Nowadays, an increasing amount of psychologists and educators find that literature designed for children plays a very important role in a child’s upbringing. A good children’s book not only influences a child’s psychological development, but is also a useful tool for scholars to research children’s psychology, which reflects children’s thinking regarding certain aspects. Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking (1957) and Tetsuke Kuroyanagi’s The Little Girl at the Window (1984) undoubtedly are two representative children’s literatures, which were written during a time where the child's perspective in children's literature was not yet an attitude commonly adopted by narrators in novels. The novels illustrate and highlight children's thinking and reasoning abilities, and the characterization appears to draw on children's developmental cognitive theories, describing a child whose cognition ability recalls Jean Piaget's work and ideas. This thesis attempts to analyze Pippi’s and Totto’s thinking and reasoning and how it can illustrate some of Piaget’s theories about children’s drawing and children’s cognitive development. And a further discussion will be going on in this thesis about how Piaget's work might inform and enrich educational practices in accordance with children’s specific needs at different ages and from different cultural backgrounds.

The purpose of this study is to research the gender roles represented in SVT’s Bolibompa and whether these confirm or question the traditional stereotypes. I also studied if female and male characters were given equal roles, both in qualitative and quantitative terms. The study is based on eight programs aired on the morning of April 19th 2013, seven of which are cartoons and one filmed live action. The feminist gender theories were the starting point for this study. This point of view states that there are gender-related inequalities on television and in the society as a whole and that these should be corrected. By qualitatively analyzing the visual attributes of the characters and the roles assigned to them in the narrative I have studied the gendered values on both explicit and implicit levels. The results showed that although certain stereotypes were questioned, children’s programs to a high degree conform to traditional gender roles. Males are usually main characters and more active protagonists than females.

This study evaluated moral dilemmas and Lawrence Kohlberg's (1975) stages of moral reasoning of protagonists in a sample of children's translated European war novels. The sample, consisting of fourteen books, was defined as all children's European war novels published between 1950 and 1984. The content analysis first determined the moral dilemmas in each of the novels by identifying those story situations where two or more moral issues were in conflict. A second procedure evaluated the protagonists' response to the dilemma, making possible the assignment of a Kohlberg level and stage of moral judgement. The collected data were evaluated following two steps. First, the Issues, Levels and Stages were quantitatively analyzed for representation, number, and frequency. In addition, the Issues and Stages were evaluated for those moral issues most frequently paired with each moral stage. The second procedure examined the relationship between the data and selected variables: Era (Era I 1952-1962, Era II 1963-1973, Era III 1974-1984), Sex of author and Sex of protagonist. The findings revealed that moral dilemmas in the European war novels were most often related to issues of Affiliation Roles, Morality and Mores, and Truth. No dilemma situations arose out of conflicts of the moral issues of Sex or Law. All other Kohlberg moral issues were represented at least once in the sample. The predominant stage of moral reasoning in the sample was Stage 2 (serving one's own needs), closely followed by Stage 1 (blind obedience to authority) and Stage 3 (playing the good role). Significantly, these stages reflect the general moral reasoning capabilities of the intended reading audience, ages 8 12 years. While higher stages were represented, they accounted for substantially fewer protagonist resolutions to dilemma situations. With regard to sex of the protagonist, the findings revealed that male characters more frequently resolved their dilemma situations with sophisticated levels of moral reasoning than did female, a factor which may be linked to the type of story. The relationships between moral development and Era appeared to reflect the transition from traditional realism to modern realism in children's fiction. Books written in Era I (1952-1962) contained few or no moral dilemmas. As with other traditional realistic fiction, child protagonists in that era were insulated from the world around them and thus remained relatively unaffected by World War II. Books written in Era II (1963-1973) and Era III (1974-1984), however, showed evidence of portraying children in the modern mode of realism. Unlike Era I, protagonists of these periods encountered large numbers of moral dilemmas and were highly involved in and affected by the war. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Children, who are the future of the country, are the most important asset. If cancer in children is diagnosed at an early stage, effective precautionary measures can be taken in order to save their lives. Children sense their physical space in a very immediate and detailed manner and their response to spaces can be far more direct and energetic than adults. For children, visiting hospitals can be particularly difficult emotionally, as they are stressed by ill-health, painful medical procedures. The objectives of this research are first to understand what constitutes a supportive pediatric setting from children’s and adolescents’ perspectives and try to explore the role of architecture in making hospital stays more pleasant. Second, to define a vision for the sustainable hospital design movement; and third, to illustrate the value of participatory research for healthcare design. The outline is a new design of the children hospital and how architectural design steps can be taken to improve cancer patients’ care.

It can be argued that the definition of a child as a human being below the age of 18 years is a western construct due to the fact that in Africa the duration of childhood is much shorter than that of the West. Thus, in some African societies childhood ends at the age of 14 or 16 depending on the cultural implications in that society. It must be pointed out here that there is no universal definition of childhood due to the fact that the definition of a child is culture specific. Having laid down the differences in the definition of childhood between Africa and the West, it is necessary to discuss the concept of children’s rights. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2010. / A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Angelo Mutusse of the Centre of Human Rights, Faculty of Law, Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique. 2010. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

With the rise of popularity of technological devices, less children engage in reading books. This paper investigates the influence of technology on young children and points out the advantages and disadvantages of being in contact with digital media on a regular basis. In contrast to that, this project reveals benefits that come from reading and being read to in early childhood. Through designerly research in forms of collaboration and a cultural probe, the essence of children’s books is getting ex- plored. Furthermore, the importance of illustration in combination to text in picture book is being discussed. By exploring the practice of creating an own illustrated children’s book, I evaluate assumptions and findings of my research.

One of the major contributions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child(UNCRC) to the context of children’s rights was the introduction of participation.In addition to the right to provision and protection, participation gives children theright to express their opinions in all matters affecting them. Furthermore, theyhave to be provided the opportunity to be heard. As part of their continuedcommitment towards children’s rights, Sweden has now decided to incorporatethe UNCRC to its legislation. Based on this context and drawing from literatureabout children's rights and participation, and a study case of youth participationand culture, the project seeks to create a model that promotes and improvechildren’s and young people’s participation an influence. Thus, the project aimsto contribute to the applied research field and inform on practical approaches tochildren’s participation and influence. As a result, the project proposes HejÅsikter! An ecosystem for children’s and young people’s participation, wheredifferent stakeholders benefits from collaborative and coordinated work andultimately achieve children’s acknowledgement and empowerment.

<p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vad förskollärare anser om barnlitteraturens betydelse, hur barnboken används i verksamheten och hur detta kan kopplas till läroplanen. Undersökningen bygger på litteraturstudier och kvalitativa intervjuer. Undersökningsgruppen består av fem verksamma förskollärare, vars ålder och arbetserfarenhet varierar.</p><p>Resultatet visar att pedagogerna främst använder barnlitteratur vid högläsningsstunder, då barnen ska vila. Lässtunden bearbetas genom samtal eller uppföljande aktiviteter. Även barnen använder litteraturen, då de på egen hand tittar och ”läser” i böckerna, enskilt eller tillsammans med andra. Enligt pedagogerna har barnlitteraturen stor betydelse för barns språkutveckling, den stimulerar fantasin och fungerar som ett stöd vid bearbetning av problem. Den har också ett kulturellt värde samt en avkopplande funktion. Pedagogerna anser därmed att arbetet med barnlitteraturen kan kopplas till läroplanen. Respondenternas svar stämmer väl överens med litteraturen.</p> / <p>The purpose of this paper is to investigate what pedagogues think about the importance of children’s literature, how children’s books are used in daily activities and how this correlates to the curriculum. This is done through literature studies and qualitative interviews. The survey group consists of five preschool teachers, whose age and work experience vary.</p><p>The result shows that the pedagogues mostly use literature when reading to the children, when they shall rest. The story time is followed up by discussion and different activities. The children also use literature, when they “read” and look in the books, individual or together. According to the pedagogues the children’s literature has great influence on language development, it stimulates imagination and works as a support in problem solving. It has also a cultural value and a relaxing function. With that, the pedagogues consider that the children´s literature correlates to the curriculum. The result corresponds to the literature well.</p>

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vad förskollärare anser om barnlitteraturens betydelse, hur barnboken används i verksamheten och hur detta kan kopplas till läroplanen. Undersökningen bygger på litteraturstudier och kvalitativa intervjuer. Undersökningsgruppen består av fem verksamma förskollärare, vars ålder och arbetserfarenhet varierar. Resultatet visar att pedagogerna främst använder barnlitteratur vid högläsningsstunder, då barnen ska vila. Lässtunden bearbetas genom samtal eller uppföljande aktiviteter. Även barnen använder litteraturen, då de på egen hand tittar och ”läser” i böckerna, enskilt eller tillsammans med andra. Enligt pedagogerna har barnlitteraturen stor betydelse för barns språkutveckling, den stimulerar fantasin och fungerar som ett stöd vid bearbetning av problem. Den har också ett kulturellt värde samt en avkopplande funktion. Pedagogerna anser därmed att arbetet med barnlitteraturen kan kopplas till läroplanen. Respondenternas svar stämmer väl överens med litteraturen. / The purpose of this paper is to investigate what pedagogues think about the importance of children’s literature, how children’s books are used in daily activities and how this correlates to the curriculum. This is done through literature studies and qualitative interviews. The survey group consists of five preschool teachers, whose age and work experience vary. The result shows that the pedagogues mostly use literature when reading to the children, when they shall rest. The story time is followed up by discussion and different activities. The children also use literature, when they “read” and look in the books, individual or together. According to the pedagogues the children’s literature has great influence on language development, it stimulates imagination and works as a support in problem solving. It has also a cultural value and a relaxing function. With that, the pedagogues consider that the children´s literature correlates to the curriculum. The result corresponds to the literature well.

The aim of the study was to explore the democratic mission of the preschool as expressed in the preschool teachers’ talk and practical work and also through the children’s actions. The goal was to acquire new knowledge about how the democratic mission is carried out in preschool practice and what democratic subjects are supported and developed by the preschool teachers. Field studies were carried out between 2008 and 2010, with a concentration in spring 2009. The study included 5 preschool teachers and 20 children aged 3-6. Observations were made during the teachers’ planning meetings, when they worked with the children and when the children were playing or acting on their own. Two focus group interviews with the preschool teachers were also carried out, and local documents, for example work plans and evaluations, were analyzed. The results indicate that there has been a shift in view from group orientation in the preschool to greater focus on the individual child. In the analysis of the democratic subjects it was clear that much of what happens in the preschool is focused on individual children rather than the children as a group. In summary, preschool teachers speak of the democratic mandate as important but difficult to implement in their daily work. Children’s influence and participation are set up as goals in the work plan, but the preschool teachers do not feel they come to fruition in the pedagogical practice. Still, they define and condition children’s influence and they do work at the task, seemingly unconsciously, in practice. For their part, the children often seize opportunities when they arise but they also create their own. They take initiative and present ideas about what they want to do in preschool. It even turned out they had influence far beyond the preschool walls. / Förskolans demokratiuppdrag beskrivs som centralt och viktigt men hur omsätts det i praktiken? Hur ser förskollärarna på det de förväntas göra, hur arbetar de med detta i förskolans vardag och hur går det att förstå ur ett barnperspektiv? Observationer har genomförts på en förskoleavdelning med barn i åldern 3-5 år. Förskollärarna har intervjuats och förskolans olika dokument har analyserats. Syftet var att undersöka förskolans demokratiuppdrag så som det kommer till uttryck genom förskollärares tal och handlingar och genom barns agerande i förskolans verksamhet. Resultaten visar att förskollärarna framförallt förstår demokratiuppdrag i förskolan som en fråga om barns möjligheter till inflytande- ett villkorat inflytande. Barnen tar, inom ramen för de villkor som ställs upp, vara på de möjligheter till inflytande som ges. Bland annat genom att ta egna initiativ, göra motstånd under planerade aktiviteter och utmana de regler som finns på förskolan. Analysen visar också att förskollärarna har en komplex syn på det demokratiska subjekt som eftersträvas. Det ses som individualistiskt ur vissa aspekter, barnen ska kunna stå för sina egna åsikter, det ses som socialt, barnen ska lära sig att lyssna på andra, och det ses också som politiskt, barnen ska kunna vara med och påverka verksamheten genom att själva handla. Som ett didaktiskt bidrag presenteras en ny analysmodell; Institutionella demokratihändelser.