Drawing digital pictures: An investigation of primary pupils’ representations of ICT and schools

The relatively restricted nature of children's use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) inside the school setting has long been noted by researchers. With this in mind, this article offers a grounded analysis of drawings collected from 355 primary pupils (years three to six) from five English primary schools depicting desired future forms of school ICT provision. The article contends that the nature and content of these future orientated pictures reflect many of the tensions underlying children's current engagements with ICTs in school. Specifically the article discusses how the drawings offer valuable insights into the issues underlying pupils’ understandings of ICT and schools, not least: the restrictions of the school as organisation; the oppositional relationship between the ‘work’ of learning in school and the ‘play’ of using digital media at home; the unequal power relations that exist between pupils, schools and teachers. The article concludes that rather than accede to demands for free and unfettered use of game consoles and portable devices in the classroom, schools should instead concentrate on fostering informed dialogues with young people about the potential educational benefits of school ICT use.     

Language Games in the Ivory Tower: Comparing the Philosophical Investigations with Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game

Wittgenstein explores learning through practice in the Philosophical Investigations by means of an extended analogy with games. However, does this concern with learning also necessarily extend to education, in our institutional understanding of the word? While Wittgenstein's examples of language learning and use are always shared or social, he does not discuss formal educational institutions as such. He does not wish to found a ‘school of thought’, and is suspicious of philosophy acting as a theory that can be applied to other areas of life. While Wittgenstein's focus on developing independent thinking was neither individualistic nor anti‐institutional, it did, however, focus on developing the thinking of his students rather than theorising about how this could be applied on a large scale. An analysis of Hermann Hesse's novel, The Glass Bead Game will help us to pick up where Wittgenstein deliberately left off—thinking about how (or if) one can institutionalise learning methods that encourage thinking for oneself. These differences in the writers’ treatment of education will become evident in the differences between their game analogies. While language‐games combat our ‘craving for generality’ in Philosophical Investigations, the Glass Bead Game represents this craving, and how it manifests itself throughout history in disciplines other than logic and philosophy of language. It also represents the potential for institutions to become insular, exclusive communities.     

Personalisation: the nostalgic revival of child‐centred education?

Personalisation is an emerging ‘movement’ within education. Its roots reside in marketing theory, not in educational theory. As a concept it admits a good deal of confusion. It can refer either to a new mode of governance for the public services, or it qualifies the noun ‘learning’, as in ‘personalised learning’. The concern here is with its intellectual affinity to child‐centred education, one which the government in England has strongly denied. On balance, the government’s view of personalisation is not of a piece with what may commonly be regarded as child‐centred education. But the strong semantic accord between the terms ‘personalisation’ and ‘child‐centred education’ provokes a question: why does the government not provide a term which unequivocally distinguishes its current ‘vision’ for education from child‐centred education? By retaining the term personalisation, the government purports to do two things: first, because of its focus on personalised ‘tailored’ needs and co‐produced solutions, it adapts education even further to a consumerist society; and second, because the term personalisation strikes a chord with the discourse of child‐centred education, it blurs the fact that little to do with pedagogy or with curriculum has in fact been changed. The term personalisation generates a nostalgic appeal to better times long gone.     

Whose confession? Which tradition? (A preliminary critique of Penny Thompson, 2004)

What does Penny Thompson really want? Reading her article in BJRE 26 (1) proved a baffling experience: it clearly wanted to say something, and to say it passionately, yet signally failed to do so. It fails largely because it lacks an argument; there seems also to be conceptual muddle at its heart. A fuller critique will need to attend to Thompson’s reading of religious education’s history, particularly to her use of evidence—but that is a story for another night. Consequently, this brief critique has at its core four questions to elicit clarity where at present there is none: First, does Penny Thompson want so to revision religious education in community schools that she and other aspirants to ‘Christian confessional religious education’ may freely work to convert young people to ‘Christianity’ and to nurture them in a Christian tradition? Second, in what sense, or senses, does Thompson want readers to understand her phrase, ‘the truth of the Christian faith?’ Third, in whose confession and in which tradition does Thompson want this Christian confessional religious education to be rooted? Fourth, is Penny Thompson willing to allow Christian teachers to present alternative understandings of Christianity, critical of her (implied) view? These questions are preceded by reflection on the form of her article’s argument and on its use of ‘confess’ and its cognates.     

The Effects of Brief and Elaborate Mood Induction Procedures on the Size of Young Children’s Drawings

It has been claimed that children’s drawings following brief mood induction procedures differ in size depending on positive or negative mood. However there are conflicting findings in the field regarding the existence and direction of scaling changes. Such inconsistencies may be the result of methodological differences or may indicate that this phenomenon is unreliable. This study was designed to investigate the size of young children’s (n = 80, median age 6 years 1 month) human figure drawings. The focus was on both the surface area and height of drawings elicited in a clinical context using brief or elaborate mood induction procedures. Children drew larger pictures under both negative and positive affect conditions, relative to a prior baseline condition. Positive mood elicited slightly larger drawings than negative mood. However, such mood effects were only significant when the affect inductions were brief, and were not found when the affect inductions were elaborated. It is suggested that brief mood inductions can alter the young child’s drawing response in predictable ways. The importance of considering the type of emotion‐eliciting procedure when interpreting children’s drawings is discussed.     

The effects of task explicitness to communicate on the expressiveness of children’s drawings of different topics

Effects of asking children to communicate through their drawings have been investigated using animate rather than inanimate drawing topics. The present study investigated the impact of a communication context on children’s drawings of topics with contrasting animism. Three hundred and twenty-two children, 156 boys and 166 girls aged 6–11 years were allocated to two conditions. The communication condition (n = 161) involved instructions to communicate emotion and the reference condition (n = 161) gave no instruction to communicate. Children drew either houses or human figures (House, N = 160, Human figures, N = 162), producing freehand drawings of the topic; a baseline version followed by a happy and a sad version in counterbalanced order. Expressive content in the communication condition was greater than in the reference condition and impacted differentially on the strategies used between the houses and human figures drawings. The findings are considered with respect to the cue dependency model and framework theory of art.     

Pupils’ Image of ‘the Scientist’ among Two Communities in Israel: A comparative study

The image of ‘the scientist’ and its effect on the willingness to be a scientist and to follow a career in science were investigated in two different cultural populations of elementary and junior high school pupils in Israel: Hebrew‐speaking (secular) pupils (N = 390) and Arabic‐speaking Bedouin pupils (N = 185). Five different tools were employed in our investigation (naming scientists, pictorial representation of the scientist (‘Draw‐a‐Scientist‐Test’), statements regarding the characteristics of the scientist, reasons for wanting/not wanting or being able/being unable to be scientists, and sources of knowledge regarding the scientist’s image). The image held by Hebrew pupils was similar to those held by western pupils found in previous research, but some details were more elaborate (due to the fact that many different tools were employed here). However, the image held by the Arabic pupils differed from that found in previous research. This image had a strong ethnical trend, with Golden Age Muslim scientists’ names dominating name lists, and drawings of traditional Muslim figures. Another image found in their drawings was of a scientist admired as a teacher, emphasising the Bedouin school’s formal culture. The theory of modernity will be a useful analytical tool to judge the results of the investigation, whether the population is supposed to be (or is close to) a modern population and whether it does not, definitely, fall under this definition (see Methods and Discussion).     

Constructing and educating 'problem children': the case of post-communist Estonia

Estonia is a post-communist Baltic state in which neoliberal market ideologies and still prevailing socialist norms exist side by side in educational policies and practices. It is no longer self-evident what is ‘normal’ and what is ‘problematic’. Special education class for students regarded as having problems is a new innovation in Estonia. The paper analyses the history and current changes and discusses how a ‘problem child’ is constructed in Estonian teachers' perceptions and in the pedagogical methods used with these children. The paper draws on teachers' writings and on an ethnographic study in a special education class. Some comparisons with Finnish educational policies and ethnographic research on secondary schools are made. The findings suggests that in Estonia, a ‘problem child’ is a student who does not conform to the norms of the school, and in focus is behaviour that disturbs the teacher: problems in relation to schools' regulations of time, voice, embodiment and equipment, lack of engagement and unruly behaviour. We reflect the Estonian case with some comparisons with Finland using the concept ‘professional pupil’ introduced in an ethnographic research.     

Children's drawings in different cultures: an analysis of five-year-old Jordanian children's drawings

Research results have shown that what a child draws is influenced by many factors, including the child’s culture and environment. The aim of this study was to analyse the drawings of five-year-old Jordanian children to determine the extent to which culture informs the content of their drawings. A total of 736 children took part in this research project (387 boys and 349 girls). Their sample drawings were categorised according to specific themes. Results revealed that children drew pictures related to nature, people, surroundings, letters, numbers, symbols, animals, and transportation. The most frequent content of the drawings related to nature (38.9%) and the least frequent were drawings depicting violence (0.32%). Drawings also showed English and Arabic numbers and mathematical shapes separately and combined on the paper. Implications and recommendations for further research are presented.     

In and out of home care decisions: The influence of confirmation bias in developing decision supportive reasoning

The aims of this study were to identify the themes Social Workers regard as important in supporting decisions to remove children from, or return them to, the care of their parents. To further elicit underlying hypotheses that are discernible in interpretation of evidence. A case study, comprising a two-part vignette with a questionnaire, recorded demographic information, child welfare attitudes and risk assessments, using scales derived from standardised instruments, was completed by 202 Social Workers in Northern Ireland. There were two manipulated variables, mother's attitude to removal and child's attitude to reunification 2 years later. In this paper we use data derived from respondents’ qualitative comments explaining their reasoning for in and out of home care decisions. Some 60.9% of respondent's chose the parental care option at part one, with 94% choosing to have the child remain in foster care at part two. The manipulated variables were found to have no significant statistical effect. However, three underlying hypotheses were found to underpin decisions; (a) child rescue, (b) kinship defence and (c) a hedged position on calculation of risk subject to further assessment. Reasoning strategies utilised by social workers to support their decision making suggest that they tend to selectively interpret information either positively or negatively to support pre-existing underlying hypotheses. This finding is in keeping with the literature on ‘confirmation bias.’ The research further draws attention to the need to incorporate open questions in quantitative studies, to help guard against surface reading of data, which often does not ‘speak for itself.’     

Lockean Social Epistemology

Locke's reputation as a sceptic regarding testimony, and the resultant mockery by epistemologists with social inclinations, is well known. In particular Michael Welbourne, in his article ‘The Community of Knowledge’ (1981), depicts Lockean epistemology as fundamentally opposed to a social conception of knowledge, claiming that he ‘could not even conceive of the possibility of a community of knowledge’. This interpretation of Locke is flawed. Whilst Locke does not grant the honorific ‘knowledge’ to anything short of certainty, he nonetheless held what we would call ‘testimonial knowledge’ in appropriate esteem. This can be shown by his careful distinction between testimony and mere received opinion. Furthermore, this distinction is dependent upon a knowledge community which enables hearers of testimony to access alternative accounts. In view of this, we can consider Locke's Conduct of the Understanding in a new light. Dedicated to the autodidact adult, The Conduct directs the learner to reason clearly and well. One goal is to render adult students capable of assessing testimony. The advice given is social in nature. The student must not limit his study to ‘one sort of men or one sort of books’. Otherwise, he faces the sort of cognitive isolation which would render him a mere receiver of opinion. The picture of Locke that emerges is not that of a dyed‐in‐the‐wool sceptic regarding testimonial knowledge, but of a philosopher who formed an embryonic social epistemology embedded within a programme of adult education.     

Redefining the English Major: adding strength to strength

Harvard served as a model for English Departments in the past and, with its 2008–2009 changes, it seems to take the mantle in providing yet another model. However, I propose a much more radical approach to creating an undergraduate ‘English’ curriculum that does more than push the boundaries of traditional study of English literatures. I propose a complete redefinition of the English Major. Those who are currently ‘English’ Majors seem to be increasingly less concerned with studying a national literary tradition, but seek a world literary tradition. My proposal, thus, changes the name of the department and the major to Department of Literature and Language. Harvard’s new model is a start, but it still centres the study of literature and language on one literature and one language, English, and, thus, continues to offer a half solution.     

From their ‘own’ to ‘both’ interpretations: children’s understanding of ambiguity / De ‘su’ interpretación a ‘ambas’: la comprensión de la ambigüedad en los niños

Abstract

The present study aimed to analyse whether young children’s failure in succeeding ambiguity tasks is related to a bias in favour of maintaining their initial interpretation or one in favour of showing conformity to the interpretation of another person. Two experiments were conducted with ambiguous figures and ambiguous sentences. After giving their own interpretation of the stimulus, children of different ages (from 3–8 years of age) were confronted with the alternative interpretation. In general, the results of the two experiments found an accentuated ‘own’ bias, meaning that young children usually persisted in their own interpretation and did not show conformity to the ‘other’ interpretation. Only after the second grade were children able to understand that both interpretations (their own and the alternative) were equally valid for the same stimulus. The results also revealed that the ability to show informed reversal does not necessarily imply the ability to overcome the ‘own’ interpretation bias and, consequently, does not require the achievement of a real understanding of ambiguity. The present study showed an age-related development of ambiguity understanding, from an egocentric interpretation to the acceptance of two interpretations as equally valid.     

Child as method: implications for decolonising educational research

This paper advances an approach, ‘child as method’, as a resource for interrogating models of development in childhood and education. Kuan-Hsing Chen’s (2010) book Asia as method has generated interest across childhood and educational studies. Here ‘child as method’ is presented as a related intervention. Just as Asia as method (re)considers the status of the national and transnational, so ‘child as method’ helps explicate the ways ‘child’ and ‘development’ are linked across economic, sociocultural and individual trajectories. The example of translation is discussed in relation to sociocultural approaches and how together these might inform childhood and educational studies debates. The notion of ‘method’ at work (as framework, technique or narrative) is also clarified as informed by feminist and decolonisation approaches. It is argued that ‘child as method’ offers strategies for resisting abstraction and remaining attentive to forces and relations of (re)production at issue within adult–child and child-state-development relations.     

The Invisibility of the ‘Average’ Child in the Early Years

A sample of 52 children across two schools was tracked for the first four years of their school life. Adopting a naturalistic research strategy, relying on classroom observation of children and depth interviews with teachers, the emergence of each child's identity was monitored as it became revealed to their teacher. This investigation into early school careers suggests that children quickly acquire one of two distinct identities: either normal or deviant. The vast majority of children fall into the ‘normal’ category. Within the ‘normal’ category there seems to be a particular type of pupil who is to be found at the core of this socially constructed world of normality: the ‘average’ child. Acquiring an identity as an ‘average’ child seems to have important consequences for the child's experience of schooling. Whereas deviant pupils are conspicuous and continually noticeable, ‘average ‘pupils represent a conformity in classroom life which makes them apparently less visible to teachers. ‘Average’ pupils appear to conform to such an extreme degree that for much of their time in school they become ‘invisible’. This is an apparent anomaly for teachers in the early years when, in spite of a commitment to individualism, and often a tradition of child‐centredness, it seems teachers may be ‘blind’ to certain individuals in their class, especially those for whom teachers have recognised an identity as an ‘average’ child.

Research in early years education has understandably given prominence to issues of pedagogical practice, policy formation and curriculum development (Richards, 1982; Blenkin and Kelly, 1988). As in all sectors of education the concerns of educationists as practitioners or policy‐makers have often driven the quest for understanding and provided the dominant ethos of inquiry. In the field of early years education, the issues for debate, and consequently the questions generated for research, have rarely been prompted by the concerns of social scientists in their pursuit of more esoteric domains of theory construction.     

In Excess of Epistemology: Siegel,Taylor, Heidegger and the Conditions of Thought

Harvey Siegel's epistemologically‐informed conception of critical thinking is one of the most influential accounts of critical thinking around today. In this article, I seek to open up an account of critical thinking that goes beyond the one defended by Siegel. I do this by re‐reading an opposing view, which Siegel himself rejects as leaving epistemology (and, by implication, his epistemological account of critical thinking) ‘pretty much as it is’. This is the view proposed by Charles Taylor in his paper ‘Overcoming Epistemology’. Crucially, my aim here is not to defend Taylor's challenge to epistemology per se, but rather to demonstrate how, through its appeal to certain key tropes within Heideggerian philosophy, Taylor's paper opens us towards a radically different conception of thinking and the human being who thinks. Indeed, as will be argued, it is through this that Taylor and Heidegger come to offer us the resources for re‐thinking the nature of critical thinking—in a way that exceeds the epistemological, and does more justice to receptive and responsible conditions of human thought.     

Kant on the endless struggle against evil in the pursuit of moral perfection and the promotion of the happiness of others—Challenges for education

Abstract

Kant argues that we have a duty to perfect ourselves morally and promote the happiness of others. He also argues that we have an innate propensity to evil. Our duty to perfect ourselves suggests that we struggle with our innate propensity to wilfully deviate from doing our duty. And we do this when we struggle against the depravation of our heart, namely our propensity to reverse ‘the ethical order as regards the incentives of a free power of choice’, namely, our propensity to wilfully comply with the principle of self-love and override the moral law. It seems, however, that education does not enable those concerned to fulfil their duties. It seems, instead, that education basically makes them efficacious with regard to desired ends and with the devised means. It seems, too, that education does not necessarily make it possible for those concerned with duty to perfect themselves morally and help others to do the same, which in turn suggests that those concerned are not being enabled to make themselves ‘as conscientious as possible in [their] moral self-examination’. I argue that education ought to enable those concerned to cultivate their moral strength to do so and enable others to do the same.     

Young Children's Use of Surface and Object Information in Drawings of Everyday Scenes

Pictorial symbols such as photographs, drawings, and maps are ubiquitous in modern cultures. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how children relate these symbols to the scenes that they represent. The present work investigates 4‐year‐old children's (N = 144) sensitivity to extended surface layouts and objects when using drawings of a room to find locations in that room. Children used either extended surfaces or objects when interpreting drawings, but they did not combine these two types of information to disambiguate target locations. Moreover, children's evaluations of drawings depicting surfaces or objects did not align with their use of such information in those drawings. These findings suggest that pictures of all kinds serve as media in which children deploy symbolic spatial skills flexibly and automatically.     

Does Parent–Child Discussion of Peer Provocations Reduce Young Children's Hostile Attributional Bias?

Two studies investigated whether parent–child discussion of peer provocations reduces young children's hostile attributional bias. Study 1 (N = 109, age 4–7)—an observational study—showed that parent–child discussion of nonhostile attributions (when reading a picture book) predicted reductions in children's hostile attributional bias from pre‐ to postdiscussion. Study 2 (N = 160, age 4–6)—an experimental study—showed that stimulating parents to discuss either nonhostile attributions or normative beliefs (vs. a control condition) reduced children's hostile attributional bias in response to hypothetical vignettes, but not in response to a staged peer provocation. These findings suggest that by framing social situations, parents may help their children perceive less hostility in their social worlds.     

Children’s colour use to portray themselves and others with happy,sad and mixed emotion

The present study investigated children’s colour use in drawing tasks specifying single and mixed emotions. One hundred and eighty children (90 girls and 90 boys) between 4?years 11?months and 8?years 1?month (X?=?6?years 6?month) participated. All children completed two test sessions in counterbalanced order. Session A measured emotional understanding and colour use in relation to a brief story. Children’s colour preferences were measured in Session B. Children used colours differentially across the drawing types and varied colour use in relation to depictions of other people and themselves using red and blue when depicting a protagonist with mixed emotions and red when depicting their own experiences of mixed emotion. The findings are discussed in terms of the need for caution when interpreting multiple and singular colour–affect associations in children’s drawings and the need to further investigate children’s understanding and non-verbal expression of mixed emotion.