Children’s ideas about the internal structure of trees: cross-age studies

Trees are important to the environment owing to their ecological services. However, many aspects of their form and function are poorly understood by the public. From their earliest years, children have an elementary knowledge about plants which they gain from their everyday observations, their parents and other people and from their kindergarten and primary schooling. The goal of this research was to investigate Polish children’s understanding of trees’ internal structure. This cross-age study involved 5-year-old children from kindergarten (n = 57, 26 boys and 31 girls) and 7-year-old children (n = 105, 57 boys and 48 girls) and 10-year-old children (83 children, 36 boys and 47 girls) from primary school. Participants were asked to draw the internal structure of a tree. The results of the study showed that there were some significant differences in the responses between age groups and between the genders. Nevertheless, there were some ideas that were shared among all age groups indicating that they might be resistant to change. The study also identified some alternative conceptions about the internal structure of plants and the influence of the media on children’s ideas.     

Shared secrecy: teasing,attachment, and children's emotional management in rural southern Mongolia

In recent decades, anthropologists have scrutinized psychologists’ claim that humans process information about others by imputing mental states. The debate remains open whether cross-cultural variability in how people conceive of minds and inner states reflects differences in their folk theories only, or whether it engenders deep-grained psychological differences. In this article, I look at the very onset of children's apprenticeship in emotional management to examine its cognitive consequences. In the context of rural Mongolia in the late 2000s, questions about homesickness prompted by adults raised children's awareness of the existence of a private self and by the very same process discouraged verbalization or public display of personal feelings. I start by presenting interactions where children were routinely teased about homesickness, and invited to deny that they missed their family. I contextualize this teasing routine within local conceptions about emotional control and linguistic ideology to unveil how it introduced children to the performative power of words while also making them face moral dilemmas. The irreconcilable tension between behaving according to expectations of self-control and experiencing separation induced children's discovery of the possibility of disconnecting intimate feelings from public self-presentation, thus transforming the experience of separation into an experience of secret connection. I speculate that the secrecy that hallows homesickness contributed to making it all the more poignant. The way adults constantly checked on whether children were missing their home prompted children to actually identify some emotional state or aspect of their experience as ‘missing home’. It gave a name to a personal experience which thus became social and guaranteed that it became a shared feeling, albeit a secret one.     

What’s in the body? Children’s annotated drawings

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a study of children’s ideas of the body’s internal structure. Children between four and 13 years (N = 170) individually produced drawings. During each drawing session the children explained their drawings to a facilitator and added written labels either by themselves or, if they were too young to write, with the facilitator’s help. The results provide an updated comprehensive picture of children in different age groups and their views on the internal structure of the body. The type and numbers of organs drawn are similar to those documented in previous studies. However, in comparison to recent studies, the children drew more organs, the brain was indicated almost as often as the heart, and the Valentine heart was frequently used as a symbol. In contrast with previous research, children drew connections between organs. This result calls for caution regarding conclusions made from decontextualized questions. The importance of providing children with the opportunity to clarify their drawings is emphasised since it otherwise becomes a question of the researcher’s interpretation. The connections they draw, and explanations they give to their drawings, have interesting implications for understanding children’s ideas, and hence both for teaching and learning and for science education research.     

“Trees Live on Soil and Sunshine!”- Coexistence of Scientific and Alternative Conception of Tree Assimilation

Successful learning is the integration of new knowledge into existing schemes, leading to an integrated and correct scientific conception. By contrast, the co-existence of scientific and alternative conceptions may indicate a fragmented knowledge profile. Every learner is unique and thus carries an individual set of preconceptions before classroom engagement due to prior experiences. Hence, instructors and teachers have to consider the heterogeneous knowledge profiles of their class when teaching. However, determinants of fragmented knowledge profiles are not well understood yet, which may hamper a development of adapted teaching schemes. We used a questionnaire-based approach to assess conceptual knowledge of tree assimilation and wood synthesis surveying 885 students of four educational levels: 6^th graders, 10^th graders, natural science freshmen and other academic studies freshmen. We analysed the influence of learner’s characteristics such as educational level, age and sex on the coexistence of scientific and alternative conceptions. Within all subsamples well-known alternative conceptions regarding tree assimilation and wood synthesis coexisted with correct scientific ones. For example, students describe trees to be living on “soil and sunshine”, representing scientific knowledge of photosynthesis mingled with an alternative conception of trees eating like animals. Fragmented knowledge profiles occurred in all subsamples, but our models showed that improved education and age foster knowledge integration. Sex had almost no influence on the existing scientific conceptions and evolution of knowledge integration. Consequently, complex biological issues such as tree assimilation and wood synthesis need specific support e.g. through repeated learning units in class- and seminar-rooms in order to help especially young students to handle and overcome common alternative conceptions and appropriately integrate scientific conceptions into their knowledge profile.     

Preadolescents’ relationships with pet dogs: Relationship continuity and associations with adjustment

Research on human–animal interaction in children has been studied in isolation rather than integrated with core theories of children’s relationships. This study is one of the first to examine how children’s relationships with pet dogs are related to their human relationships (parent–child attachments, friendships) and to child adjustment, and to include observational assessment of children’s interactions with their pet dog. Children (9 to 11 years old, n = 99) completed questionnaires regarding relationships with pet dogs, parents, and friends. Half the children were observed interacting with their pet dog. Children and teachers reported children’s adjustment. Children who felt closer to their dogs were more securely attached to mothers and fathers and reported more positive qualities and less conflict with friends. Children with more secure attachments to mothers, and greater companionship with dogs, interacted more with their dogs. Parental attachment and friendship quality, but not the pet dog relationship, were related to child adjustment.     

Trends in Biological Education-An International Review

We examined selected situational emotions (interest, well-being and anxiety) experienced by 291 secondary school tenth graders during a hands-on gene technology lesson. Two different instruction groups (I-1, I-2) participated in the same teaching unit, in which four basic gene technology experiments were performed. Using a modified ‘constructivist teaching sequence’, a teacher confronted group I-2 with the alternative conceptions of their peers regarding central issues and processes of gene technology in addition to providing the scientific concepts. The pupils within the I-2 group scored higher in the positive emotions of interest and well-being. The negative emotion anxiety was almost absent in both instruction groups. Furthermore, our results indicate a potential influence of interest and well-being upon learning success. Pupils who felt fine and worked with interest in the experimental lessons scored significantly higher on the cognitive achievement test. Eliciting pupils’ alternative conceptions and using them in a wide variety of teaching contents is therefore advisable. By doing so, teachers could help create a classroom environment where pupils feel safe and confident. Also, a pupil’s interest regarding the choice of material needs to be taken into account if positive emotions need strengthening and the learning achievement needs improvement.     

The effect of a digital learning environment on children’s conceptions about the protection of endemic plants

This study presents the results of a pilot learning intervention for improving children’s ideas about plant protection. The research was executed in two phases. The first phase aimed at exploring children’s ideas about plant protection. These ideas were taken into account for the design and development of a digital learning environment. The second phase concerned the development, implementation and evaluation of the learning environment. In the first phase, 262 participants (10–12 years old) were asked to write a short text about ‘Environmental protection’. During the second phase, twenty-six participants (10–12 years old) were asked to write a text on ‘How we can protect the endemic plants’, before and after the implementation of the learning activities. Responses were content analysed and their meaning was classified according to the coding scheme of Blanchet-Cohen, Ragan, and Amsden (Children, Youth and Environments 2003; 13: 1–7). The results of the first phase showed that participants mentioned individual lifestyle actions of environmental protection and, therefore, the learning environment should emphasise the importance of other types of environmental protection (eg political actions, legislation, social actions). The proposed learning activities enriched participants’ awareness about the importance of social and legal actions for plant protection.     

Young children’s understanding of plant life: a study exploring rural–urban differences in their drawings

Drawing activities are believed to be a useful methodology to gain insight into young children’s thoughts and ideas related to a diverse range of research topics. In this respect, the study of drawings has proven to be a valuable procedure with a view to unravelling how the natural world is conceptualised in early childhood. The present study examines the content of the drawings that 328 Spanish children aged between of 4 and 7 carried out in their bid to express their understanding of plant life and the data collected is related to the potential for connecting with nature which may be offered by the location of their educational centres. The results show slight but significant differences between the depictions undertaken by the children attending schools in rural environments, and those made by their peer group in urban centres. The evidence and conclusions of the study are coherent with the assumption that as early as kindergarten age, children are well involved in attempting to give meaning to their nature-based experiences.     

Abstracts

Abstract

This study examines the effects of gender in conjunction with age, pet ownership, and sibling status on children's ideas about domestic animal young (puppies and kittens) and how they are nurtured. A theoretical model accounting for gender differences in the development of nurturance in children is presented. The model argues that children may develop knowledge about nurture from many sources, including animals, and that gender differences are most likely when behavior (versus knowledge) and baby care (versus animal care) are assessed. Ideas about animal young and animal caregiving of their young were individually assessed in structured interviews with 43 preschoolers and 42 second graders. Boys' ideas increased with age, while that of girls did not. Having a younger sibling was associated with more knowledge in boys but not in girls. Children with pets had more ideas about how adult animals cared for their young than did non-pet owners.     

Who’s afraid of perfectionist moral enhancement? A reply to Sparrow

Robert Sparrow recently argued that state-driven moral bioenhancement is morally problematic because it inevitably invites moral perfectionism. While sharing Sparrow’s worry about state-driven moral bioenhancement, I argue that his anti-perfectionism argument is too strong to offer useful normative guidance. That is, if we reject state-driven moral bioenhancement because it cannot remain neutral between different conceptions of the good, we might have to conclude that all forms of moral enhancement programs ought not be made compulsory, including the least controversial and most popular state-driven program: compulsory (moral) education. In this paper, I argue that, instead, the spirit of Sparrow’s worry should be recast in the language of the capability approach—an approach that strives to enhance people’s capabilities to develop their own conceptions of the good by restricting itself from endorsing thick conceptions of the good. The distinction made regarding thick and thin conceptions of the good helps to capture sentiments against state-driven bioenhancement programs without falling prey to the issues I raise against Sparrow’s anti-perfectionist arguments.     

Regional differences in awareness and attitudes regarding genetic testing for disease risk and ancestry

Little is known about the lay public’s awareness and attitudes concerning genetic testing and what factors influence their perspectives. The existing literature focuses mainly on ethnic and socioeconomic differences; however, here we focus on how awareness and attitudes regarding genetic testing differ by geographical regions in the US. We compared awareness and attitudes concerning genetic testing for disease risk and ancestry among 452 adults (41% Black and 67% female) in four major US cities, Norman, OK; Cincinnati, OH; Harlem, NY; and Washington, DC; prior to their participation in genetic ancestry testing. The OK participants reported more detail about their personal ancestries (p = 0.02) and valued ancestry testing over disease testing more than all other sites (p < 0.01). The NY participants were more likely than other sites to seek genetic testing for disease (p = 0.01) and to see benefit in finding out more about one’s ancestry (p = 0.02), while the DC participants reported reading and hearing more about genetic testing for African ancestry than all other sites (p < 0.01). These site differences were not better accounted for by sex, age, education, self-reported ethnicity, religion, or previous experience with genetic testing/counseling. Regional differences in awareness and attitudes transcend traditional demographic predictors, such as ethnicity, age and education. Local sociocultural factors, more than ethnicity and socioeconomic status, may influence the public’s awareness and belief systems, particularly with respect to genetics.     

Simplified methods for the microbiological evaluation of bottled natural mineral waters

The conventional methods for the microbiological examination of natural mineral water were compared with a simplified procedure. The results indicate that when indicator micro-organisms are present in water, they may not be detected in the simplified method. An alternative procedure, including the determination of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is suggested.     

Simplified methods for the microbiological evaluation of bottled natural mineral waters

The conventional methods for the microbiological examination of natural mineral water were compared with a simplified procedure. The results indicate that when indicator micro-organisms are present in water, they may not be detected in the simplified method. An alternative procedure, including the determination of Pseudomonas aeruginosa , is suggested.     

Under the influence of Malthus's law of population growth: Darwin eschews the statistical techniques of Aldolphe Quetelet

Charles Darwin, James Clerk Maxwell, and Francis Galton were all aware, by various means, of Aldolphe Quetelet’s pioneering work in statistics. Darwin, Maxwell, and Galton all had reason to be interested in Quetelet’s work: they were all working on some instance of how large-scale regularities emerge from individual events that vary from one another; all were rejecting the divine interventionistic theories of their contemporaries; and Quetelet’s techniques provided them with a way forward. Maxwell and Galton all explicitly endorse Quetelet’s techniques in their work; Darwin does not incorporate any of the statistical ideas of Quetelet, although natural selection post-twentieth century synthesis has. Why not Darwin? My answer is that by the time Darwin encountered Malthus’s law of excess reproduction he had all he needed to answer about large scale regularities in extinctions, speciation, and adaptation. He didn’t need Quetelet.     

Personalized Medicine in Pediatrics: The Clinical Potential of Orodispersible Films

Children frequently receive medicines that are designed for adults. The dose of commercially available products is adapted, mostly based on the child’s bodyweight, thereby neglecting differences in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics parameters. If commercial products are unsuitable for administration to children or are unavailable, extemporaneous pharmacy preparations are a good alternative. For this particular population, orodispersible films (ODFs) can be a highly attractive dosage form for the oral administration of drugs. ODFs are relatively easy to prepare in a hospital setting, create dose flexibility, and may suit an individual approach, especially for patients having difficulties in swallowing tablets or being fluid restricted. In this article, various aspects related to pharmacy preparations, clinical application, and preparation of ODFs for pediatric patients are highlighted and discussed.     

Children through the Looking Glass

In recent decades social scientists have taken a renewed interest in Western conceptions of the child, revealing often contradictory notions of children as either lacking or capable, innocent or knowing, vulnerable or dangerous. The fine-art photograph offers visual anthropology a way to explore these contradictions and shifts in attitude. This essay addresses the question through the changing representations of children in 19th- and 20th-century art photography. Reaching back to the work of Julia Margaret Cameron, it examines images of children by Lewis Hine, Edward Weston, Helen Levitt, Sally Mann, Anthony Goicolea, and the Russian collective, AES?+?F, arguing that in these photographs the child has increasingly been perceived as mysterious and threatening to adult ideas of sexual and social order. The essay concludes with the case of Jacques-Henri Lartigue, who among all the noted photographers of children was the only one who brought a child’s perspective to the portrayal of childhood experience. If contemporary photographers have persisted in conveying disturbing and idealized notions of childhood, it may require another Lartigue to restore the balance.     

Developing the concept of ‘ecosystem’ through inquiry-based learning: a study of pre-service primary teachers

ABSTRACT

We studied the initial conceptions of 73 pre-service primary teachers regarding the concept of ecosystem and examined how their understanding evolved as a result of participation in an inquiry-based learning exercise. The inquiry process involved identifying students’ initial conceptions, making them aware of these, comparison of their ideas with scientific knowledge and knowledge building through activities in which they analysed points of agreement, discrepancies and conclusions. The activities were performed in groups and centred on the production of posters, which participants were required to compare in both the first and final sessions. This comparison, together with the qualitative analysis of the content of the posters, was carried out using a rubric designed on the basis of a literature review. The results showed that students progressed in their understanding of key aspects related to the concept of ecosystem. In particular, they became more aware of the role that humans play within such systems, although they continued to have difficulties with aspects such as identifying species in the aquatic ecosystem and discriminating between biotic and abiotic components.     

The specificity of medical facts: the case of diabetology

The fact that Ludwik Fleck drew his inspiration from medicine has been largely overlooked, with the exception of a few scholars. Although Fleck considered his ideas applicable to all sciences, he always insisted on the specificity of medicine. To illustrate the usefulness of Fleck’s concepts for the history of medicine, three main ideas developed by Fleck are applied to the historical study of diabetes mellitus (DM): first, that different and often divergent pictures of disease coexist within a given culture; second, that scientific ideas circulate between ‘esoteric’ and ‘exoteric’ circles; and third, that scientific concepts are often incommensurable. The author also suggests that Fleck’s epistemology, like other scholars’, is loaded with ethical and political consequences. However, the link between an ‘open’ epistemology and political or ethical questions is more explicit in Georges Canguilhem’s pioneering work on the normal and the pathological (1943). Indeed, Canguilhem and Fleck’s conceptions of disease have much in common, so that we can use Canguilhem’s work to bring out the hidden ethical and political issues in Fleck’s work.     

Young Children’s Interpretation of Dogs’ Emotions and Their Intentions to Approach Happy,Angry, and Frightened Dogs

The current study aimed to investigate the extent to which young children’s risk of being bitten by a dog is explained by their inability to recognize the dog’s emotion and to behave appropriately around dogs. One hundred and seventeen children, aged 4 to 7 years, were shown 15 images and 15 video clips of happy, angry, and frightened dogs. After each image or clip, questions were asked to assess children’s accuracy and confidence in recognizing the emotional state and their inclination to approach the dog. Results indicate that children were least accurate when presented with frightened dogs, with only just over half of 4- to 5-year-olds accurately recognizing them. Children were inclined to approach frightened and happy dogs, but not angry ones, and this was true regardless of whether they had correctly identified the emotion or not. Therefore, the results suggest that although some children struggle to recognize when a dog is frightened, the more concerning issue is their lack of understanding of how to behave appropriately around dogs, especially those that are frightened. Learning how to behave appropriately around dogs should be key in any dog bite prevention program aimed at young children.     

Conceptualizing multi-ethnic societies

We examine the process of linguistic adaptation among children of immigrants and the extent to which distinct language types exist between foreign monolingualism and a full transition to English. While complete linguistic assimilation remains the normative outcome and is widely perceived as desirable, we examine alternative theories holding that selective rather than full acculturation is a preferable alternative for immigrant children and their families. For this purpose we contrast effects of fluent bilingualism, indicative of selective acculturation, with other types of linguistic adaptation on various measures of family conflict, solidarity and personality. The data come from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study [CILS], which have been used in several previous studies of the second generation. We use this data-set to test new hypotheses on the interactive effects of parental and children's knowledge of English on family relations and personality outcomes and to examine the effects of gender differences throughout the process. We find that a plurality of second generation linguistic adaptation types exists in reality and that, among them, fluent bilingualism is consistently preferable. Theoretical and policy implications of these and other results are discussed.