Thesis--University of Wisconsin--Madison. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-141).

Thesis--New York University. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-60).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1985. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 228-237). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The theoretical conceptualisation of children and childhood in the social sciences has traditionally been aligned to developmentalism and Socialisation theory. It is essentially this theoretical orientation that has spawned contemporary social discourses on children and childhood. Within this framework, children are typically perceived as immature, irrational, incompetent, asocial and acultural and have consequently contributed to the social and political marginalisation of children. Recent theorists have shown, through a process of deconstructing dominant scientific discourses on childhood, how the concept functions ideologically to establish taken-for-granted meanings about children. The present study is attempting to explore the ways in which children themselves construct and mobilise meanings of childhood. Using the social constructionist theoretical framework as a point of departure, the primary aim of the study is to explore the extent to which the meanings that children assign to ‘childhood’ are ideologically configured. More specifically, using the concept of well-being as a hermeneutic key, the study examines how children use specific discursive resources and repertoires to assign meaning to ‘childhood’. It is essentially offering an ideological analysis through an elucidation of the existing power relations between children and society and how these relations are perpetuated and manifested in children’s discourses. At the methodological level, the study is premised on working from the perspectives of children, thereby advancing a child participation framework. Key epistemological and methodological questions are explored with specific reference to the role of the child participation model as the methodological point of departure. A qualitative methodological approach is followed using focus groups as the data collection method. A series of focus groups was conducted with 56 thirteen year old children, from urban and rural geographical locations in the Western Cape. Thompson’s (1990) depth hermeneutics, which provides a critical and systematic interpretive framework for the analysis of ideological constructions, was utilised within a discourse analysis framework to analyze and interpret the findings. The key finding of the study was that the meanings that children assign to childhood are ideologically configured. The essence of this configuration is adult society’s mobilization and control of the meanings of childhood, which functions to maintain relations of domination. The outcome of this on children’s meaning assignation and constructions of childhood is characterized by a consensus/contestation dichotomy as children appear to both accept and resist the ideology. This emerges at the intrapersona level (within the consciousness of children), the interpersonal level (between children) and societal level (between children and adult society). The study concludes by advancing the notion that childhood should be conceived of as an ideological configured construction, and not merely as a discursive construction, functioning within various social contexts. Thus, the meanings of childhood, whether constructed by, or present in discourses, cannot be independent from the ideologically configured social, historical and material structures. It is believed that this theoretical maneuver will bring theories of childhood into better alignment with practical actions resulting in opportunities for intervention, services, monitoring and research initiatives, as well as policy development and implementation, aimed at improving child and youth wellness. / South Africa

No description available.

Play is viewed as essential to learning and development in early years education and underpins curriculum guidance despite there being limited empirical evidence to support this viewpoint. Play is traditionally defined from an adult perspective which focuses on the observable act of play. However, the research in this thesis draws on children’s perspectives of play which also gives insight into playfulness, the approach or attitude taken to an activity and it is this which is thought to facilitate learning. It has been shown that children use cues to define an activity as play and three of the studies employed experimental methodology to utilise these cues and create different practice conditions for children to carry out a convergent problem solving task. Results from these studies showed that children assigned to playful practice conditions exhibited superior performance when solving a task and behaviours conducive to learning compared to children in formal practice conditions. Furthermore, the cue of adult presence was shown to be critical in facilitating improved performance and learning behaviours although this seemed dependent upon whether individual children used the cue of adult presence in making play and not play distinctions. The final study sought to identify how the cue of adult presence might develop through examining adult-child interactions in the classroom environment. In addition, practitioners were interviewed about their understandings of play and learning to see how this might affect their interactions with children. Findings from this study showed that practitioners who were confident in their understanding of play and learning were more likely to provide children with choice and control in their activities and engage with children as play partners. Overall, the findings from this research contribute to the literature in this field by providing empirical evidence for the benefits of playful practice and have implications for practice in early years settings.

In the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, with the exception of England, each county has their own Government play policy or strategy. Each document identifies the importance of children’s play in all areas of their lives. These policies and strategies are based on a definition of play being freely-chosen by the child. This is an adult generated definition of play, based on rhetoric with little research from a child’s perspective as to whether being freely chosen is a defining characteristic. The social construction of childhood stresses the importance of children as co-constructors of their lives; however children’s voices and views are not always represented accurately in policy development and policy implementation. There is already conflict in policy development and subsequent implementation of policy by practitioners in other areas of children’s lives, for example in early years education. This conflict may emerge in implementing play policies and strategies based on adult generated definitions around choice rather than a child’s perception of whether and in what ways, choice is important. This thesis investigated children’s levels of perceived choice in their free play when playing at home, in the school playground and the out of school club. The aims of the research were: What do children choose to play at home, in the school playground and the out of school club? How much choice do children perceive in these self-defined play activities? Does children’s perception of choice differ across context? Does children’s perception of choice differ in relation to social context? This thesis adopted a critical realism approach within an ecosystemic theoretical framework using a mixed-method sequential two study process. Study 1 was quantitative and involved the development a self-administered questionnaire, the Play Detective Diary. The Play Detective Diary allowed children to record who they played with and who made decisions in the play. Study 2 was both quantitative and qualitative where an experimental procedure was developed, the Manipulation of Affordance Scenario Task (MAST). This pictorial based task manipulated the structural, functional and social affordances of children’s play and children’s responses about choice were recorded through interviews. The results from both studies found that children’s perception of choice varied across context (home, school playground and out of school club) and the variation in choice was strongly influenced by who children were playing with. When the structural, social and functional affordances were manipulated there was a reduction in choice as a result of; other people controlling the play (being told what to do and takes over play); the play activity being inhibited (play being distracted and lack of resources) and; the play space being limiting (play space too small and play space specific to the play activity). When playing with other children or with adults there was an increase in the perceived level of choice in relation to social affordances only. Children described this as being due to their play being enhanced (more variety and provides support) or the child feeling as though they were able to dominate the play (tell others what to do). The reasons children gave for changes in their perceived level of choice most often related to functional-social affordance reasons; this is a combination of the activity and the people involved in the activity.The investigation of choice in children’s play showed children perceived a variation in perceived choice in relation to context and who is involved in their play. Children do not need to have all the choice on what, how, who, when and where they play. Children have to exercise and negotiate choice in their play, and this aspect is important with respect to play policy and strategy development, and subsequent implementation through professional practice. The social construction of childhood revolves around participation, decision making and children being active agents in the process. By providing children a voice and allowing their perceptions to be explored, this can aid in policy development, and in turn support professional practice and reduce potential conflict between policy development and implementation. This is discussed in relation to children’s rights, play theory and play policy and practice across children’s services. A choice continuum is proposed to support children’s play across different professional contexts.

Based on past research that suggests an association between perspective-taking and theory of mind, the present study investigates the relationship between these two constructs by administering three perspective-taking and three theory of mind tasks, along with one measure of inhibition and one measure of expressive language, to eighty-four 3- and 4-year olds. The goals of this study were to (1) evaluate the relative difficulties of the six perspective-taking and theory of mind tasks, (2) assess whether the theory of mind and perspective-taking tasks scale onto the same dimension, (3) examine the distinctions proposed within the construct of perspective-taking, (4) investigate the relationship between inhibition and verbal ability with theory of mind and perspective-taking, and (5) examine the relationship between perspective-taking and theory of mind. The results show that the six theory of mind and perspective-taking tasks develop along a single continuum and produce a scale of the understanding of subjectivity for preschoolers. Results also demonstrate that the ability to take someone else’s perspective without directly confronting it with one’s own perspective is the least challenging, and understanding that others’ beliefs can be false is the most challenging task. Finally, results indicate that inhibition and verbal ability account for the relationship between almost all of the perspective-taking and theory of mind tasks. / Graduate

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology & Special Education of the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 2006. / The aim of this study was to pursue an investigation into the role of the family in the moral development of the foundation phase child. From the literature study it became clear that the family plays an important role in the moral development of the young child. Each family sets guidelines, principles and norms with regard to what is right and what is wrong. It is.the educational responsibility of parents to transfer these norms to their children. From an early age the child is taught to behave correctly and is reprimanded when his behaviour is wrong or not acceptable. Eventually the child has to reach moral independence and responsibility with educational help. In the latter aspect the parents, as primary educators, play an important role in assisting the child to internalize and assimilate moral norms and values. For the purpose of the empirical investigation a self-structured questionnaire, to be completed by parents with children in the foundation phase, was utilised. The completed questionnaires were analysed by means of descriptive statistics. In conclusion a summary was presented on the findings of the literature and empirical study and the following are some of the recommendations that were made: • Positive moral values must be inculcated in young children by their parents. • Support programmes should be made available to parents to assist them in the moral education of their children.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The purpose of this study was to test the relationship between dental developmental age and chronologic age as they relate to other aspects of the child's development. The dental developmental age was determined on 74 children, 40 males and 34 females, ranging in age from two to 11 years. The sample population was chosen at random from patients at the Indiana University School of Dentistry. The socio-economic status was determined according to the North-Hatt Occupational Scale; 14.3 per cent of the children fell in the upper class, 84.3 per cent in the middle class, and 1.4 per cent in the lower class. Analysis by race showed that 71.6 per cent of the sample were Caucasian, 23.0 per cent were Negroid, and 5.4 per cent were Oriental. Panoramic radiography, with the S.S. White Panorex, was used to evaluate dental developmental age. Two independent observers scored the radiographs and double blind procedures were used. To determine dental developmental age, Wolanski's method of tooth formation evaluation was used. To determine functioning of children in five developmental skills areas, the Alpern-Boll Developmental Skills Inventory was used. Dental developmental age and chronologic age had a significant positive relationship to children's functioning in five developmental skills areas. There is a chronologic period when determination of dental age appears to be difficult. The data available and methodology for determining dental developmental age of the four-year-old female and the five-year-old male seems to be inadequate. Dental developmental age seems to be a better predictor of general developmental skills for males than it does for females, specifically in the two to eight-year-old group. The highest correlations were found in the youngest age group, i.e. the two to five-year-olds. The correlations between dental developmental age and chronologic age, and between those two indices and the five developmental skills ages remains highly significant in the younger ages but decreases consistently as the child becomes older. The specific age as well as the sex of the child has a definite effect on the correlations obtained. The use of dental developmental age is good but not superior to the use of chronologic age for predicting functioning for normal children. This may not be the case for atypical children. More study is indicated.