Children's playful musicking: Peer culture within a day-care setting in Singapore

2021 ◽  
pp. 146394912110423
Author(s):  
Sirene Lim
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Peer Culture ◽  
Pedagogical Tool ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Childcare Centre ◽  
Peer Cultures ◽  
Everyday World ◽  
Full Day ◽  
Insight Into

In the field of early childhood education, play has become synonymous with curriculum but is sometimes viewed narrowly as a pedagogical tool to enhance child development. However, it is known from a range of multidisciplinary work that child-initiated and child-guided forms and contexts of playing can offer rich insight into diversity in childhood(s), peer cultures and children's meaning-making. This article draws on an ethnographic study that was conducted in a full-day childcare centre in Singapore and focused on children's everyday world of self-initiated play, improvisation and peer culture. Specifically, it presents examples of songs and rhythmic chants created by a group of 4-year-olds . Such ‘musicking’ is a form of social play that illustrates children’s ways of teasing, relating with others and sense-making within their contemporary social world. The article argues for educators to look beyond the instrumental value of play in the preschool curriculum, inviting all to take some time to allow children's multifarious play activities to influence their adult sensibilities.

scholarly journals Children’s Encounters with Natural Selection During an Interactive Read Aloud

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Frejd
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Video Data ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
Pedagogical Tool ◽  
Interactive Reading ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Basic Understanding ◽  
Biological Concepts

AbstractPrevious studies have shown that children as young as 5 years of age are able to form a basic understanding of evolution after listening to a storybook about natural selection. This study offers a semiotic exploration of children’s meaning making during an interactive read aloud of the same storybook by investigating what children focus on and negotiate during the read aloud. Video data from eight interactive read aloud sessions (N = 24 children) were analysed using a multimodal approach and contrasted with seven biological concepts intentionally described in the storybook. During the interactive reading, the children focused on all biological concepts at some point. However, apart from the biological concepts, the children also paid attention to other topics during the read aloud. These topics comprised Death, Change in behaviour, Realism, Babies, Milli bugs, and Aesthetics. Throughout the read aloud, a child-centric view of life influenced how the children made meaning about evolution. The findings highlight that through interactive reading, instructional storybooks also become a tool for discussing other aspects that children find important. Overall, the findings contribute with knowledge about the role of interactive read aloud as a pedagogical tool for introducing evolution in early childhood education.

Ready or not, here they come! Care as a material and organizational practice in ECEC for children under two

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 323-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa K Aslanian
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Care Center ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Dyadic Relationships ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Care Practices ◽  
Professional Care ◽  
Full Day

Caring relationships between children and educators in early childhood education and care centers become in an array of entanglements with spaces, materials, and the organization of time. An exclusively dyadic understanding of care is insufficient in the material, institutional, pedagogic, and professional environment of early childhood education and care. This article reports on an ethnographic study of material and organizational professional care practices in a high-functioning full-day early childhood education and care center for children less than 3 years in Norway. Drawing on Tronto and Fisher’s feminist care ethics and a posthuman perspective, the study’s aim was to gain knowledge about how early childhood educators perform care as a professional practice beyond the dyad. The article explores care through the lens of a disruption in daily activities, when the laying down of new flooring in the center produced changes in the otherwise highly functioning caring environment. Changes in the availability of materials and the organization of space and time are analyzed using Malabou’s concept of plasticity. The effects of the agentic force of material changes on the caring practices of the center, despite the already strong and established dyadic relationships between the children and educators, are discussed.

scholarly journals Exploring Military Artefacts in Early Childhood Education: Conflicting Perspectives on Cultural Sustainability, Belonging and Protection

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2587
Author(s):  
Åsta Birkeland ◽  
Liv Torunn Grindheim
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Positive Interactions ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Cultural Sustainability ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Chinese Kindergarten ◽  
Insight Into

Social and cultural sustainability is outlined as creating surroundings that include and stimulate positive interactions, such as promoting a sense of community and a feeling of belonging to a community, by being safe and attached to the local area. Artefacts chosen in early childhood education (ECE) institutions are integrated parts of the culture in which the ECE institutions are embedded; artefacts, thus, are understood as serving belonging and cultural sustainability. The study examined what insight into cultural sustainability could be surfaced in conflicting perspectives about military artefacts in ECE. Focus group interviews were conducted with Chinese and Norwegian graduate students and ECE researchers, during which photographs of a Chinese kindergarten where military artefacts and toys were highly represented. Conflicting perspectives on military artefacts among the participant surfaced how belonging are closely intertwined with protection and where to belong: locally, nationally or internationally. The skeptical approach to military artefacts is challenged by awareness of different ways to promote national pride and entanglement among generations. The findings indicate a need for more research on conditions for belonging and the normative complexities of artefacts in cultural sustainability.

Examining How Stakeholders at the Local, State, and National Levels Made Sense of the Changed Kindergarten

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 822-867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher P. Brown ◽  
Joanna Englehardt ◽  
David P. Barry ◽  
Da Hei Ku
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Standardized Testing ◽  
First Grade ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Local State ◽  
National Education ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Academic Content ◽  
Education Stakeholders

Kindergarten in the United States has fundamentally changed. It is the new first grade where children are taught increased academic content and experience more standardized testing. There is much debate among education stakeholders about these changes, but such discussions are often siloed— making it difficult to know whether these changes reflect these stakeholders’ understandings of kindergarten specifically or public education in general. This explorative video-cued multivocal ethnographic study addressed this issue by examining how local, state, and national education stakeholders made sense of the changed kindergarten. Such findings provide insight into what it is they viewed driving these academic and instructional changes, what opportunities for further reform exist, and whether these stakeholders will work to support and/or alter such changes.

scholarly journals Dismembering organisation: The coordination of algorithmic work in healthcare

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 546-571
Author(s):  
Simon Bailey ◽  
Dean Pierides ◽  
Adam Brisley ◽  
Clara Weisshaar ◽  
Tom Blakeman
Keyword(s):  
Acute Kidney Injury ◽  
Kidney Injury ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Expected Performance ◽  
Sociological Literature ◽  
Insight Into

Algorithms are increasingly being adopted in healthcare settings, promising increased safety, productivity and efficiency. The growing sociological literature on algorithms in healthcare shares an assumption that algorithms are introduced to ‘support’ decisions within an interactive order that is predominantly human-oriented. This article presents a different argument, calling attention to the manner in which organisations can end up introducing a non-negotiable disjuncture between human-initiated care work and work that supports algorithms, which the authors call algorithmic work. Drawing on an ethnographic study, the authors describe how two hospitals in England implemented an Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) algorithm and analyse ‘interruptions’ to the algorithm’s expected performance. When the coordination of algorithmic work occludes care work, the study finds a ‘dismembered’ organisation that is algorithmically-oriented rather than human-oriented. In the discussion, the authors examine the consequences of coordinating human and non-human work in each hospital and conclude by urging sociologists of organisation to attend to the importance of the formal in algorithmic work. As the use of algorithms becomes widespread, the analysis provides insight into how organisations outside of healthcare can also end up severing tasks from human experience when algorithmic automation is introduced.

Creating communities: the use of technology in craft and DIY communities of practice

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 277-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Holmes ◽  
Anita Greenhill ◽  
Rachel McLean
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to gain insight into craft and do-it-yourself (DIY) communities of practice (COPs) and how the use of technology provides ways for participants to connect, share and create. Gaining deeper insights into the practices of these communities may provide new opportunities to utilise within this flourishing domain. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative methods were adopted to collect data and analysed through an interpretivist lens. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of craft and DIY COPs to gain a deep understanding of the broader ethnographic study. Existing theoretical perspectives surrounding COPs have been applied to further current perspectives. Findings – Findings from this study suggest that being part of a COP allows participants to connect to others, build creative enterprise and learn or enhance skills. Insights gained from this study indicate some of the detailed ways in which the application of technology redefines craft and DIY COPs. Research limitations/implications – This study provides a succinct exploration of a vast and fluid domain; if presented with more time and wider resources, the research would include further exploration of virtual COPs. Originality/value – The investigation provides a rich insight into the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) within craft and DIY COPs. The application of theoretical perspectives from the area of Information Systems (IS) and Technology Management to this domain is regarded as an original research and furthers knowledge in these areas. Originality/value – The investigation provides a rich insight into the use of ICTs within craft and DIY COPs. The application of theoretical perspectives from the area of IS to the domain of craft and DIY culture is original research and extends existing concepts to include skills sharing as a previously unexplored domain.

scholarly journals History teaching as a designed meaning-making process: Teacher facilitation of student–subject relationships

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Eskelund Knudsen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
The Other ◽  
Pedagogical Strategies ◽  
Pedagogical Tool ◽  
History Teaching ◽  
Teaching Situation ◽  
Communicative Process ◽  
The One ◽  
Student Subject

This article is an empirical analysis of history teaching as a communicative process. Dialogic history teaching develops as a designed meaning-making process that depends on thorough pedagogical strategies and decisions, and requires cohesion in teacher expectations, introductions and interventions. A micro-dialogic study is presented in this article to document a paradoxical teaching situation where history as subject-related content all but disappeared from a group of students' meaning-making processes because they were preoccupied with figuring out their teacher's intentions. History teaching thus turned into 'just teaching' without the teacher or the students being aware of it. A strong emphasis on history teaching as a communicative process and dialogue as a key pedagogical tool have potential with regard to pedagogical decision-making and strategies on the one hand, and for relationships between students and history as subject-related content on the other. The analysis presented in this article contributes to a growing field of studies on dialogic history teaching, of which the focus on students as an important part of classroom dialogues is central.

scholarly journals The role of federal and state policy in addressing early childhood achievement gaps: parent perceptions and student outcomes related to 21st Century Learning Centers programming in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather P. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
21St Century ◽  
State Policy ◽  
Learning Centers ◽  
Community Learning Centers ◽  
Community Learning ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractAs policymakers and school communities work to address underlying causes of achievement gaps and access to quality early childhood education, this study considers the use of 21st Century Community Learning Centers to address early childhood education needs on western U.S. state, Idaho. The study sought to understand the relationship between federal and state policies related to out-of-school opportunities to enhance early childhood education. Utilizing data from a statewide evaluation of Idaho’s 21st Century Learning Centers, the study examined 92 centers providing after school, before school, or summer programs in grades preschool through the third grade to predominately at-risk children. Data collection included quantitative data from a survey given to parents (n = 183), as well as qualitative data collected through site-based interviews, focus groups and observations. Data included a review of historical and current data on participation rates; attendance rates; standardized test scores for program participants in grades PK-3 (n = 3258). Data were analyzed for themes and transfer. The study findings provide further insight into understanding possible relationships between U.S. federal and state policy regarding 21st Century Community Learning Centers on both students’ outcomes and parent satisfaction. The findings further support the role of out-of-school time (OST) experiences in the larger ecosystem of learning and provides insight into understanding how the OST activities are carried over into family life.

scholarly journals Early Childhood Transitions and Critical Praxis

2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Tilleczek
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Prince Edward Island ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Full Day Kindergarten ◽  
The Social ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
Full Day

This paper presents literature and findings on childhood transitions in public education. Set in the context of shifts in Canada to full day kindergarten, it makes visible the range of human relational and structural concerns that must be considered in the practice of researching and facilitating transitions for children. The paper draws upon a review of international literatures and a longitudinal, three-year qualitative study of 795 students, parents, and educators in 37 families of schools who conversed about the character and meaning of transitions. Such long-term enactments of transitions as they occur are scarce but important in making visible the complexity and nuance of childhood transitions. Findings include the importance of a critical praxis for transitions which gets at the roots of the social organization and inequality in research and educational practice. The paper addresses critical praxis as found in three early childhood education frameworks (Australia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, Canada). Attention to being, becoming, and belonging for all children and the fit between human and structural concerns at the levels of society, community, school, and family form core elements of critical praxis. Transitions are best understood and facilitated as over time, complex social ensembles.

scholarly journals Classification as Catachresis: Double Binds of Representing Difference with Semiotic Infrastructure

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay Poirier
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Double Binds ◽  
Culturally Informed ◽  
Base De Données ◽  
Infrastructure Design ◽  
Système D’Information ◽  
Insight Into

Background  This article explores the results of a three-year ethnographic study of how semiotic infrastructures—or digital standards and frameworks such as taxonomies, schemas, and ontologies that encode the meaning of data—are designed. Analysis  It examines debates over best practices in semiotic infrastructure design, such as how much complexity adopted languages should characterize versus how restrictive they should be. It also discusses political and pragmatic considerations that impact what and how information is represented in an information system.Conclusion and implications This article suggests that all databased representations are forms of data power, and that examining semiotic infrastructure design provides insight into how culturally informed conceptions of difference structure how we access knowledge about our social and material worlds.Contexte  Cet article explore les résultats d’une étude ethnographique ayant duré trois ans sur la manière de concevoir les infrastructures sémiotiques, c’est-à-dire les normes et cadres numériques tels les taxonomies, schémas et ontologies qui donnent un sens aux données.Analyse  L’article examine les débats sur les meilleures pratiques dans la conception des infrastructures sémiotiques, tels que le niveau de complexité qu’un langage adopté devrait démontrer par rapport à son caractère restrictif. Il rend compte aussi de considérations politiques et pragmatiques ayant un impact sur le choix d’informations représentées dans un système d’information et la manière de les représenter.Conclusion et implications  Cet article suggère que toute représentation dans une base de données est une utilisation de données à des fins de pouvoir, et que l’examen de la manière dont les infrastructures sémiotiques sont conçues peut nous aider à mieux comprendre comment les notions de différence informées culturellement structurent la façon dont nous appréhendons les connaissances de nos univers sociaux et matériaux. 

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