Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 82).

A sample of 383 toy commercials aired on Nickelodeon Sverige were coded over the duration of two weeks concerning the type of toy, gender portrayal, number of children of both gender, the dominant kind of interaction, the dominant kind of setting and gender orientation. The results were then compared with findings from a previous study conducted in the United States that used the same method to determine a possible relationship between the way the commercials were designed and the two countries' levels of gender equality. In Sweden, the much more gender equal country according to Hofstede's dimension of masculinity/femininity, most commercials featured children of both gender and stereotype usage way more rare than in the United States where also most commercials only showed solely girls or solely boys. Judging from these findings a relationship could therefore be found.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:25:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-08-05Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:29:12Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 santos_lat_me_prud.pdf: 1906882 bytes, checksum: f81f794673a51c2167d2ad9df2db878a (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / A presente pesquisa, desenvolvida junto ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia – UNESP, Campus de Presidente Prudente, e com apoio financeiro da Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo – FAPESP, vincula-se à linha de pesquisa intitulada Práticas Educativas e Formação de Professores. A investigação partiu do pressuposto que as necessidades e singularidades das crianças não têm sido consideradas pelas instituições de educação infantil para a estruturação de suas propostas educativas. Desse modo, ambientes artificiais, organizados sob uma visão adultocêntrica, obrigam as crianças a se adaptar, mesmo que as situações pedagógicas neles desenvolvidas careçam de sentido e significado para elas. Nesse contexto, o brinquedo, como componente da ludicidade, não tem sido apreciado como elemento cultural que contribui para a expressão, o conhecimento e o desenvolvimento da criança. A pesquisa estabeleceu como objetivos centrais: compreender como o brinquedo vem sendo utilizado no contexto de instituições educacionais infantis; verificar quais os tipos, o modo, a frequência e finalidade do uso do brinquedo na prática educativa; identificar que concepções de brincar, de criança e de educação infantil têm os professores investigados; propor indicativos que colaborem para a construção de práticas educativas consistentes, tendo os brinquedos como patrimônios históricos, promotores das culturas da infância. A pesquisa é de natureza qualitativa e adotou como principal procedimento metodológico uma abordagem descritiva-interpretativa. Para esse... / This research, related to the Educational Practice and Teacher Education investigation group, was developed in the Post-Graduation Program in Education of Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia – UNESP, Presidente Prudente, with financial support from Fundo de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo – FAPESP. Its starting point was the surmise that children´s needs and singularities have not been considered in early childhood schools when elaborating their educational plans. Thus, artificial settings, organized under an adult point of view, make children submit even if the given learning situations mean nothing to them. In this context, the toy, as a ludic object, has not been considered a cultural element which contributes to children´s expression, knowledge, and development. The research main purposes were: investigating how toy has been used in early childhood schools; verifying what kind of toys as well as how, how often and for what purposes they have been in use in educational practice; identifying which are the concepts teachers have concerning playing, children and children education; and highlighting some indicants that may be useful to the development of a relevant educational practice that considers the toy role as a historical heritage and a childhood culture promoter. Being this a qualitative kind of research... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

O presente trabalho na área de Psicologia e Educação tem como objeto de estudo a família na educação da criança pequena, abordando o brincar como o eixo do processo que estabelece vínculos entre as crianças e os membros familiares. O objetivo foi identificar os brinquedos e brincadeiras que as crianças usam nos contextos familiares; compreender por meio das narrativas familiares quais as preferências das brincadeiras das crianças (objetos usados e sujeitos que participam) e identificar como a diversidade das famílias interfere na escolha de brinquedos e brincadeiras. A metodologia adotada fundamenta-se no paradigma qualitativo, que analisa um fenômeno específico que se refere ao brincar no âmbito familiar. O método aplicado foi o estudo de caso, que envolveu vinte famílias entrevistadas, com filhos de idades entre 0 a 10 anos. As famílias foram selecionadas conforme a diversidade que compõem, a etnia, religião, profissão e nível de escolaridade. Neste contexto, os dados foram coletados a partir da narrativa de membros familiares, de encontros com grupos de mães e pais, da criação de grupo de e-mails, entrevistas nas casas com as famílias e contato com as crianças, para registro de fotos dos ambientes lúdicos disponíveis. A partir dos dados coletados, verificou-se os tipos de mediações existentes no ambiente familiar, propondo uma reflexão sobre as formas de brincar na diversidade das famílias. Tais reflexões sustentaram-se em referências teóricas, tais como Vygotski (1978), Melhuish (2010), Vandenbroeck (2009), Wertsch (1988) e Daniels (2003). As considerações finais indicam que a família exerce uma grande importância na escolha dos brinquedos e brincadeiras das crianças pequenas e, no brincar, notam-se relacionamentos mais estreitos entre a criança e os membros familiares. A análise das narrativas mostra, também, que a diversidade das famílias participantes influencia nas decisões a respeito das diferentes formas de brincar. / The present work in Psychology and Education field has as object of study the family on young children education, covering play as the axis of the process that establishes connections between children and family members. The aim was to identify toys and games that children use in familiar contexts, understanding through the family narratives which are the preferences of the childrens play (the objects that are used and the subjects involved) and identify how the diversity of families interfere in the choice of toys and games. The methodology adopted is based on the qualitative paradigm that analyzes a specific phenomenon, which refers to the play in family scope. The applied method was the case study, which involved twenty interviewed families with children aged 0 to 10 years old. Families were selected according to the diversity that compose, ethnicity, religion, occupation and education level. In this context, data were collected from the narrative of the familiar members, meetings with groups of mothers and fathers, the creation of the e-mail group, interviews at the families homes and contacts with children, for registration of pictures of available ludic environments. From the data collected, types of existing mediations on familiar environment were verified, proposing a reflection about the ways of play in the diversity of families. Such reflections were supported on theoretical references, such as Vygotski (1978), Melhuish (2010), Vandenbroeck (2009), Wertsch (1988) and Daniels (2003). Final considerations indicates that family exert a great importance in the selection of toys and plays for young children and, in the play, are noticed closer relationships between the child and family members. The analysis of the narratives also indicates that the diversity of the participating families influence the decisions about different ways of playing.

A ritxo(k)o tem sido citada na bibliografia etnográfica desde a primeira expedição que chegou ao Araguaia em 1887. Desde então tem sido traduzida como \"boneca karajá\" e muitas etnografias sugerem seu papel como brinquedo de criança. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo refletir sobre essa tradução, tentando entender quais as redes de relações que a ritxo(k)o engendra e participa. Mostrarei que a ritxo(k)o está inserida nas redes de relações de parentesco, ao mesmo tempo que constitui algumas dessas relações, em especial aquelas entre avós e netas. Também ressaltarei seu lugar de importância nas relações com os tori (os não indígenas). O parentesco é aqui abordado como processo de produção de corposparentes, portanto, além de explorar a produção das relações entre os parentes, também me voltarei para o corpo que se visa construir nesse processo. Irei sugerir que este corpo é produzido através de processos que se assemelham aos utilizados na produção de objetos, como a ritxo(k)o. Por último apresentarei uma reflexão sobre a questão do brinquedo nas sociedades ameríndias. / The bibliography has mentioned the ritxo(k)o since the first expedition which took place in Araguaia in 1887. From this time forward, the researchers chose to translate it as karaja doll and suggest its place as a childrens toy. The present research aim to discuss this translation, based on the relation networks in which ritxo(k)o participates and produce. I will demonstrate that the ritxo(k)o participates in relation networks between kin and at the same time is constitutive of some of this relations, especially those between grandmother and granddaughter. Also, I will remark its important place among the relations with the tori (nonindigenous). I talk about kinship as a process that produces kin-bodies. This approach requires not only an exploration of the production process of kin relations, but of the body that is constituted in this process as well. I will suggest that this body is produced through process that resemble those used to produce objects. In the conclusion, I will present a discussion about the matter of toys among the Amerindians.

In today's highly competitive and cluttered marketing environment it becomes increasingly harder for brands to differentiate themselves form others. This is especially pronounced in the retail space. Shopper marketing is a discipline that focuses on shoppers and their needs to create a unique shopping experience and thereby increase in-store communication effectiveness. Keeping in mind the challenges of marketing to children, LEGO aims to communicate to its shoppers as well as consumers through the platform of in-store its core values of creative play, fun and learning. The thesis discusses the effectiveness of LEGO shopper marketing, specifically the engagement elements it uses in various channels. The aim is to test and evaluate the impact of these materials on the target audience and sales as well as define the hierarchy of LEGO in-store communication materials. In the theoretical part shopper marketing concepts, shopper beaviour and marketing in the toy industry are discussed.

Frequently, in architecture and in other professions, a results-oriented approach to design truncates the creative process. Architecture is a man-made intervention, ultimately involving a fair bit of destruction in order to eventually arrive in a state of hopefully coherent grace in the lives of its users and the built or natural context (Clark 2000, 10). It is unacceptable to proceed hastily into such complex territory-without a degree of rigor and process-driven creativity commensurate with the gravity of creating large scale, reality-altering, life-affecting structures. A process-driven inquiry requires many hours of experiment, revision, and meandering about that may initially have no relevance to any project at hand. It is time spent playing that produces creative designers, and it is creativity that we profess to provide for people. The designer that only picks up a pencil while on the clock, and walks past a stack of Legos without any urge at all to pick a few up and toy with them has lost his or her way. A re-introduction of play in the processes of designers, architects, and other creative professionals is vital to our continued place as contributors in the interest of a better world. This study seeks to illuminate the non-linear, to give play a respected spot as a design strategy. Play leads to better ideas, and toys lead to play. This will be a chronicling of one person's journey, through a play - based design process, in order that we may better understand how play fits into an inquisitive and productive design methodology.

Across two experiments I sought to determine the relation between the Imitation developmental cusp and the emulative echoic cusp in preschoolers classified with a learning disability. In Experiment I, the participants were 36 preschoolers selected via a convenience sample, where the goal was to test for relations between the preverbal developmental cusp and foundational learning capability of Imitation, the preverbal and emulative verbal developmental cusps in the participant’s repertoire, and the reinforcement value of age-appropriate toys and activities. Results showed significant correlations between Imitation and conditioned reinforcement for observing adult faces and voices, parroting, echoics, and listener literacy, as well as significant relations between Imitation and conditioned reinforcement for playing with toys, puzzles, coloring materials, and Play-Doh. Findings show that Imitation is either a prerequisite or a corequisite to emulative verbal developmental cusps. Experiment II had two goals. The first was to determine whether educationally classified preschoolers with a disability can emit various imitative responses when the researcher presents instruction through a smart device using the mirror training protocol. The second was to determine whether the echoic behavior and observing responses of the participants would change as a result of undergoing the synchronous mirror training protocol. Results show a functional relation between the acquisition of the verbal foundational Imitation cusp and increases in emission of various imitative responses and emulative echoic responses, across both in-person and virtual conditions.

This study consists of a discourse analysis of five Nerf toy gun commercials which were aired on US television between 2017 and 2018 and were produced by the international toy gun company Hasbro Inc. Using Gillian Rose’s model of discourse analysis I as a method in combination with discourse theory, theoretical concepts of militarisation and masculinity, the question how militarised masculinity is produced through the discourse of the selected Nerf toy gun commercials has been posed and guided the analysis of this study. The findings of the analysis showed, that militarised masculinity is produced through the discourse of Nerf toy gun advertisements as presenting militaristic behaviour in combination with everyday scenes. Throughout the commercials, characteristics that are typically perceived as being masculine, such as boldness, hardness and enthusiasm for technology are frequently displayed. Moreover, the way in which protagonists in the Nerf toy gun commercials act, conveys the feeling, that when using Nerf toy guns, the viewer will belong to an exclusive group which contributes to the persuasiveness of the discourse.

Toy sharing between 97 Infants and their mothers was used to measure shared reference, mother and infant attention-directing strategies, and maternal and infant responsiveness. The association of toy sharing with early language and symbolic play was assessed. Infants were videotaped in a 10-minute free-play session at 11 months. Videotapes were coded for frequency of toy exchanges and level of infant symbolic play. Language was assessed at both 11 and 14 months. Maternal responsiveness to infant-initiated toy exchanges was positively related to symbolic play at 11 months. Maternal responsiveness was also related to Productive, Receptive, and Total Language scores at 14 months. Symbolic play at 11 months and language at 11 and 14 months were associated, suggesting underlying cognitive abilities associated with language and play development. Results support the notion that shared reference, maternal responsiveness, and underlying infant cognitive abilities are important components of a context where scaffolding of language and symbolic play can occur.