The Use of Projective Drawings to Determine Visual Themes in Young Kuwaiti Women Impacted by the Iraqi Invasion

This study is part of a larger qualitative research project which examines visual imagery created through projective art tasks undertaken by young Kuwaiti women who were resident in Kuwait during the 1990 Saddam‐Hussein‐led Iraqi invasion of their country. The purpose of this article is to present evidence from the study as it is evolving. This study uses projective drawing tasks to elicit and examine the mental schema (i.e. colours, images and symbols [CIS]) of women between the ages of 20 and 22, who lived in Kuwait during the invasion. Piaget's model of the preoperational stage of childhood development is referred to when connecting nonverbal cognitive structures associated with the projective drawing tasks. The focus of this study was to determine if CIS themes could be generated through projective drawing tasks by individuals who had experienced a similar traumatic event. Visual data collected during research sessions bore this out. While thematic CIS did occur, further interpretation of the visual data was not a goal of the study.     

Moving Beyond Colorblindness in Early Childhood Classrooms

Countering the position that colorblindness is desirable for teachers and children, this article encourages early childhood education teachers to engage in conversations about race and racism with young children. We discuss why the early childhood years are important for interrupting racism and make suggestions for helping children develop tools for addressing it. Annotated examples of children’s drawings about racism from a second grade classroom are shared to demonstrate that young children are not colorblind and that they think about and experience racism in their daily lives. We conclude that it is both an educational and ethical necessity to address racism with young children.     

Children’s Drawings: A mirror to their minds

Children’s drawings are thought to be a mirror of a child’s representational development. Research suggests that with age children develop more complex and symbolic representational strategies and reference points become more differentiated by gender. We collected two drawings from 109 5–13‐year‐old children (three age groups). Each child drew their family and their school and participated in an independent recall task. The results indicated significant gender and age differences in the number of details depicted in the family drawings. There were also significant differences between boys’ and girls’ stereotyped drawings, usage of proportionality, and clothing. With age, children tended to draw more aerial views of their school. The results are discussed in terms of the contribution children’s drawings can make to the study of cognitive development and vice versa, as well as their importance for education.     

No more bullying: an analysis of primary school children’s drawings of school bullying

Bullying in schools is an international problem impacting negatively on children’s well-being. Children’s drawings can provide an insight into their emotional states. There is little published literature that uses children’s drawings to gain better understandings of the nature and impact of bullying. We report two studies using indicators of emotional distress to examine Australian primary school children’s drawings about bullying. In Study One, children’s drawings were examined using indicators of size, detail and line heaviness in terms of gender and developmental trends. The analysis showed no main differences for gender, however, there were clear developmental aspects to children’s depictions of school bullying. In Study Two, children’s self-reported victimisation was associated with the degree of detail and the relative distance between the protagonists represented in the drawings. The studies suggest that drawings could be used to counsel young people and help remediate the effects of bullying.     

Who's Got the Power? Rethinking gender equity strategies in early childhood

This article uses a case‐study of boys’ and girls’ block play in 10 Australian early childhood centres to critically appraise current approaches to gender equity in the early childhood curriculum. The case‐study describes how patriarchal gender relations were created and maintained between boys and girls in their block play, how teachers responded to these relationships and how children responded to teacher challenges to their gender relations. The article discusses the ‘failure’ of several strategies used by the teachers to produce changes in children's gender relations and how feminist post‐structuralist reconceptualisations of gender equity work have the potential to produce more effective strategies for teachers wishing to challenge patriarchal gender relations between young children     

Childhood adversity and adult depression among the incarcerated: Differential exposure and vulnerability by race/ethnicity and gender

The relationship between childhood adversity and adult depression is well-established but less is known about the association between childhood adversity and adult depression among the incarcerated. In this paper, we examine differential exposure and vulnerability to childhood adversity by race/ethnicity and gender on adult depression among the incarcerated in the United States. We address three research questions: does exposure to childhood adverse experiences vary by race/ethnicity and gender? Is there an association between these childhood adverse events and depression and does the strength of the association vary by the specific adverse experiences? And does vulnerability to childhood adversity vary by gender and race/ethnicity? Using the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities (SI-SFCF), we measure four key childhood adverse events – parental/caretaker substance abuse, physical assault, having been placed in foster care, and sexual assault. We use ordinary least squares regression and a series of interaction effect analyses to examine differential exposure and vulnerability to the four childhood adverse experiences by race/ethnicity and gender. Incarcerated women are more likely to report parental substance abuse, but all inmates/prisoners are similarly vulnerable to this experience. For the other three adverse experiences measured, we find that there are important racial/ethnic and gender differences in both exposure and vulnerability. African American men and women are more vulnerable to the effects of physical and sexual victimization than White and Hispanic men and women. Women are much more likely to be exposed to sexual victimization, but men who report this experience are significantly more depressed. Hispanic women and White men and women are more likely to report foster care, but all inmates/prisoners who report foster care experiences are significantly more depressed than other inmates/prisoners, with the exception of white men. The findings indicate that there are significant differences in exposure and vulnerability to childhood adversity by race/ethnicity and gender. We conclude that in order to effectively design and implement programs to decrease the probability that childhood adversity is a risk factor for adult depression interventions must be targeted toward specific, vulnerable groups according to race/ethnicity and gender.     

I Know Who My Friends Are,but Do You? Predictors of Self‐Reported and Peer‐Inferred Relationships

Using social network data, this study examines which features of social and spatial proximity predict self‐reported, or “real,” and peer‐reported, or “inferred,” relationships among 2,695 pairwise combinations of African American second‐ through fourth‐grade students (aged 7–11). Relationships were more likely to exist, and more likely to be inferred to exist by peers, between pairs of children who were the same sex, sat near one another, shared a positive academic orientation, or shared athletic ability. Sex similarity had a dramatically larger effect on peers' inferences about relationships than on self‐reported real relationships, suggesting that children overestimate the importance of gender in their inferences about relationships. Results were stable across different grade levels in middle childhood and for boys and girls.     

Action,Autobiography and Aesthetics in Young Children’s Self-Initiated Drawings

Lark-Horovitz, Lewis, and Luca [1973] described the emergence of ‘subject matter specialists,’ children who create series of self-initiated or voluntary drawings featuring consistent themes, characters, or settings that seem particularly compelling to them. A decade-long study of the images preschool and kindergarten children create when invited to draw in their own sketchbooks in the context of a weekly art class suggests that the choice of what to draw shapes the process of learning how to draw in decisive ways. The interests young children develop and pursue in drawing and in other forms of symbolic play are influenced by gender and by culture, by personality and circumstance. The choices children make inevitably open certain possibilities and foreclose others, shaping early artistic learning in decisive ways. Many early childhood educators [e.g., Katz, 1993] maintain that young children’s learning should be firmly grounded in first-hand experience. However, children whose drawings are autobiographical in content may be less consistent in choosing topics for drawing and prone to pass the time between significant images by drawing designs and symbols which seem less personally meaningful and engaging. Children who draw upon imaginative themes seem to have an inexhaustible source of inspiration ready at hand when they begin to draw. According to Egan [1988], the fictional or mythic nature of these representations may serve young children’s quest to make sense of their experiences in ways that explorations of the everyday do not.     

A Case Study of Six Children Learning with Logo

This article describes an investigative pilot study that was carried out with six children (mean age 6 years and 8 months) who worked in one of three gender pairs (girl/girl, boy/boy and boy/girl) to solve tasks with the floor and screen versions of the Logo turtle. The study revealed that when young children work collaboratively in Logo tasks, there may be initial differences in performance, based on gender, whereby the performance of the girls is less economic in terms of the number of moves made and the time taken to task completion, and more accurate in relation to the number of errors made and their ability to reproduce specific items. It is suggested that the extent and nature of the differences will vary according to the task format and with experience in the domain. The study provides qualitative information about the strategies and interactions of young children in a novel problem‐solving context. As such, the study has important practical implications for the organisation of learning opportunities related to the use of computers in early childhood environments, since it highlights the need to describe performance in the context of the task used and over a reasonable period of time.     

Some Methodological Issues with “Draw a Scientist Tests” among Young Children

Children’s stereotypes about scientists have been postulated to affect student science identity and interest in science. Findings from prior studies using “Draw a Scientist Test” methods suggest that students see scientists as largely white, often unattractive, men; one consequence may be that girls and minority students feel a science career is “not like me”. However, a major shortcoming in prior research is that scholars have asked children to draw only scientists, thus making interpretations of earlier research findings ambiguous. We added other professionals to compare how 616 drawings of teachers, scientists, and veterinarians by 206 elementary school children varied by student gender, ethnicity, and grade. Students made clear distinctions: drawing teachers as most attractive and largely female, and scientists as most often male and least attractive. Aspects of the drawings suggest that scientists do have an “image problem” among children. However, large sex differences in the drawings and often‐unrecognizable gender figures in boys’ pictures lead us to question use of the “Draw a Scientist Test” as a projective test among young children.     

Self‐harm through cutting: evidence from a sample of schools in the north of England

This project explored the prevalence of self‐harm by cutting in a geographically circumscribed area of the North of England, using a school‐based survey. Twenty‐three per cent of the young people reported they had cut themselves at least once, with no major changes evident at different age groups or with gender. There were clear differences in rates between schools, and statistically significant differences when comparing the coping mechanisms used by young people who cut themselves with those of their peers.     

You said, ‘Black girl’: doing difference in early childhood

Abstract

This article draws on a larger study that examined the constructions of childhood by young children in early childhood centres. Ten boys and girls, between the ages two and four, from two early childhood centres in urban KwaZulu-Natal, participated in the study. The article explores the multiple ways in which young children use discourse and context to interpret differences around race, gender and other social identities. We draw on data produced through observations, storytelling and persona dolls to argue that, although young children reproduce multiple social realities they encounter in their daily lives, they are active subjects in constructing differences. Story telling with persona dolls provides opportunities for young children to talk about their experiences with regards to difference.     

The Draw‐An‐Environment Test Rubric (DAET‐R): exploring pre‐service teachers’ mental models of the environment

The use of drawings as representations of personal mental models or images is one method of analyzing personal beliefs. This article discusses the development of the Draw‐An‐Environment Test and Rubric (DAET‐R) for assessing the mental models or images of the environment held by pre‐service teachers. It also provides results of preliminary research using the DAET‐R to assess pre‐service teachers’ personal beliefs and understandings about the environment, as interpreted from their drawings. Results of this pilot study using the DAET‐R for scoring early childhood pre‐service teachers’ drawings of the environment suggest that the participants’ mental models of the environment are incomplete. Results of this study also show that the DAET‐R can provide information about pre‐service teachers’ beliefs about the environment useful to teacher educators in the development and delivery of environmental education.     

The Relationship Between Maternal Beliefs and Behavior During Shared Reading

The goal of the present study was to increase understanding of the connection between maternal beliefs and behavior during shared reading and to examine the relation of these maternal beliefs to children's reading engagement. The study included survey and observational data from an ethnically diverse sample of 50 mothers and their 5- to 6-year-old children. As predicted, mothers who believed that shared reading should involve learning showed more learning-focused behaviors. Similarly, the belief that reading should be fun predicted more positive interactions. Some relationships between beliefs and behavior were moderated by gender. For girls, higher maternal expectations for children's future reading grades were associated with better scaffolding, but this pattern was not found for boys. There was a positive relationship between mothers' belief that reading should be fun and their sons' engagement. No gender differences were found in maternal expectations and beliefs or in observed maternal learning-focused behaviors or positive support. However, girls were observed to be significantly more engaged during the reading interaction. These results point to the connections between maternal beliefs and behaviors during shared reading, as well as the need to consider child gender in understanding these connections.     

Cultural differences in Chinese American and European American children's drawing skills over time

Parents and early childhood teachers in Chinese societies and the United States have had dissimilar views about appropriate art instruction for young children. The Chinese view is that creativity will emerge after children have been taught essential drawing skills. The American view has been that children's drawing skills emerge naturally and that directive teaching will stifle children's creativity. Forty second-generation Chinese American and 40 European American young children participated in this longitudinal study at ages 5, 7, and 9 to explore possible cultural differences in and antecedents of their drawing skills and creativity. Chinese American children's person drawings were more mature and creative and their parents reported more formal ways of fostering creativity as compared to their European American counterparts. Correlations showed that children who had more opportunities to draw and who received more guidance in drawing were more advanced in their drawing. For Chinese Americans, fathers’ personal art attitudes and children's Time 1 drawing skills predicted 53% of the variance in children's drawing scores four years later.     

An assessment of on-job training programmes in Kuwait

Like most of the states in the Gulf region, Kuwait suffers from an acute shortage of skilled and semi-skilled Kuwaiti manpower in almost all sectors of the economy. In 1990, the labour force was 2,120,302 of which 1,552,225 were non-Kuwaitis (73%), and only 568,007 (27%) were Kuwaitis (Ministry of Planning, 1995). The country depends very heavily on expatriates. The Gulf crisis in 1990 created an unexpected situation in which the country's infrastructure was damaged by the ravages of the Iraqi occupation. This presented a great challenge for Kuwaiti decision makers in implementing effective and appropriate action plans for rebuilding the country.In Kuwait, two main public On-the-Job Training Centres (Kuwait University, KU and the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, PAAE&T) were looked upon as centres for training Kuwaitis with the required skills. In this paper, some of the empirical results and observations are presented, which describe the views of suppliers (KU and PAAE&T) and recipients (eight main ministries) regarding the various aspects of on-the-job training programmes. The paper argues that for effective and efficient utilisation of on-the-job training programmes, both parties (suppliers and recipients) have to recognise the value of such programmes. The paper concludes that unless decision-makers improve and develop the present situation of on-the-job training programmes, the country will continue to rely heavily on expatriates for years ahead.     

Gender behaviors in an early childhood classroom through an ethnographic lens

The purpose of the study was to examine, using an ethnographic perspective, young children's gender behaviors. Four children, 3 to 5 years old, are described using videotaped observations of a university laboratory preschool. This study revealed, through individualprofiles of the children, that gender behaviors in early childhood are constructed by the individual interacting with her his social world. Also, gender behaviors were found to be integrated with other social processes, namely, student and peer behaviors. Finally, sociocultural and poststructuralist perspectives revealed the obvious and subtle gender behaviors of young children. Thus, researchers using ethnographic methods can explain the complexity in which children experience becoming a person .     

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 pleasure of recognition: intertextuality in the talk of preschoolers during shared reading with mothers and teachers

Mature readers draw on a complex web of previous experiences when interpreting written and visual texts. Yet very little is known about how preschool children, who cannot yet read, make connections between texts. This study explores how 13 4‐year‐old children made intertextual connections during shared reading with their mothers (seven children) and their preschool teachers (six children). The findings indicate that very young children actively draw on their knowledge of other texts, and their personal lived experiences, to reflect on the meanings they encounter in unfamiliar picture books. The functions served by the children's intertexts ranged from the simple pleasure of recognition to more sophisticated comparisons between texts in terms of theme and plot. The extent to which the adults were able to integrate the children's intertexts into the discussions varied. An awareness of the important role played by intertextuality in children's interpretations of texts may provide early childhood professionals with a framework within which to plan systematically for the language and literacy development of young children in their care.