
Four key findings addressed students’ perceptions of personal self-esteem.  Outcomes were inclusive of confidence in self and school subjects, positive thoughts about self, supporting others and getting support from others, and negative thoughts about self.  Implications relating to the research to foster student growth and development in relation to self-esteem are discussed, as well as implications for stakeholders to support student interventions from the school, home, and community.
Key words:
Self-esteem, school, support, child development, child perceptions, child voice

Hegemonic masculinity is Connell’s key concept in a hierarchical framework of masculinities which has had a significant influence on thinking about gender. This article draws on Connell’s theories, previous research and my empirical research to argue that there are limitations to using the concept of hegemonic masculinity, and even hegemonic masculinities, when examining boys and masculinity. Boys are rarely mentioned in definitions and theoretical writing about hegemonic masculinity, yet much research examining primary school boys and masculinity uncritically draws on the concept. My research in Australia with 6- and 7-year-old children found that boys had limited access to hegemonic masculinity. As a possible explanation for its usage by researchers with primary school boys, I explore the potential usefulness of multiple and local hegemonic masculinities.

Life in the classroom is governed by a variety of rules. One typical classroom rule is the rule of silence or low noise. Teachers often deal with students' noise‐making and conversations by hushing them. This article reports an investigation of how hushing can create moral dilemmas for students at their desks in the classroom. This study is part of a larger ethnographic research project on values education in the daily life of school, conducted in two primary schools in Sweden. The findings show that students think that by hushing, teachers are now and then acting in the wrong way and, in consequence, the students are forced to go against the teacher to act in accordance with their own moral standards, or to give up, in order to avoid the risk of getting a reprimand. The analyses revealed three categories of moral dilemmas or conflicts with rules: indiscriminate hushing as (a) a conflict between morality and social conventions; (b) a pure moral conflict; and (c) a conflict between morality and authority.

The aim of this study was to study the expectations of children in the 8-10 age group regarding their play areas, and to generate planning and design data for these areas accordingly. For the study, which used cognitive mapping procedures, 176 children studying in the third and fourth years of a primary institution in Istanbul were asked to draw their fantasy children's play areas. In the analysis of their drawings, the children's preferences were identified in three main categories: the natural environment, the built environment, and human features. At the end of the evaluation, it was determined that there was a higher preference among the children for elements of the built environment, relative to the natural environment.

This paper reports on a study of pupils’ knowledge and understanding of atmospheric pollution. Specifically the study aimed at identifying: 1) the extent to which pupils define the term ‘air pollution’ in a scientifically appropriate way, 2) pupils’ knowledge of the air pollution sources and air pollutants and 3) pupils’ knowledge of air pollution consequences. The sample consisted of 132 Greek pupils, aged 7-13 years. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews during which pupils were asked to provide open responses articulating their views concerning issues related to air pollution issues. The analysis of the data revealed that children have a concrete and generalized conceptualization of air pollution and air pollutants. Moreover, they are familiar with the anthropogenic sources of air pollution, with the impacts of air pollution on human health, and with the interdependence of this issue with a variety of aspects of the environment. The outcomes of the study allow for the formulation of educational implications and suggestions for the negotiation of air pollution in the science classroom.

Research about masculinities in schools often focuses on hegemonic masculinity. This can have the effect of reinforcing the privilege associated with hegemonic masculinity, as well as overlooking differences amongst boys and the plural practices individual boys engage in. Drawing on empirical research in two South Australian primary schools with students aged 6–7 and 11–13, this article examines the complex ways in which boys engaged in plural gender practices. Practices differing from a discourse of (local) hegemonic masculinity related to three key themes: displaying ‘intelligence’ and being studious; involvement in traditionally ‘feminine’ activities; and being caring, loving family and friends, and engaging in cross-gender friendships. This article utilises these themes to argue that practices could work alongside or present challenges to practices relating to a discourse of hegemonic masculinity. An examination of how age and masculinities interweave suggests that a divide between hegemonic and other masculinities and practices is not as distinct as has often been theorised.

Abstract
In recent years increased attention has been focused on listening to the views of children and young people. This study analysed 31 research studies, which were published between 2000 and early 2009, into children and young people’s views of health professionals in England. The findings from the studies were inductively analysed and grouped into seven themes. Children and young people want health professionals to be familiar, accessible and available;to be informed and competent; to provide accessible information;to be a good communicator; to participate in care; to ensure privacy and confidentiality, and to demonstrate acceptance and empathy. It is noteworthy that over the nine years many studies repeated the same broad
messages to health professionals. The findings suggest that although there are examples of good practice, health professionals are sometimes falling short of the standards set by UK health professional bodies.

Keywords
child health, health services research, multi-professional, nurse–child interaction, research dissemination

Keywords Preschool period is an important period when the first knowledge, first skills and first values are acquired concerning life. Knowledge, skills and values that are acquired in this period form the basis of an individual's future life and learnings. " Responsibility " is involved as a value in different " value " classifications and researches. The objective of this study is to examine the " value " perceptions of preschool children via drawings, expressions of children and interviews conducted with children on the basis of the sample of " responsibility " value. The study included 60 children from the age groups of three, four and five, who were attending a nursery school in a city center of the Central Black Sea Region. The data of this study, which was conducted in the phenomenologic pattern that is among qualitative research patterns, were collected via draw and express technique. Children who participated in the study were given crayons and drawing papers and they were asked to draw a picture about responsibility value. After completing their drawings, children were taken into personal interviews where they were asked to express their drawings. Personal interviews were conducted with five children from every age group and totally 15 children. Interviews with children were recorded with a tape recorder. The study data were analyzed with descriptive analysis and content analysis methods. As a result of the study, it was determined that children from all age groups drew pictures about " responsibility " value; however, three-year-old children mainly scribbled. This result shows a consistency with children's line-drawing development. It was observed that children aged four and five generally drew themes concerning the responsibilities of helping their mother and father, taking care of plants/flowers, feeding animals and self-care. Five-year-old children were observed to involve a higher number of details in their drawings and verbal expressions than other children. Children's drawings and verbal expressions showed that they all had a positive perception about " responsibility " value.

Socialisation theories have traditionally focused on how children are socialised in a rather unidirectional manner, according to a transmission model. However, more recent research and theories show that children are not just passive recipients, but active agents in their socialisation process. At the same time, children are subordinated to adult control. In school, they are regimented and involuntarily subjected to mass routines, discipline and control. The aim of this study was to explore and give a voice to pupils’ critical thinking about school rules and their teachers’ behaviour in relation to these rules. Ethnographic fieldwork and group interviews with students were conducted in two Swedish primary schools. The findings show that pupils criticise some school rules, distrust teachers’ explanations of particular school rules, perceive some school rules and teachers’ interventions as unfair and inconsistent, perceive no power over the construction of school rules, and express false acceptance and hidden criticism. The findings are discussed in terms of hidden curriculum, power, mentality resistance, democracy, participation and democratic citizenship education.

World is the curriculum; not the word re-visiting why, what and how children learn Learning is the basis of life. All living beings are cognitive beings. All living beings learn. Learning is the natural mechanism to sustain life. They are internally designed by nature to learn in order to live. They have tools with differing capacities to support learning. Before we go further into exploring the 'human' learning ecology it is important to remind ourselves of our biological nature and that all biological beings learn in accordance with the internal laws of each species and their given contexts. Even though modern man wants to assert his difference and boast his greatness from the rest of life, it is important to remember that we have minor similarities with all life forms and also some abilities that other living beings have. Let us keep this in mind as we explore the learning process of human beings. Cognitive conditions dictate not only what and how we learn but also what we be. In this sense culture is the cognitive conditions and the cognitive source. We are formed by culture as much as we are forming the culture. I would like to draw attention to the primacy of cognitive condition/space in the act of knowing/being. Through the following four situations the above point will be easier to understand.

Objective: To explore children's understanding of why they do or do not brush their teeth and their motivations for toothbrushing. Methods: Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 66 children aged 6-7 years and 10-11 years in four purposively selected primary schools in Cardiff, UK. Data were analysed using a constructive process of Thematic Content Analysis and techniques of open and selective coding. Results: While a routine activity, toothbrushing was prompted rather than monitored by parents and easily fell by the wayside because of tiredness, excitement or distraction. Rationalizations for toothbrushing were poorly formed in the children's accounts and related to 'doom scenarios' such as teeth falling out, or to issues of personal grooming and cleanliness rather than caries prevention. Electric (powered) toothbrushes were popular and had engaged the children's interest. Social and domestic circumstances, such as when children stayed with different parents at different times, impacted on toothbrushing routines. Conclusion: This study has revealed information that is of value in directing oral health education messages, oral health promotion programmes and has identified issues that potentially affect compliance with toothbrushing that merit further investigation.

Worldwide demographic change means that the responsibility for a growing older population will fall to younger generations. This narrative literature review comprises an international examination of what has been published about children’s views of older people between 1980 and 2011. Sixty nine academic papers were inductively analysed, and the emerging themes were: ageism; contact with older people; children’s media; children’s perceptions of older people; intergenerational studies; children’s perceptions of older people’s health conditions; and culture, ethnicity and worldwide studies.  Reports about children’s views were influenced by research methods, the children’s familiarity with whom they were being asked to describe, their prior relationships with grandparents and other significant older people, and their stage of development.  80% of the papers were based on American research, and were often guided by a concern about ageism. While children adopt stereotypes, they do not appear to be ageist. Research needs to include a wider geographical and cultural spread of children; children’s understandings of the lived experiences of older people; and an exploration of the effects of culture, faith and socio-economic status on children’s views if it is to underpin effective education to equip the next generation to humanely support the older populations of the future.

I summarise Robert Audi's 'Moral Perception.' I concede that there is such a thing as moral perception. However, moral perceptions are culturally-relative, which refutes Audi’s claims that moral perception may ground moral knowledge and that it provides inter-subjectively accessible grounds which make ethical objectivity possible. Audi's attempt to avoid the refutation tends to convert rational disputes into ad hominem ones. I illustrate that with the example of the ethics of prostitution.

This paper examines the relationship between children's use of metaphors and their mental models concerning the ozone layer and the ozone layer depletion. The results of the two dimensions of the analysis indicate that there exist correlations between the ontological basis of metaphors and the particular models children use in order to understand and explain the role and depletion of the ozone layer.

Humanoid robots consist of biologically inspired features, human-like appearance, and intelligent behavior that naturally elicit social responses. Complex interactions are now possible, where children interact and learn from robots. A pilot study attempted to determine which features in robots led to changes in learning and behavior. Three common learning styles, lecture, cooperative, and self-directed, were implemented into ASIMO to see if children can learn from robots. General features such as monotone robot-like voice and human-like voice were compared. Thirty-seven children between the ages 4-to 10- years participated in the study. Each child engaged in a table-setting task with ASIMO that exhibited different learning styles and general features. Children answered questions in relation to a table-setting task with a learning measure. Promissory evidence shows that learning styles and general features matter especially for younger children.

The aim of this study is to investigate and explain inconsistencies within the social constructions of school rules as they take shape in everyday interactions between teachers and students, and to explore how students interpret these inconsistencies. An ethnographic study is conducted in two primary schools in Sweden. According to the findings, implicit rules, i.e., unarticulated supplements or exceptions, can, at least in part, explain inconsistencies in teachers’ efforts to uphold explicit school rules to the explicit rules. Nevertheless, rule inconsistency and unarticulated implicit rules appear to create rule diffusion, which, in turn, creates a prediction loss among students. They cannot always predict what will be appropriate behaviour in particular situations, and how teachers will react to their behaviour. Furthermore, this appears to result in a negotiation loss for students. They cannot openly discuss and negotiate on rules if they are unaware of such rules.

Okul öncesi dönem hayata dair ilk bilgilerin, ilk becerilerin ve ilk değerlerin kazanıldığı önemli bir dönemdir. Bu dönemde kazanılan bilgi, beceri ve değerler bireyin gelecekteki yaşamının ve öğrenmelerinin temelini oluşturmaktadır. Farklı “değer” sınıflama ve araştırmalarında “sorumluluk” bir değer olarak yer almaktadır. Bu araştırmanın amacı okul öncesi dönem çocuklarının “değer” algılarının “sorumluluk” değeri örneği üzerinden çocukların yaptıkları resimler, bu resimlere dair anlatımları ve çocuklarla yapılan görüşmeler yoluyla incelenmesidir. Çalışmaya Orta Karadeniz Bölgesi’ndeki bir il merkezinde bulunan bir anaokulunda eğitimlerine devam eden üç, dört ve beş yaş grubunda bulunan 60 çocuk katılmıştır. Nitel araştırma desenlerinden olgubilim (fenomonoloji) deseninde gerçekleştirilen araştırmanın verileri çiz ve anlat tekniği ile toplanmıştır. Araştırmaya katılan çocuklara boya kalemleri ve resim kâğıtları dağıtılmış ve çocuklardan sorumluluk değeri hakkında bir resim yapmaları istenmiştir. Çocuklar resimlerini tamamladıktan sonra çocuklarla bireysel görüşmeler yapılarak resimlerini anlatmaları istenmiştir. Ayrıca her yaş grubundan beş çocuk toplamda 15 çocukla bireysel görüşmeler yapılmıştır. Çocuklarla yapılan görüşmeler ses kayıt cihazı ile kaydedilmiştir. Araştırma verileri betimsel analiz ve içerik analizi yöntemi ile analiz edilmiştir. Araştırma sonucunda tüm yaş gruplarındaki çocukların “sorumluluk” değeri temalı resim çizdikleri fakat üç yaşındaki çocukların resimlerindeki çizimlerin daha çok karalamalar şeklinde olduğu görülmüştür. Bu sonuç çocukların çizgi-resim gelişimi ile tutarlı bir bulgudur. Dört ve beş yaşındaki çocukların resimlerinde genel olarak anne ve babaya yardım etme, bitki/çiçek bakımı, hayvan besleme ve öz bakımla ilgili sorumluluklara ilişkin temaları çizdikleri görülmüştür. Beş yaşındaki çocukların diğer çocuklara göre resimlerinde ve sözel anlatımlarında daha fazla detaya yer verdikleri görülmüştür. Araştırmaya katılan tüm çocukların “sorumluluk” değerini olumlu algıladıkları çizimlerinden ve sözel anlatımlarından anlaşılmıştır.

This paper explores the different types and characteristics of preschool children's explanations of plant growth and rain formation. The children's explanations were categorized as naturalistic, non-naturalistic, or synthetic, i.e., explanations containing both naturalistic and non-naturalistic parts. In regards to plant growth the children tended to rely on synthetic or on naturalistic explanations. In the case of rain formation the children most frequently used non-naturalistic explanations, which were mainly teleological or metaphysical.

Franks, P.E, Holmes S, Kure K, Liebenberg M.M.B, Malele M.B, Setiloane C.W.M, Shane S, Van Schlakwyk (1991) : The salt and electricity of the future :  Perspective of South African youth.  Pretoria :  Human Sciences Research Council.
Research Commissioned by:
Department of Constitutional Development

Plants are essential to life on Earth and yet are often deemed invisible by the human populace. Botanic gardens are an under-researched educational context and, as such, have occupied a peripheral arena in biology education discussions. This article seeks to readdress this absence and present the case for a more sustained use of informal learning environments, such as botanic gardens and homes, to make public the private life of plants and their role in sustaining life on Earth. By drawing on empirical data from a doctoral thesis and reviewing relevant research literature, the author argues for a renewed focus on botanical education within science education in both formal and informal contexts.

Çocuklarda mekan algısının, bireyin bilişsel gelişiminin tamamlanmadığı erken evrelerde başlıyor olması sebebiyle, keşfedilemeyen çok sayıda disiplinler arası potansiyeli içinde barındıran ve artan bir ilgiyle anlaşılmayı bekleyen bir konu olduğu söylenebilir. Bu anlamda, İsviçreli psikologlar Jean Piaget ve Barbel Inhelder’in birlikte yazmış olduğu “The Child’s Conception of Space (Çocuğun Mekan Kavramı)” adlı kitap, çocukların mekan algısında bilişsel süreçleri konu alan çalışmaların önde gelenlerinden biri olması sebebiyle önemlidir. Piaget ve Inhelder’a göre, çocukta mekan algısı, mantıksal bir gelişim izlemektedir ve ilk olarak ‘Topolojik’, daha sonra ‘Projektif’, en sonunda ise ‘Metrik’ bir kavrayışa bürünür. Başka bir ifadeyle, çocuğun ‘Topolojik Mekan’ kavrayışı, doğumundan itibaren algısal olarak oluşmaya başlasa da, zihinsel olarak yeniden-canlandırma evresi 2 yaşında başlar ve 7 yaşına kadar gelişmeye devam eder. Çocuğun ilk zihinsel mekan algısının oluşmaya başladığı dönem olarak bilinen 2 ile 7 yaş aralığı, Piaget’in bilişsel gelişim dönemleri sınıflandırması içerisinde ‘İşlem Öncesi Dönem’ olarak tanımlanmaktadır. ‘Topolojik Mekan’, perspektif kavramının kazanılmasıyla ‘Projektif Mekan’ kavrayışına, sonrasında ise oran, uzaklık ve büyüklük kavramlarının dahil oluşuyla ‘Metrik Mekan’a dönüşür. Bu bağlamda, ‘Projektif’ ve ‘Metrik Mekan’ın, ‘Topolojik Mekan’ anlayışının üzerine kurulu olduğu ve çocuğun mekan kavrayışının temelini oluşturduğu kabul edilebilir. Çocuğun mekan kavrayışındaki bu dönüşümü, Piaget ve Inhelder’in kabulleri üzerinden yeniden yoruma açmayı deneyen bu çalışma, sonuçlar bağlamında çocuk - mekan ikiliği üzerine keşfedilmemiş/arada kalmış yeni kavram kümelerine ulaşmayı hedefler.

Background The purpose of this study was to explore children's
perceptions of who controlled the quality and quantity of their food
during the week.

Methods Semi structured interviews were carried out with 98 9-year old children. The children were asked to describe who chose what they ate during a typical week day. They were also asked about who decided how much they ate.

Results The children thought that adults had a high degree of control over their food. They frequently reported that either they were allowed to choose from a selection provided by an adult, or that an adult chose their food without consultation. Many children reported that adults were very influential in determining how much food they ate.

Conclusions Although the children thought that adults imposed control upon their food choices, it is argued that children have more choice about their food than at any time in history. The children's perceptions highlight the need for planned dietary change to acknowledge the various influences which can affect choices of children's food.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:

To identify the information needs of children undergoing tonsillectomy with reference to content of information, method of delivery, information providers and timing of information provision.

BACKGROUND:

Tonsillectomy can be anxiety provoking for children and preoperative preparation programmes are long recognised to reduce anxiety. However, few have been designed from the perspectives of children and to date little is known about how best to prepare children in terms of what to tell them, how to convey information to them, who can best provide information and what is the best timing for information provision.

DESIGN:

A qualitative descriptive study.

METHOD:

Data were collected from nine children (aged 6-9) using interviews supported by a write and draw technique. Data were coded and categorised into themes reflecting content, method, providers and timing of information.

RESULTS:

Children openly communicated their information needs especially on what to tell them to expect when facing a tonsillectomy. Their principal concerns were about operation procedures, experiencing 'soreness' and discomfort postoperatively and parental presence. Mothers were viewed as best situated to provide them with information. Children were uncertain about what method of information and timing would be most helpful to them.

CONCLUSION:

Preoperative educational interventions need to take account of children's information needs so that they are prepared for surgery in ways that are meaningful and relevant to them. Future research is needed in this area.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE:

Practical steps towards informing children about having a tonsillectomy include asking them what they need to know and addressing their queries accordingly. Child-centred information leaflets using a question and answer format could also be helpful to children.

This study empirically measures the perceptions towards maternal and paternal migration of male and female children who stay behind in Ghana. It analyses survey data collected in 2010 among secondary school children aged 11– 18 in four urban areas with high out-migration rates: the greater Accra region, Kumasi, Sunyani and Cape Coast (N = 1965). The results show significant gen-dered differences in how children perceive parental migration. Specifically, female children have more positive views towards maternal and paternal migration when parents are abroad and in a stable marital relationship, when the assessed parent is abroad but the other parent is the caregiver in Ghana, when there is a frequent change in the care arrangement, and when female children receive remittances. These findings were not replicated for male children. The analysis highlights the sensitivity of the results to the gender of the child and to the characteristics of children's transnational lives that are being analysed.

Cuando un niño (o sus padres y profesores) experimenta algún tipo de malestar mental en nuestra sociedad, el enfoque más frecuentemente elegido por los profesionales de la salud mental incluye evaluar la gravedad de los síntomas, realizar un diagnóstico y recomendar un tratamiento. Sin embargo, la salud mental no es tan simple como eso y se debería abordar de manera más amplia. En primer lugar, debemos considerar la influencia de la cultura en la manera de interpretar los problemas de conducta o la ansiedad. La cultura puede ser descrita como un conjunto de creencias y una "manera de hacer las cosas" que un cierto grupo de personas tienen en común mientras que la construcción social se describe como el proceso mediante el cual las diferentes culturas desarrollan un conjunto de creencias y valores que orientan su forma de comportarse en el mundo."