我家的"小大人"

我家有个"小大人".什么?你想认识一下?看,她闪亮登场了! "的的,的的,看我!"只见这口齿不清的"小大人"戴上眼镜,手拿一本《史记》,一本正经地站在我面前,嘴角微微上扬,表现出一副"高素质人类"的样子.她一边"指点江山",一边微微点头,嘴里叽里咕噜,不知在念叨着些什么.突然,"小大人"左脚绊右脚,"叭叽"一声摔倒了....     

人造太阳

"人造鸡蛋","人造水晶","人造卫星"……,聪明的人类无时无刻不在思考。2006年,中国科学家率先建成了世界新一代"人造太阳"实验装置,模拟太阳产生能量。"人造太阳",它可以挂在天上吗?它到底长什么样?它的工作原理是什么呀?     

教育:重新发现儿童 深思

大写"人",遵循儿童的生长节律"儿童是什么?""儿童对成年人意味着什么?""儿童与未来世界是一种怎样的关系?"这些问题,可以称为教育学的基本问题。当教育失明不见人的时候,所有的教育问题均由此而生。对于绝大多数儿童而言,教育,并不是一个适合跨越式发展的事     

儿童的空间

“儿童就是儿童!不是成人的附属品。不是小大人……”这样的观念我们早有所闻,只是怎样才称得上尊重儿童、把儿童当成儿童呢? “孩子们呢?”刚到日本不久,我由所在的学校安排与日本的普通市民一起去春游——在河边的草地上烧烤。几个国家的人用半生不熟的日语和英语加上动作和表情相互问候、交流,边烤食物,边吃,边喝,边聊。     

儿童是什么——反思当前小学语文课堂教学中的儿童观

小学语文,乃至整个小学教育,是建立在对儿童的理解的基础上的。教师眼中要有"人",对于小学教师来说,就是眼中要有"儿童"。我们的传统文化,是没有"儿童"的位置的。我们习惯把儿童看作小大人,并以此为基点进行儿童启蒙教育。这种观念至今依然流行。有的人一辈子与儿童打交道,自称了解儿童,但他们看到的不是一个个具体的儿童,而是抽象的、完全社会化的儿童。另一方面,由于种种影响,儿童被物化为商品,这要归功于某些无孔不入的流行文化,许多庸俗的电视节目和商业广告,不就是利用假童真来吸引眼球、谋取利润吗?保卫儿童!有人忧心忡忡:一个社会儿童不像儿童,大人就不会像大人。或许没有必要如此神经过敏。但是,作为与儿童朝夕相处的教师,的确有必要常常反省:在教学中,在与儿童的接触中,自己是怎么看待儿童的,在内心深处把儿童当作什么,即抱持什么样的儿童观?     

青春的符号是活力

时间总在指缝里悄悄溜走,一晃十几年的光阴,如梭般穿过。14岁,青春的年纪,活力的年纪。青春是什么?青春不是那张稚气未脱的脸颊,也不是成熟稳重的小大人,更     

让儿童拥抱自己的世界——基于“儿童过度社会化”现实的反思

近年来,儿童社会化的速度不断加快,"儿童成人化"问题日益突出。服装、娱乐和文学作品的成人化趋势是当今"儿童过度社会化"的主要症结和表现,其根源在于成人和社会以"小大人"和"工具化"为表现的儿童观。只有真正地认识、了解儿童,重视童年期的价值并提倡"无为",才能让儿童真正拥有属于自己的童年世界。     

探究是教育成长的第一发展力

<正>"道可道,非常道","天不言而四时行,地不语而百物生"。什么是世界的唯一?什么是"不为尧存,不为桀亡"的发展之"常"?这些问题,用在我们教师发展上则是什么是教师的第一发展力?第一推动力?我认为是探究。真正的探究,是一种不懈的生命长旅,是耗尽心力的一种不息奋斗。探究之"探",即认准方向,用足力气;即意志坚定,坚持不懈。"究",即在"探"的过程中揣摩、研究。"究"是分析,是综合,是对事物千丝万缕、前前后后、左左右右的梳理     

深化儿童发展与学校改革的关系研究

<正>我们为什么研究儿童发展与教育改革这个问题,因为这是一个永恒的又具有时代性的问题。对于儿童、教育改革有太多不同的观点,甚至完全对立。有人提出"成人世界应该向儿童世界学习",要"向童年致敬",这是20世纪以来我们重新发现儿童,进而认识到儿童不是成人想象中的那种简单不懂事的孩子。从人性、哲学、文化的角度看,儿童是混沌的综合体,     

基于儿童立场的作文教学

<正>我们学校在2014年开办之初就确立了"儿童第一,以美育美"的学校核心文化。儿童第一,不是儿童唯一,也不完全等同儿童中心,而是基于儿童立场的生本论。儿童第一,就是先懂儿童,再懂教育。儿童第一,即儿童就是儿童,不是成人附属,不是小大人,所以说话做事写作不必成人腔,可以童言无忌。儿     

Messing about with metaphor: multimodal aspects to children's creative meaning making

Children's classroom talk and the connections between talk and text are current concerns for teachers. A deeper understanding of what child communication entails can ensure greater pedagogic support for the processes involved in text production. This article reports on a research project using multimodal discourse analysis to investigate child‐to‐child interaction in class. This research sought to uncover what multimodal analysis can reveal about the collaborative and creative meaning making, which children employ in spontaneous classroom discourse. Creativity here is understood in terms of everyday creativity in language. Instantiations of video‐recorded classroom communication between children have been closely analysed using a framework based on a functional view of interaction, specifically the work of the textual meta‐function. Attention to cohesive devices of intertextual referencing, idiom and metaphor as well as repetition and reference through a multimodal lens has revealed the ways in which all modes work in an integrated ensemble to make meaning. Examples in this article of the ways in which children ‘mess about’ with multimodal semiotic resources, employing them intertextually in metaphorical meaning making, have been taken from a Year 5 mixed primary geography lesson on the water cycle.     

Promoting resilience and wellbeing in children exposed to intimate partner violence: A qualitative study with mothers

BackgroundChildren exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) are at increased risk of disruptions to their health and development. Few studies have explored mothers’ perceptions of what helps their children cope throughout this experience.ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to explore mothers’ perceptions of their children’s resilience and coping following IPV exposure, and the strategies they have used to support their children and promote resilience.MethodsIn depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine women from the Maternal Health Study (MHS), a prospective study of women during pregnancy and following the birth of their first child. All women involved in the qualitative interviews reported experiencing IPV during their involvement in the MHS. Transcribed interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis which has a focus on how individuals make meaning of their experience.ResultsWomen discussed parenting strategies such as role modelling, stable and consistent parenting, and talking with their children about healthy relationships to promote their children’s resilience. Mothers also spoke about the ways they tried to reduce their child’s direct exposure to IPV, as well as reflecting on the difficulty of attending to their child emotionally when they were experiencing distress.ConclusionsThis study highlights that there are many strategies used by mothers who experience IPV to promote resilience and wellbeing in their children. Understanding what mothers see as useful for their children is essential in providing appropriate services to families following experiences of family violence.     

Environmental Education and Children's Agency at the Time of the Anthropocene

During the Anthropocene, the epoch characterized by humans’ destructive actions on earth, a few seminal questions may be raised: What have we done? How can we do better? This type of questioning is of course echoed in environmental education, related educational policy and research. There is, however, a difference between general and educational discourses: in the first instance, the collective ‘we’ refers to mainly adult human beings; in the second, to children. The distinction may seem trivial, but it is in fact quite important: If humans have destroyed the earth and caused children the loss of their futures, then adult humans and children humans cannot be positioned in the same place in terms of humanity and agency. What's more, adults cannot look to children and their agency for hope or for a future. Children's agency thus demands a reorientation and a certain re-theorization. This paper deliberates on the type of children's agency that is promoted by various environmental discourses—human, posthuman and other—and discusses what kind of agency children can possibly attain.     

Prisoners of The Method breaking open the child‐centred pedagogy in day care centres

The twentieth century has known many splendid examples of professional care and education for young children. But in spite of that, research shows that the practice often does not coincide with our ideals. In this paper basic concepts and their historical roots, that form the foundations of professional care and education of young children are analysed: could these concepts possibly impede contact between teachers/caregivers and children? The concepts of ‘natural development’, ‘develop‐mentally appropriate curriculum’ and ‘child centredness’ are criticised. The drawbacks of a separate children's world (child care centres) are explored. Based on Vygotsky's sociocultural approach the author pleads for scaffolding by giving learning through social looking and participation in adult‐activities a place in child care centres. Besides that, teachers have to value peer‐relationships and to acknowledge that young children do not only play but also want to work and learn together.     

Providing high quality child care

The trend toward a growing proportion of American women employed outside the home is clear. One- and two-parent families, often out of economic necessity, are seeking alternative care arrangements for their infants and preschool-aged children. As many are experiencing full-day, alternative child care during part or all of their developmentally crucial first five years, there is a need to focus on the quality of day care. Several recent reviews of center-based day care research have portrayed this experience as a relatively benign influence on the development of young children provided that a high level of quality is maintained (Belsky & Steinberg, 1978; Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Etaugh, 1979). What are the implications of this research for child care providers? If it is true that high quality child care has a benign effect on young children's development, what can child care providers do to ensure quality care?     

Speech acts in young children: Vygotsky’s contribution

What influence has Vygotsky’s work had on recent research in language acquisition? Vygotsky’s influence first emerged in the United States, and more specificaly in J. S. Bruner’s work. It is often implicit, and now essentially concerns one domain of language acquisition, the development of speech acts in children. Vygotsky’s approach has a certain number of points in common with the so-called “pragmatic” theories derived from the philosophy of language: the nature of signs, utility in the study of conscience and utility in phylogency The main point of divergence between the Vygotsky perspective and the one proposed in pragmatic theory concerns ontogency: ontogency was one of the focal points of Vygotsky’s work, and pragmatists are not interested in the question of ontogeny as such. From the proximal zone of development, and from the transition from an inter-psychological phase to an intra-psychological phase, Bruner developed the notions of tutoring, scaffolding and interaction format. Applying the notion of format to interactions involving children older than 2 allows to account for the early production of certain utterances. Some very recent studies have shown that Vygotsky’s approach can be discussed from two angles: the link between the adult’s assistance and the child’s language learning, and the role of asymmetry in the adult/child relationship during language acquisition.     

Australian Play School: viewing and post-viewing behaviours in young children

Australian Play School is a children’s television programme developed in collaboration with early childhood educators. It is screened free to air across Australia. Two hundred and twenty-four adult carers of young children aged 1–8?years completed an online survey via a link on the Play School website. The survey addressed child behaviours during and after viewing, and adult perceptions about which programme segments were most engaging to the child. Play School elicited a large number and variety of behavioural responses from children during and after viewing. The types of responses elicited suggest that viewing the programme may be beneficial for children’s development and learning. Results were tempered by the age of the child and this, as well as the impact of carer attitudes and carer input during and after viewing, needs to be explored further before results are translated into recommendations for programming and optimal viewing strategies.     

What Effect does Listening to Individual Children have on their Learning?

In this article, the author reports the outcomes of studying a programme that provided 35 primary school children with weekly, individual, half-hour listening and talking sessions with an adult over 10 weeks. The skilled adult 'Listening Partners' offered an open agenda and a private space away from the classroom. The children could use the session as they chose. The consequences of this intervention were measured against the experience of a control group of children. Evidence of change was collected by comparing results from a standard listening test, teacher assessments, National Curriculum assessments and behavioural records. The author explores two central questions: how does increasing the amount of time that a child has the individual, listening attention of an adult affect that child's capacity to listen, understand and respond constructively to what is said to them in a teaching and learning situation? Are there any other effects on children in school who receive this one-to-one attention? The study showed that the focused attention of a trusted adult provided children with opportunities to communicate, notably disclosing child protection issues that may otherwise have remained uninvestigated. Increasing the opportunities for children to experience being listened to by a skilled adult positively affected their educational progress. She argues that skilled listeners have a significant effect on children's learning and on some children's behaviour.     

‘Drawing Out’ ‐ a Humanist Approach to Drawing

Over the past twenty‐five years as an art teacher I have sought answers to three questions: 1. In what ways and to what extent can drawing practice explore both conscious and unconscious thought processes? 2. In what ways can the participant individuate his or her experience through the practice of drawing? 3. In what ways can drawing form a dialogue between personal philosophy and experience? Refering to my own experience and pedagogy I define some of the historical, pschological and philosophical contexts for my perception of drawing, including comments from my students, in the process making no special distinction between child and adult art. I have studied the evolution of pupil’s drawing practices and particularly those of my own children, as they assert their own perceptions and responses to experience, conceptualising feelings both sensuous and emotional through telling stories and defining realities. Throughout history the will to draw has persisted, its function differing and changing through time and cultural contexts. Beuys commented that everyone can be an artist, if they want to be; can anyone really afford not to draw?