Children's concepts of gears and their promotion through play

The mechanical transmission of motion, which is observable in gears’ turning direction (TD) and turning speed (TS) can be understood as part of the core concept “force and motion”. Previous studies have suggested that most children before the age of nine have naïve concepts of gears’ TD and TS. However, these studies relied on children's explanation data and might have therefore underestimated young children's potential. Moreover, these studies did not examine whether preschoolers can overcome their naïve concepts through teaching. Recently, educators have proposed guided play as an educational approach that combines children's play with teacher guidance in a purposefully designed environment. We conducted two subsequent studies. In Study 1, we investigated the children's (naïve) concepts of gears’ TD and TS with a cross‐sectional approach using a nonverbal test procedure. This study comprised 248 children aged 5–10 years and 73 adults. The results showed that the proportion of children with adequate concepts increased with age. More specifically, 7‐ to 8‐year‐olds differed significantly from 5‐ to 6‐year‐olds, indicating a developmental shift around this age. However, naïve concepts of TS were more persistent with age than naïve concepts of TD. Altogether, the results indicated the potential to foster 5‐ to 6‐year‐olds’ concepts of both TD and TS in an intervention. Thus, in Study 2, we developed and tested a guided play intervention to foster 5‐ to 6‐year‐old children's concepts of TD and TS. We conducted a prepost‐intervention design with a guided play group (n = 19) and a free play group (n = 21). The results suggested stronger learning gains in the guided play group (d_TD = 0.337, d_TS = 0.758) than in the free play group (d_TD = 0.224, d_TS = 0.158).     

Examining dominant discourses of sexuality in sexuality education research

This article is concerned with some of the theoretical and methodological complexities of collecting young people's preferences for sexuality education content and using them to inform educational practice. Data are drawn from focus groups and questionnaires undertaken by 16–19‐year‐olds. Participants' suggestions often reflect dominant discourses of sexuality circulating in wider society, providing insight into social norms and cultural contexts in which they live. Suggestions do not reflect dominant discourses in any simple way, but involve a complex interplay of these and subordinate meanings of sexuality. When working within a methodological framework that values and centres young people's perspectives, these proposals can be problematic. As dominant discourses of sexuality often reinforce social inequalities, programme implementation of young people's suggestions may perpetuate these. How to reconcile a commitment to a methodological paradigm that prioritises young people's perspectives with the creation of sexuality education which promotes social justice is discussed.     

儿童剧与幼儿认知发展

本文以儿童发展的视角,首先阐述了儿童剧教育活动的由来;其次,依据多种发展心理学理论,分析了儿童剧在幼儿心智发展中的重要作用;再次,讨论了儿童剧在不同年龄段所产生的不同作用,指出这种特殊的教育活动对于幼儿认知发展的教育价值尤为重要。针对儿童剧的特点,文章进一步阐述了儿童剧对儿童心智发展及关键经验获得的作用机制,并以莺莺艺术幼儿园多年儿童剧探索的案例,说明了如何在幼儿园进行儿童剧教育活动的实践。     

Intersections of class and sexuality in the classroom

This research note aims to address concerns about schools as sites where students wrestle, materially and subjectively, with classed based notions of femininity, the promotion of heterosexuality, and the support of hetero‐normative, middle class families against and in contrast with their own working class families, identities and experiences. Two relatively neglected issues in education, those of sexuality and class, are addressed in order to highlight the interconnections in living out these often analytically separated categories. This piece draws upon the findings of an ESRC funded project ‘Working class lesbians: classed in a classless climate’, which examines the life experiences and identities of self‐identified working class lesbians in the UK.     

Exploring parent sexuality profiles and links with the sexuality profiles of adolescents who have engaged in sexual abuse

BackgroundParents play an important role in children's development of sexual norms and behaviors. Regarding the family environment of adolescents who have engaged in sexual abuse (AESA), some studies have suggested potential factors of interest, although the sexuality of AESA parents has yet to be considered.Objectives(1) Explore sexual profiles among parents, (2) Examine if the sexual profiles of parents are related to the sexual profiles of AESA.Participants and settingParticipants include 201 parents (116 mothers, 85 fathers) of AESA recruited from specialized treatment and youth centers in Quebec.MethodsHierarchical and nonhierarchical methods were used to generate cluster solutions. Chi-square or Fisher's exact tests were then conducted to explore links between parents’ and AESA sexuality profiles.ResultsThree sexuality profiles emerged separately for mothers and fathers, showing similar patterns. Parents in the first two clusters (Overinvested and Atypical Sexuality – OAS and Overinvested and Non-Atypical Sexuality – ONAS) showed greater interest/investment in sexuality and an earlier sexual onset. However, they differed on their sexual interests: Most parents in the OAS cluster reported a greater variety of atypical fantasies and atypical sexual behaviors, while the sexual interests of parents in the ONAS cluster were mainly limited to non-atypical sexuality. Parents in the third cluster (Constrictive Sexuality – CS) were less interested and invested in sexuality. A link between the exacerbated sexuality of mothers (OAS cluster) and of adolescents was also found.ConclusionsThis study represents a first step in showing a potential correspondence between parents’ and AESA sexuality profiles.     

Sex–gender–sexuality: how sex,gender and sexuality constellations are constituted in secondary schools

This paper explores the relationships between sex, gender and sexuality through a series of close readings of data generated through an ethnography undertaken in a south London secondary school. The paper takes as its focus girls aged 15 to 16 and considers how particular sexed, gendered and sexualized selves are constituted. Drawing on Foucault's understanding of subjectivation and the subsequent work of Judith Butler, in particular her theorization of the inseparability of gender and sexuality in the contemporary discursive frame, these analyses demonstrate how students' mundane and day‐to‐day practices—including bodily deportment, physical games, linguistic accounts, and uses of clothing, hairstyles and accessories—are implicated in the discursive constitution of student subjectivities. The paper argues for an understanding of sex–gender–sexuality joined together in discursive chains and intersecting with further identity categories. As such, the paper suggests that subjectivities might helpfully be thought in terms of constituting constellations that create both possibilities and constraints for ‘who’ students can be.     

Ethical review and reflexivity in research of children's sexuality

Research in the area of children's sexuality is largely based on observational and retrospective studies. Childhood studies literature increasingly calls upon the inclusion of children's voices, yet with sensitive topics ethical positions often close research possibilities in the territories of children's worlds. Children are perceived as a vulnerable group, especially when the investigation focuses on their sexual development and activity – and it is perceived that this research area is too sensitive and potentially harmful to children. Within the context of beginning a qualitative study on children's sexuality in New Zealand (including interviews with children), this paper reviews a number of studies of childhood research. These studies provide a glimpse at how research focusing on children has been conducted, and explores ethical issues arising in such research. The significance of researcher reflexivity is acknowledged for ethical research practice. The paper concludes that in research on children's sexuality a process of ethical review is limited, and that researcher competence in sensitive investigations is required. Among other difficulties for this researcher (with a professional background in child and family therapy) is the vulnerability of being a man choosing to research children.     

Gender and sexuality in young children's perspectives of AIDS

Abstract

Responses to AIDS have often neglected children. Drawing on a qualitative study of young children aged 7–9 years, this paper draws attention to their understandings of HIV and AIDS. It is argued that young children are able to give meaning to the disease in ways that link to their social contexts, where gender inequalities and sexual violence are common. Sexuality is a key dimension through which they express knowledge of the disease. Young children do know the links between sex and AIDS, and connect vulnerability to the disease in gendered ways. To address the missing voices of young children requires coordinated efforts, requiring systemic responses which support teachers in initiatives to address taboo subjects like sexuality, as well as the pervasive poverty in which the children in our study are located.     

Addressing sexuality and pregnancy in childbirth education classes

A positive, nonjudgmental, and informed approach to sexual health during pregnancy promotes acceptance of the normal functioning of women's bodies. It also encourages the development of close and supportive relationships that are so essential during pregnancy and birth. Common concerns do not need to become problems. Concerns include issues of libido, positioning, and preterm labor or fetal health, as well as myths and cultural attitudes. Childbirth educators can use tools such as the PLISSIT model to approach the topic of sexuality during pregnancy. In addition, opportunities are available in every childbirth class to acknowledge or ignore sexual issues. Perinatal educators who take responsibility for addressing this often-taboo topic can enhance women's feelings of safety and their confidence in normal birth.     

Culture and sexuality in Finnish health education textbooks

In Finland, Young people’s sexuality education has not been examined from a multicultural perspective, with the exception of a few policy-oriented papers. This paper examines how cultural diversity is addressed in chapters on sexuality and sexuality education in Finnish health education textbooks. The analysis is based on material contained in textbooks used in grades 7–9 and upper secondary schools. Findings suggest that cultural diversity is included in textbooks in one of two ways: either to demonstrate the uniqueness of liberal, emancipated and progressive ‘Finnish’ sexuality; or as a way of distancing Finland and Finnish values from the rest of the world. In these textbooks, culture is understood as belonging to non-Finnish ‘others’ and a culture that itself as not being Finnish. This somewhat tendentious treatment of cultural diversity leaves teachers with limited tools with which to promote anti-discriminatory education. The textbooks also overlook the diverse backgrounds of young people growing up in Finland today.     

Helping mothers discuss sexuality and AIDS with adolescents

The current study was designed to alter experimentally mothers' style when discussing sexuality and AIDS with their adolescent children. Mothers of 11- to 15-year-olds (N = 50) were assigned to an intervention or control group, resulting in 20 dyads in each group. All dyads were assessed twice, on self-reported and observed communication, AIDS knowledge, and perceived vulnerability to AIDS. Intervention group mothers received two training sessions. Observational data revealed that intervention group mothers reduced their amount of speaking, asked more open-ended questions, acted less judgmental, and discussed dating and sexuality more than did control group mothers. Intervention group adolescents reported increased discussions of birth control and increased daily comfort talking to their mothers. There was some evidence that intervention group girls increased in AIDS knowledge. There was no change in AIDS-related beliefs.     

Governing Troubles: authority,sexuality and space

This paper analyses events at Kingsmead School, Hackney, in the aftermath of head teacher, Jane Brown's refusal to take children to a ballet of Romeo and Juliet. The paper explores the ensuing struggle over space, governance and gender within the context of LEA power after IMS. It analyses different levels of governance: direct, midway and at a distance, and explores the relationship between these levels and devolved legal powers. The paper links Hackney's techniques of governing, and school supporters’ acts of resistance, to their competing spatial representations of Kingsmead. Highlighted are discourses of ridicule, excessive sexuality, kinship, community and parents rights, as well as techniques of discipline, law, and fortification. Finally, the paper explores the conflict in terms of the production of lesbian feminist space, and considers the centrality of gender to the events that occurred.     

The importance of entertainment for sexuality education

Researchers in sexuality education have tended to focus on formal schooling. However, young people learn about sexuality from a range of sources, including entertainment media. This is particularly important because young people actively seek out entertainment media. They do so because it gives them the kinds of information they want, in ways that seem relevant to them. This is often not the case for formal schooling, for reasons that may not easily change in the near future. Possibilities exist for sexuality education researchers to form productive relationships with entertainment producers: but only if these are approached with respect for the producers' particular skills, including the ability to give audiences what they want.     

Comprehensive sexuality education,culture and gender: the effect of the cultural setting on a sexuality education programme in Ethiopia

Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is recognised as an effective method of sexual health education, with the school identified as a fitting site of implementation. Its holistic and participatory nature endeavours to develop the knowledge, attitudes and life-skills of students to help them secure their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). This qualitative study aimed to better understand aspects of CSE implementation in one context. Specifically, it focuses on the effects of the cultural setting, considering how gender and sexuality norms influence teacher and student implementation strategies. The research was carried out in one secondary school in Ethiopia, which delivered a Dutch-developed programme throughout 2013. Over 50 in-depth interviews were conducted with teachers and students, influential community members and experts in SRHR. Data were also gathered through focus group discussions and classroom observations. Results show that CSE teachers and students, both male and female, were able to discuss issues of sexuality. However, the cultural context was seen to affect interpretation of programme information, influencing the nature of this discussion. For an impactful implementation, it is recommended that sexuality education aims to engage with and involve the wider community, to reduce contradictory messages and increase programme support. Furthermore, teachers should undergo extensive and comprehensive pre-programme training that addresses their attitudes and values, not just their knowledge.