The Transition to Reaching: Mapping Intention and Intrinsic Dynamics

The onset of directed reaching demarks the emergence of a qualitatively new skill. In this study we asked how intentional reaching arises from infants' ongoing, intrinsic movement dynamics, and how first reaches become successively adapted to the task. We observed 4 infants weekly in a standard reaching task and identified the week of first arm-extended reach, and the 2 weeks before and after onset. The infants first reached at ages ranging from 12 to 22 weeks, and they used different strategies to get the toy. 2 infants, whose spontaneous movements were large and vigorous, damped down their fast, forceful movements. The 2 quieter infants generated faster and more energetic movements to lift their arms. The infants modulated reaches in task-appropriate ways in the weeks following onset. Reaching emerges when infants can intentionally adjust the force and compliance of the arm, often using muscle coactivation. These results suggest that the infant central nervous system does not contain programs that detail hand trajectory, joint coordination, and muscle activation patterns. Rather, these patterns are the consequences of the natural dynamics of the system and the active exploration of the match between those dynamics and the task.     

Social Perception in Infancy: A Near Infrared Spectroscopy Study

The capacity to engage and communicate in a social world is one of the defining characteristics of the human species. While the network of regions that compose the social brain have been the subject of extensive research in adults, there are limited techniques available for monitoring young infants. This study used near infrared spectroscopy to investigate functional activation in the social brain network of 36 five-month-old infants. We measured the hemodynamic responses to visually presented stimuli in the temporal lobes. A significant increase in oxyhemoglobin was localized to 2 posterior temporal sites bilaterally, indicating that these areas are involved in the social brain network in young infants.     

Early childhood educators’ conceptions of infants’ capabilities: the nexus between beliefs and practice

The conceptions early childhood educators (ECEs) hold about infants can guide their pedagogical practices in ways that can enable and constrain infants’ experiences. Literature regarding infants’ development and the role of adults in infant learning theoretically positions infants as both being capable of independent learning, and needing adult intervention and involvement. However, there is a paucity of research about ECEs’ understandings of infants’ capabilities, and how these conceptions influence their practices with babies. Using the theory of practice architectures as a methodological and analytical framework, this study collaboratively examines the ways educators’ conceptions are influenced by cultural-discursive arrangements of the site, and identifies the ensuing practices. The findings show that educators held conceptions of infants as more capable of independently directing their own physical and cognitive learning, and as more dependent on educators for emotional and social learning. Considering infants as both more and less capable is discussed, and implications of how the practices might enable and constrain infants’ learning are explored.     

Scaffolding the emergence of infant helping: A longitudinal experiment

Early social experiences, such as caregiver scaffolding, play a crucial but disputed role in the emergence of prosociality. A longitudinal experiment examined how explicit scaffolding—such as encouragement or praise—influences helping late in the first year, when helping emerges. Eighty-three infants (40 female, 6–9 months, 54% White, 17% Hispanic/Latinx, 16% Asian) participated in up to 10-weekly home visits in which they could help an experimenter in a novel activity. Data were collected in Santa Cruz, CA between February 2018 and August 2019. Compared to the control condition, explicit scaffolding increased helping by handing out-of-reach objects, η² = .02, and, among younger infants, by cleaning up. Helping also increased with age and visit number. Using a new paradigm, this research provides experimental evidence for how adults’ scaffolding shapes the emergence of helping in infancy.     

Anticipatory Reaching by Infants and Adults: The Effect of Object Features and Apertures in Opaque and Transparent Screens

Perception of the manner in which objects may be grasped was examined in a series of experiments with adults and 10-month-old infants; visuomotor adjustment in hand orientation before making contact with objects served as the index throughout. In the first experiment, infants modified their hand orientation to match more closely the long axis of an object. They did so even though the target object could have been grasped by either end with hands oriented orthogonally to the long axis of the object. In two subsequent experiments involving reaching through narrow apertures to grasp the target, anticipatory adjustments in hand posture were evident for adults but not for infants. However, anticipatory adjustments by infants, sometimes appropriate and sometimes inappropriate, were made when the object was of such a size that it could neither be grasped nor retrieved through the aperture. In the final experiment, infants directed their hands first toward a handle, the only graspable part of an object, and oriented their hands so as to be nearly parallel with it prior to contact. This was the only orientation in which a grasp was possible. It was concluded that infants at 10 months respond more appropriately to object properties than to surface apertures that place limitations on how an object may be grasped.     

Human Rights,Identities and Conflict Management: A study of school culture as experienced through classroom relationships

This paper presents the findings of an action research project designed to examine the dynamics of classroom relationships and perceptions of how rights and identities operate in an all boys' comprehensive school in the English West Midlands. The principal aims of the research were to examine the feasibility of adopting a human rights framework as a basis for school life and to evaluate subsequent relationships and identities. The first section of this paper examines the potential of human rights education to promote constructive relationships and manage conflict. It takes the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as its framework for action. We then outline the methodology adopted and consider how the classroom environment affects and is affected by those working within it. We reflect on the expression of identities and understandings of rights and responsibilities in the classroom by both students and teachers and the impact of these understandings and of masculine identities on classroom management. Although we recognise the findings of action research are necessarily situation specific and possibly transient and/or changeable, we draw on these findings to develop a model which may be of value to those seeking to develop schools as human rights communities.     

Infants' Ability to Draw Inferences about Nonobvious Object Properties: Evidence from Exploratory Play

Generalizing knowledge about nonobvious object properties often involves inductive inference. For example, having discovered that a particular object can float, we may infer that other objects of similar appearance likewise float. In this research, exploratory play served as a window on early inductive capability. In the first study, 48 infants between 9 and 16 months explored pairs of novel toys in 2 test conditions: violated expectation (two similar toys were presented in sequence, the first toy produced an interesting nonobvious property, such as a distinctive sound or movement, while the second toy was invisibly altered such that it failed to produce the nonobvious property available in the first toy), and interest control (two similar-looking toys were presented in sequence, neither of which produced the interesting property). Infants quickly and persistently attempted to reproduce the interesting property when exploring the second toy of the violated expectation condition relative to the first toy of the interest control condition (a baseline estimate) or the second toy of the interest control condition (an estimate of simple disinterest). The second study, with 40 9–16-month-olds, confirmed these results and also indicated a degree of discrimination on infants' part: Infants seldom expected toys of radically different appearance to possess the same nonobvious property. The findings indicate that infants as young as 9 months can draw simple inferences about nonobvious object properties after only brief experience with just 1 exemplar.     

To learn and to construct knowledge in the context of work with adult education: a Portuguese case study

Work contexts are frequently referred to as spaces of learning and production of individual and/or collective knowledge. In such contexts specific dynamics are developed which cause the processes of learning and of knowledge production to have particularities. This paper aims at accounting for some dynamics that are associated with those processes, based on the main results of an ethnographic study on the adult educator team of a Portuguese local development association. The research identified ways of working/action rules based on the learning and knowledge production processes in the association. Mutual help, the reformulation and collectivization of practice, reflection in and about the action, and the negotiation of meaning about the practice are some of the mechanisms identified. The study also highlights how those dynamics of knowledge and learning and ways of doing may contribute to a practice which is closer to the needs of the adults to whom this team offers its education and training services.     

Exploring the association of learning participation with the quality of life of older Chinese adults: A mixed methods approach

The study aims to investigate the association of learning participation with the quality of life (QoL) in older Chinese adults, verifying how the differing types of learning activity participation may influence their QoL. We conducted two studies to gain a better understanding of learning participation and QoL among adults over 55 years of age. In the first study, we conducted five focus groups among 43 older adults about their understanding of learning benefits and their general well-being. In a second study, we assessed the QoL using the EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index, while learning participation was measured through a questionnaire addressing the frequency of involvement in educational activities among 579 Chinese older adults. The results indicate that being engaged in learning activities in old age has the potential to increase the QoL of older adults. Moreover, in contrast to nonformal learning, the results of the hierarchical linear regression model demonstrate that both informal and formal learning have a significant positive influence on QoL. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for research and practice pertaining to the encouragement of learning participation in later life.     

论幼儿的文学欣赏

学欣赏是学活动的组成部分，是学的社会职能发挥的必须过程，儿童学的欣赏如是。儿童怎样欣赏学，一两岁、五六岁的“小不点”们的学欣赏活动将经历怎样的心路历程，成人应该给予怎样的帮助，本对幼儿学教学和幼儿学欣赏中面临的问题进行了理性的探讨，并提出了自己的见解。     

What do set facilitators bring to the party? (And do we need them?)

This account of practice discusses the learning of a set that met for five years as part of undertaking a research degree. It focuses on questions relating to the role of the facilitator that emerge from the experience of an action learning set that was first helped by an external facilitator and that, after 18 months, became self-facilitating. Key to our success as a set was the openness to the emergent learning about the process; each difficulty we faced (as a set and individually) was taken as an opportunity for deepening our learning about set dynamics and facilitation. This article shares some of the highs and lows of our journey, illustrating how we learned to be an effective set that became self-facilitating.     

Infant Auditory Temporal Acuity: Gap Detection

The development of auditory temporal acuity during infancy was examined in 3-, 6-, and 12-month-old infants and in adults using the gap detection paradigm. Listeners detected a series of gaps, or silent intervals, or variable duration in a broadband noise. In order to vary the acoustic frequencies available to the listener, a high-pass noise was used to mask frequencies above specified cutoffs. High-pass maskers with cutoffs of 500, 2,000, and 8,000 Hz were used. The minimum detectable gap was determined using the Observer-based Psychoacoustic Procedure. The thresholds of 3- and 6-month-olds were considerably poorer than those of the adults, although the effect of masker condition was about the same for these 3 groups. The thresholds of 12-month-olds were significantly worse than the adults when the stimulus was unmasked or when the masker cutoff frequency was 2,000 or 8,000 Hz. When the masker cutoff frequency was 500 Hz, 12-month-olds fell into 2 groups: some had gap thresholds that were about the same as 3- and 6-month-olds, while some had gap thresholds that approached those of adults. In a second experiment, a larger group of 12-month-olds were tested with a 500-Hz masker cutoff. Average performance of 12-month-olds was about the same as that of 3- and 6-month-olds in Experiment 1. Some infants attained thresholds close to those of adults. Thus, gap detection thresholds are quite poor in infants, although the similarity of the effect of frequency on performance in infants and adults suggests that the mechanisms governing temporal resolution in infants operate qualitatively like those in adults.     

!Kung Infancy: The Social Context of Object Exploration

The present study consists of new analyses of systematic observations of Kung infants made by Konner during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Our intent was to examine claims about the role of object sharing in development by describing how Kung infants develop interest in objects and how their caregivers act toward them when they are engaged in object-related acts. Results indicated that infants first displayed sustained interest in objects beginning at 4 months of age and that, beginning at about 8 months, they also began to engage in relational play and to give objects to others. Others tended to ignore infants during episodes of object manipulation and play, but moments of object offering were often socially embedded. These findings provide support for claims that there are universal changes in infants' involvement with objects and that their involvement is channeled in a culturally relevant manner by their caregivers.     

Baby carriage: infants walking with loads

Maintaining balance is a central problem for new walkers. To examine how infants cope with the additional balance control problems induced by load carriage, 14-month-olds were loaded with 15% of their body weight in shoulder-packs. Both symmetrical and asymmetrical loads disrupted alternating gait patterns and caused less mature footfall patterns. Walking was most severely compromised by back loads. Infants with less walking experience, lower levels of walking proficiency, and chubbier body proportions were more adversely affected. In addition, infants displayed a unique postural response to asymmetrical loads. In contrast to older children and adults, infants leaned with loads rather than in the opposite direction to the loads. Findings are discussed in terms of development from accommodation to compensatory strategies.     

Attachment Predicts College Students’ Knowledge,Attitudes, and Skills for Working With Infants,Toddlers, and Families

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: Adults’ attitudes about attachment relationships are central to how they perceive and respond to children. However, little is known about how attachment styles are related to teachers’ attitudes toward and interactions with infants and toddlers. From a survey of 207 students taking early childhood (EC) courses at 4 U.S. universities, we report relations among students’ attachment styles and their (a) career goals, (b) attitudes about caring for and educating infants and young children, and (c) interaction skills for responding in developmentally supportive ways. Overall, attachment security was positively associated with career goals focused on working with younger children, knowledge about infant/toddler development, attitudes that acknowledge the importance of adult support in children’s development, and developmentally supportive interaction skills. Students who scored high on attachment fearfulness minimized the importance of adults in children’s lives, minimized the importance of the early years for later learning, and endorsed strict and controlling forms of child guidance. Practice or Policy: A conceptual mediation model linking a path from attachment to caregiving skill through knowledge and attitudes is articulated. We propose a person-centered pedagogy for infant/toddler professional preparation that provides opportunities for reflection on one’s own attachment and its effects on work with young children.     

The autonomy-authority duality of shared decision-making in youth environmental action

While environmental action is recognized as an effective approach for developing young people’s capabilities as citizens and contributing to environmental improvements, little research has addressed how adults facilitate youth action projects. Environmental action involves a partnership among youth and adults characterized by shared decision-making. We sought insights into the adult experience of shared decision-making through phenomenological interviews with 33 educators facilitating youth environmental action in various non-formal and formal settings in the USA. Educators described experiencing tensions in sharing decision-making power, which we conceive of as a duality – two inseparable elements both contradictory and complementary that drive the dynamics of a system. The duality consists of youth autonomy and adult authority, which stems not only from formally vested decision-making power but also adults’ experience and wisdom. Educators navigated this duality through diverse approaches to structuring youth participation, supporting youth, valuing mutual learning, and communicating transparently to develop equitable relationships.     

LITERARY DISCUSSION WITH OLDER ADULTS: AN EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Adults in later years of life continue to have educational needs and concomitant abilities to learn. Most diversionary programs do not fulfill those needs. The purpose of this study was to examine participation by older adults in a literary discussion group. The program was conducted with a small group (N = 9) of adults in a retirement center. Subjects indicated their motivations for attending were to learn, not be entertained. Further, evidence was presented that provided insight into the unobtrusive design of research in similar settings, and into the group dynamics and facilitation techniques of discussion groups with older adults.     

‘Is he allowed to have a crush on you?’ interrupting adultism in fieldwork with youth*

ABSTRACT

Scholars have called for ethnographers to reveal the emotional and controversial aspects of fieldwork. Through analysis of our fieldwork with teens in the United States and Japan, this article documents how we, two adult researchers, attempted to address adultism—a pervasive system of oppression that deems young people inferior. We discuss three types of encounters which we believe reflect how adultism operated in our fieldwork and the challenges related to de-stabilising it. The encounters revealed specific patterns and manifestations of adultism including 1) how adults regulated young people’s identities, 2) our assumptions about what rapport and reciprocity with youth meant, and 3) the dilemmas of whether or not to deploy adult power to intervene in youth dynamics we found to be troublesome. This article suggests that adult researchers reflexively examine and document challenging and unsettling moments with youth in fieldwork in order to interrupt and unlearn adultist behaviours and beliefs.