Strengthening Early Care (Asynchronous Session)
Heroes and Superheroes for Boys and Girls: Same or Different View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Krystyna Teresa Nowak-Fabrykowski, William Sheahan Stahl
The main objective of this research project was to investigate young children’s’ concept of heroes and superheroes in order to understand the meanings and characteristic that children associate with them. Fifty children ages 3 and 4, including 21 boys and 29 girls participated in this research project. The data collection included children drawing and a semi structured interview. The results demonstrated that for children associate characters from movies and videogames as heroes or superheroes’ but rarely real people. The girls are more likely to label their family members as heroes and superheroes than boys. Today children’s culture evolves around the fictional character that are forming ideas of heroism.
Perceptions of University Students on the Challenges Faced by Children Whose Fathers Are Unable to Participate in Their Early Education View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Christian Ugwuanyi, Charity Okeke, Chinedu Ifedi Onochie Okeke
This study sought the perceptions of university students on the challenges faced by children whose fathers are unable to participate in their early education. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study with a sample of 300 university students in Eastern Cape-based University. A 16-item questionnaire titled “Challenges Faced by Children Questionnaire” was used for data collection. The instrument was face validated by test development experts and as well trial tested to determine its reliability. An internal consistency reliability index of the items of the instrument is 0.86. Data collected were analysed using mean and analysis of variance. The findings of the study revealed that the challenges faced by children whose fathers are uninvolved in their early education include seeking support elsewhere when fathers are unable to support them, exposure to serious dangers outside, suffering of child abuse when their fathers are unable to participate in their early development, missing the guidance they need from fathers among other. Further analysis showed that race and age of the students had a significant influence on their perceptions of the challenges faced by children of uninvolved fathers. It was therefore recommended that adequate measures should be taken by the education stakeholders to ensure the active involvement of fathers in the early education of their children.
Emergent Curriculum as a Point of Resistance and an Act of Democracy: Sources of Resistance and Practical Considerations View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Anna Ciezczyk
Transformative practices in education are most effective when they are introduced early on, when crucial personal beliefs about knowledge, self, and one’s place in the world begin to form. These early beliefs become more robust with time. Creating healthy life habits for imaginative, creative, open-minded, global and cosmopolitan minds should start early on in a child’s life. Early childhood educators, utilizing the teachings of Vygotsky, Piaget, Freire, and Dewey, among others, can be a force of change in the simple act of creating a curriculum for young minds which empowers them to deconstruct, re-construct, and co-construct knowledge. Such a curriculum emerges from the children themselves and belongs to the community as a whole. Most importantly, it is in itself the ultimate democratic act and a point of resistance to systemic reproduction. Emergent curriculum acts as an equalising ground for children of all “shapes and sizes”, abilities, and backgrounds, with teachers acting as stewards of democracy, equality, and equity. Sources of resistance within emergent curriculum are considered in this study with relevant information for practicing teachers and heads of schools.
"The Kids Museum” Travels to the Mater Dei School : Assessment of an Educational Project for the First Cycle of Early Childhood Education View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Teresa Barrio Fernández, Sara Urra, Fernando Echarri
This paper is the result of collaboration between the Mater Dei Diocesan School of Ayegui, and the University of Navarra Museum of Pamplona, both located in the Foral Community of Navarra. It contains the experience of the Infant School (0-3 years), in the development of its educational project “The kids museum,” carried out in collaboration with the Museum and aimed at the first stage of early childhood education. The project used an educational instruction with materials specially designed for this level that included practice of creative activities contextualized in the works of art of a real museum.
Understanding Child Noncompliance in the Early Care Setting View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Melody Mann
This study examines how teachers respond to children’s noncompliance in early care settings. This structured observational study focuses on the moment to moment interactions occurring within the preschool classroom between both the child and teacher. It is predicted that (1) teacher’s direct bids to children will promote greater instances of child compliance than indirect bids, and (2) teachers’ responsive language will promote greater instances of child compliance than restrictive language. The results of this study will contribute to existing knowledge about the nature of teacher child interactions in early care settings.
Ideational Meaning in EFL Textbooks Derilvered by the Chilean Ministry of Education : The Case of First and Second Grades in Public Schools View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Andrea Lizasoain, Jorge Vargas Mutizabal
This piece examines how ideational meaning (knowledge about the world) in English is built through the first and second grade EFL textbooks delivered by the Chilean Ministry of Education to public schools. Textbooks are often the main source of knowledge foreign language learners have so it is relevant to know the nature of that knowledge. Ideational meaning was examined by identifying the lexical items in the textbooks, nouns in particular as they are the most productive semantic elements in discourse. The analysis was carried out by means of two analytical tools: 1) the corpus analysis tool AntConc, and 2) the system of ideation that Systemic Functional Linguistics offers to describe ideational meaning. AntConc allows for the recognition of lexical elements, their frequency, and progression of complexity. The system of ideation contributes to the description of the semantic relations among these elements and, therefore, the kind of knowledge the textbooks build. Findings suggest that the ideational meanings that these textbooks build are related to the familiar world of the learners, shaping entities like family, school, food, holidays, etc. This is accomplished mainly by the semantic relation of repetition, observed both through AntConc and the system of ideation. Therefore, common sense knowledge is dominant in the textbooks. Besides, there is progression from one textbook to the other, shown through an upgrade in lexical density and lexical complexity. Results suggest these textbooks may help EFL learners build the knowledge they need as building blocks for the acquisition of the foreign language.
Initial Musical Training of Early Childhood Education Teachers in Universities View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sara Domínguez-Lloria, Sara Fernández-Aguayo, Rut Martinez-López de Castro
The importance that scientific evidence has given in recent years to the usefulness of music as a transversal element in early childhood education is undeniable. However, it is necessary for teacher training to respond to the needs of the students and the educational stage itself. This research is focused on knowing the opinion of the students who are studying a degree in Early Childhood Education during the academic year 2020/2021 at the University of Santiago de Compostela about the training received in the field of music and the importance of the use of music in the early childhood classroom. A narrative method was used for the study of 91 pedagogical stories. The results obtained confirm that the students show interest and awareness of the importance of music in early childhood education but do not feel prepared to approach it from a professional perspective. The main conclusions focus on the need to restructure the contents and increase the duration of musical training in the field of early childhood education within the teacher training curriculum.
The Pedagogical Dimension of Children´s Art Apps: Potential for Teaching and Learning View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Rut Martínez-López De Castro, Sara Fernández-Aguayo, Sara Domínguez-Lloria
The health crisis produced by covid-19 has promoted new forms of communication and information processing. In this context, new technologies have become an essential element for living in today’s society. Different social agents and institutions such as schools have been forced to make a technological leap and modify their teaching-learning habits by adapting to the use of digital platforms, resources, and tools. However, schools are not taking advantage of the full potential of new technologies. In this context, this study investigates the educational potential of apps from an artistic perspective. It analyzes the pedagogical dimension of these art apps aimed at children aged 4 to 12 years as a means that complements teaching-learning. The results show that these Apps have a pedagogical dimension that can serve as an effective educational tool for the development of media skills. Some lines of improvement in the pedagogical treatment of these applications are highlighted, as well as the need to train teachers to use them as a complement to their educational work.
