Search results for: school aged children

Authors: Olive P. Khaliq, Stephen C. Brown, Boitumelo Pitso, Paeds Pulmo, Nomakhuwa E. Tabane

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Context: The research focuses on the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in hospitalized children during the Omicron variant wave in South Africa, specifically in the Free State Province. Research Aim: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of COVID-19 infection in asymptomatic, unvaccinated children during the Omicron variant wave in the Free State Province of South Africa. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted on children aged 0-12 admitted to hospitals using nucleocapsid antibody rapid testing for SARS-CoV-2 presence. Data on parent/caregiver vaccination and patient conditions were collected. Results: 46.8% of hospitalized children tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, with the highest rates in neonates. Most infected children had unrelated conditions and were asymptomatic. The Omicron variant was characterized as highly infectious but less virulent, leading to mild disease. Theoretical Importance: The study highlights the significant SARS-CoV-2 infection rates in hospitalized children during the Omicron variant surge, emphasizing the variant's unique characteristics in causing mild or asymptomatic infections. Data Collection: Data were collected through nucleocapsid antibody rapid testing for SARS-CoV-2 and the compilation of parent/caregiver vaccination status and patient conditions. Analysis Procedures: The data were analyzed to determine the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in hospitalized children, focusing on demographics, infection rates, and associated conditions. Questions Addressed: The study addressed the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in hospitalized children, the impact of the Omicron variant, the asymptomatic nature of infections, and the potential role of vaccination status in transmission. Conclusion: The research revealed a high rate of SARS-CoV-2 infections among hospitalized children, mostly asymptomatic and with unrelated conditions, indicating the unique infectiousness and clinical presentation of the Omicron variant in this demographic.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, Omicron variant, antibodies, children, admission diagnosis

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Authors: Anum Akhter, Sumaira Altaf

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Purpose: To study the effect of low vision devices i.e. telescope and magnifying glasses on distance visual acuity and near visual acuity of children with Stargardt’s disease. Setting: Low vision department, Alshifa Trust Eye Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Methods: 52 children having Stargardt’s disease were included in the study. All children were diagnosed by pediatrics ophthalmologists. Comprehensive low vision assessment was done by me in Low vision clinic. Visual acuity was measured using ETDRS chart. Refraction and other supplementary tests were performed. Children with Stargardt’s disease were provided with different telescopes and magnifying glasses for improving far vision and near vision. Results: Out of 52 children, 17 children were males and 35 children were females. Distance visual acuity and near visual acuity improved significantly with low vision aid trial. All children showed visual acuity better than 6/19 with a telescope of higher magnification. Improvement in near visual acuity was also significant with magnifying glasses trial. Conclusions: Low vision aids are useful for improvement in visual acuity in children. Children with Stargardt’s disease who are having a problem in education and daily life activities can get help from low vision aids.

Keywords: Stargardt, s disease, low vision aids, telescope, magnifiers

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Authors: Ebenezer Joseph, Veena Easvaradoss, S. Sundar Manoharan, David Chandran, Sumathi Chandrasekaran, T. R. Uma

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Perceptual reasoning is the ability that incorporates fluid reasoning, spatial processing, and visual motor integration. Several theories of cognitive functioning emphasize the importance of fluid reasoning. The ability to manipulate abstractions and rules and to generalize is required for reasoning tasks. This study, funded by the Cognitive Science Research Initiative, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, analyzed the effect of 1-year chess training on the perceptual reasoning of children. A pretest–posttest with control group design was used, with 43 (28 boys, 15 girls) children in the experimental group and 42 (26 boys, 16 girls) children in the control group. The sample was selected from children studying in two private schools from South India (grades 3 to 9), which included both the genders. The experimental group underwent weekly 1-hour chess training for 1 year. Perceptual reasoning was measured by three subtests of WISC-IV INDIA. Pre-equivalence of means was established. Further statistical analyses revealed that the experimental group had shown statistically significant improvement in perceptual reasoning compared to the control group. The present study clearly establishes a correlation between chess learning and perceptual reasoning. If perceptual reasoning can be enhanced in children, it could possibly result in the improvement of executive functions as well as the scholastic performance of the child.

Keywords: chess, cognition, intelligence, perceptual reasoning

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Authors: Ahmed Mousa, Huda Mazeed

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The research aims to determine the appropriate songs and artistic indications for the kindergarten child. In addition, it aims to use the songs of folk to develop expressive visual drawings with artistic connotations for the kindergarten child. The current research used a one group semi-experimental approach to identify the impact of songs on expressive children's drawings. The research community is represented in the educational administration in Giza Governorate for the academic year (2018 - 2019). The sample was taken from the kindergarten of Gamal Abdel Nasser School of Dokki Educational Administration in Giza Governorate. The study was applied to the second level children sample (5-6 years), where they numbered 20 children, males and females. The research results show that there are statistically significant differences between the average scores of the children of the experimental group in the pre and post-measurements on the observation card for children after hearing the songs of social and national folk in favor of post measurement. Moreover, the results demonstrate that there are no statistically significant differences between the average scores of children in the experimental group in the measurements, the post and follow-up, on the observation card of children's drawings for social and national folk.

Keywords: folk songs, visual expressive, artistic connotations, early childhood

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Authors: Sabri Sulaiman, Siti Hajar Abu Bakar Ah, Haris Abd Wahab

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Street children is a global phenomenon and declared as a social problem by social researcher and scholars across the world. The insecure street environment exposes street children into various risk factors. One of them is the health and psychological problem. The objective of this study is to assess the health problem and psychological wellbeing of street children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The cross-sectional study involved 303 street children in Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur. The study confirmed that the majority (95.7%) of street children who participated in the study have a health problem. The findings also demonstrated that the majority of them have issues related to their psychological wellbeing. The inputs from this study are instrumental for the suggestion of specific intervention to improve the health and psychology wellbeing of street children in Malaysia. Agencies which are responsible for the street children well-being can utilise the inputs to framing and improving the social care programmes for the children.

Keywords: street children, health status, psychology wellbeing, homeless

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Authors: Dina C. Castro, Rossana Boyd, Eugenia Papadaki

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Immigration within and across continents is currently a global reality. The number of people leaving their communities in search for a better life for them and their families has increased dramatically during the last twenty years. Therefore, young children of the 21st century around the World are growing up in diverse communities, exposed to many languages and cultures. One consequence of these migration movements is the increased linguistic diversity in school settings. Depending on the linguistic history and the status of languages in the communities (i.e., minority-majority; majority-majority) the instructional approaches will differ. This session will discuss how bilingualism is addressed in early education programs in both minority-majority and majority-majority language communities, analyzing experiences in three countries with very distinct societal and demographic characteristics: Peru (South America), the United States (North America), and Italy (European Union). The ultimate goal is to identify commonalities and differences across the three experiences that could lead to a discussion of bilingualism in early education from a global perspective. From Peru, we will discuss current national language and educational policies that have lead to the design and implementation of bilingual and intercultural education for children in indigenous communities. We will also discuss how those practices are being implemented in preschool programs, the progress made and challenges encountered. From the United States, we will discuss the early education of Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers, including the national policy environment, as well as variations in language of instruction approaches currently being used with these children. From Italy, we will describe early education practices in the Bilingual School of Monza, in northern Italy, a school that has 20 years promoting bilingualism and multilingualism in education. While the presentations from Peru and the United States will discuss bilingualism in a majority-minority language environment, this presentation will lead to a discussion on the opportunities and challenges of promoting bilingualism in a majority-majority language environment. It is evident that innovative models and policies are necessary to prevent inequality of opportunities for bilingual children beginning in their earliest years. The cross-cultural examination of bilingual education experiences for young children in three part of the World will allow us to learn from our success and challenges. The session will end with a discussion of the following question: To what extent are early care and education programs being effective in promoting positive development and learning among all children, including those from diverse language, ethnic and cultural backgrounds? We expect to identify, with participants to our session, a set of recommendations for policy and program development that could ensure access to high quality early education for all bilingual children.

Keywords: early education for bilingual children, global perspectives in early education, cross-cultural, language policies

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Authors: Anna Öqvist, Malin Malmström

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Attaining a higher level of education has become an increasingly important prerequisite for people’s economic and social independence and mobility. Young people who do not pursue higher education are not as attractive as potential employees in the modern work environment. Although completing a higher education degree is not a guarantee for getting a job, it substantially increases the chances for employment and, consequently, the chances for a better life. Despite this, it’s a fact that in several regions in Sweden, fewer students are choosing to engage in higher education. Similar trends have been emphasized in, for instance, the US where high dropout patterns among young people have been noted. This is a threat to future employment and industry development in these regions because the future employment base for society is dependent upon students’ willingness to invest in higher education. Much of prior studies have focused on the role of parents’ involvement in their children’s’ school work and the positive influence parents involvement have on their children’s school performance. Parental influence on education in general has been a topic of interest among those concerned with optimal developmental and educational outcomes for children and youth in pre-, secondary- and high school. Across a range of studies, there has emerged a strong conclusion that parental influence on child and youths education generally benefits children's and youths learning and school success. Arguably then, we could expect that parents influence on whether or not to pursue a higher education would be of importance to understand young people’s choice to engage in higher education. Accordingly, understanding what drives students’ intentions to pursue higher education is an essential component of motivating students to aspire to make the most of their potential in their future work life. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, this study examines the role of parents influence on students’ attitudes about whether higher education can be beneficial to their future work life. We used a qualitative approach by collecting interview data from 18 high school students in Sweden to capture students’ cognitive and motivational mechanisms (attitudes) to influence intentions to engage in higher education. We found that parents may positively or negatively influence students’ attitudes and subsequently a student's intention to pursue higher education. Accordingly, our results show that parents’ own attitudes and expectations on their children are keys for influencing students’ attitudes and intentions for higher education. Further, our finding illuminates the mechanisms that drive students in one direction or the other. As such, our findings show that the same categories of arguments are used for driving students’ attitudes and intentions in two opposite directions, namely; financial arguments and work life benefits arguments. Our results contribute to existing literature by showing that parents do affect young people’s intentions to engage in higher studies. The findings contribute to the theory of planned behavior and have implications for the literature on higher education and educational psychology and also provide guidance on how to inform students about facts of higher studies in school.

Keywords: higher studies, intentions, parents influence, theory of planned behavior

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Authors: Jiawei Liang

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Against the backdrop of China's burgeoning migration from rural to urban areas, a demographic group has emerged in China, which is called left-behind children. Due to many reasons, including the issue of the rural-urban education gap, the education of left-behind children has been below the national education average. In this situation, the issue has attracted the attention of researchers and policymakers. In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of this issue, this paper adopts an analytical approach to studying the rural-urban education gap and left-behind children in rural China. The paper first introduces the current situation of migration, the education gap, and left-behind children within China. Then, it further explores the causes of these two questions and barriers as well as the consequences for left-behind children. Finally, the study offers some suggestions to alleviate the urban-rural gap and the current situation of education for left-behind children in rural areas, which will hopefully shed light on the issue of left-behind children in China and the urban-rural education gap.

Keywords: left-behind children, rural China, education improvement, Hukou policy, rural-urban education gap

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Authors: Gunendra Rathnawali Kumarihamy Dissanayake

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Research on parenting of both perpetrators and victims of domestic violence (DV) is growing but limited. Further, much of this research in the Asian context is limited to explorations of victim mothers' parenting capacities, not shedding much light on the parenting of the perpetrator fathers. The current qualitative study aimed to explore how both the perpetrators and victims of DV engaged in parenting in the Sri Lankan cultural context. Twenty case studies were conducted with a sample of help-seeking women aged 20 to 40 years representing working to upper-middle social class. Participants have interviewed about their own as well as their partners´ parenting behaviors. The majority of women reported that their partners were often aggressive, controlling and authoritarian, less consistent, and engaged in a variety of manipulative behaviors intending to harm the relationship between their child and them. Further, victim mothers' styles of parenting and authority as parents have been severely undermined by their partners through frequent criticism, ridicule, and insulting in front of the children. As a result, mothers experienced great difficulty specifically trying to discipline their adolescent children as the children have started to disregard the mothers' authority. Most of the children also have shown treatment similar to that of their fathers', treating the mother as a personal servant not worthy of being listened to, thereby increasing the mothers' parenting stress. The mothers were often blamed and held responsible for the problems of the children by their partners, encouraging the children to disrespect and blame the mother for their problems leading them to take the side of the father who had more power. Findings are similar to those of the western context. This study highlights the intersection between domestic violence and parenting, and specific implications and recommendations for DV service providers are offered.

Keywords: parenting, domestic violence, impact, children

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Authors: Trunov V.O., Ryabov A. B., Poddubny I.V

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Introduction: cystic and solid pancreatic tumors have a relevant and disruptive position in many positions. The results of the treatment of children with tumors and pancreatic cysts aged 3 to 17 years for the period from 2008 to 2019 on the basis of the Morozov State Children's Clinical Hospital in Moscow were analyzed. The total number of children with solid tumors was 17, and 31 with cysts. In all children, the diagnosis was made on the basis of ultrasound, followed by CT and MRI. In most patients with solid tumors, they were located in the area of the pancreas tail - 58%, in the body area - 14%, in the area of the pancreatic head - 28%. In patients with pancreatic cysts, the distribution of patients by topography was as follows: head of the pancreas - 10%, body of the pancreas - 16%, tail of the pancreas - 68%, total cystic transformation of the Wirsung duct - 6%. In pancreatic cysts, the method of surgical treatment was based on the results of MRCP, the level of amylase in the contents of the cyst, and the localization of the cyst. Thus, pathogenetically substantiated treatment included: excision of cysts, internal drainage on an isolated loop according to Ru, the formation of pancreatojejunoanastomosis in a child with the total cystic transformation of the Wirsung duct. In patients with solid pancreatic lesions, pancretoduodenalresection, central resection of the pancreas, and distal resection from laparotomy and laparoscopic access were performed. In the postoperative period, in order to prevent pancreatitis, all children underwent antisecretory therapy, parenteral nutrition, and drainage of the omental bursa. Results: hospital stay ranged from 7 to 12 days. The duration of postoperative fermentemia in patients with solid formations lasted from 3 to 6 days. In all cases, according to the histological examination, a pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas was revealed. In the group of children with pancreatic cysts, fermentemia was observed from 2 to 4 days, recurrence of cysts in the long term was detected in 3 children (10%). Conclusions: the treatment of cystic and solid pancreatic neoplasms is a difficult task in connection with the anatomical and functional features of the organ.

Keywords: pancreas, tumors, cysts, resection, laparoscopy, children

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Authors: Mika Kaufman

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Behavioral health in school-age children is a great concern. Negative behaviors can affect mental and physical health and, if ignored, can lead to further problems later in life. Rural communities often lack resources for counselors, social workers, and mental health care in the hopes of intervening with children who exhibit negative behaviors. Because of this, schools in rural communities are more likely to have children with behavioral issues. Prevention programs to recognize and address these behavioral concerns can educate teachers about mental health, different negative behaviors that students might exhibit, and how to manage those behaviors and engage with students in a positive way.

Keywords: prevention programs, behavioral health, resources for teachers, rural schools

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Authors: Hyang Lim, Sungwon Choi

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Many previous studies in area of adolescents' depression have used a longitudinal design. The previous studies have found that the developmental trajectory of them is only one. But it needs to be examined whether the trajectory is applied to all adolescents. Some factors in their home and/or school have an effect on adolescents' depression and more likely to be specific groups. The present study was a longitudinal study aimed to identify the trajectories and to explore the predictors of adolescents' depression. The study used Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS) data. In this study, 2,351 second and third-year of middle school and first of high school students' data was analyzed by using semi-parametric group modeling (SGM). There were 5 trajectory groups for adolescents; low depressed stables, low depressed risers, moderately depressed decreases, moderately depressed stables, severe depressed decreases. The predictors of adolescents' depression were parental abuse, parental neglect, annual family income, parental academic background, friendship at school, and teacher-student relationship at school. All predictors had the significant difference across trajectory group profile for adolescents. The findings of the present study recommend to promote the socioeconomic status and to train social skill for the interpersonal relationship at the home and school. And the results suggest that the proper prevention programs for each group in the middle adolescents that target selected factors may be helpful in reducing the level of depression.

Keywords: adolescent, depression, KCYPS, school life, semi-parametric group-based modeling

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Authors: Myriam Ferreira

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Websites and social networks allow museums to divulge their works by new and attractive means. Besides, these technologies provide tools to generate a new history of art’s contents and promote visits to their installations. At the same time, museums are proposing more and more activities to families, children and young people. However, these activities usually take place in the museum’s physical installations, while websites and social networks seem to be mainly targeted to adults. The problem is that being children and young people digital natives, they feel apart from museums, so they need a presence of museums in digital means to feel attracted to them. Some institutions are making efforts to fill this vacuum. In this paper, resources designed specifically for children and teenagers have been selected from websites and social networks of five Spanish Museums: Prado Museum, Thyssen Museum, Guggenheim Museum, America Museum and Cerralbo Museum. After that, we have carried out an investigation in a school with children and teenagers between 11 and 15 years old. Those young people have been asked about their valuation of those web pages and social networks, with quantitative-qualitative questions. The results show that the least rated resources were videos and social networks because they were considered ‘too serious’, while the most rated were games and augmented reality. These ratings confirm theoretical papers that affirm that the future of technologies applied to museums is edutainment and interaction.

Keywords: children, museums, social networks, teenagers, websites

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Authors: Jamil Ahmed, Li P. Wong, Yan P. Chua

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The United Nation's sustainable development goals include the target to ensure access to water and sanitation for all; however, very few studies have assessed school-based drinking water in Pakistan. The purpose of this study was to characterize water quality in primary schools of Pakistan and to characterize how recent WASH interventions were associated with school water quality. We conducted a representative cross-sectional study of primary schools in the Sindh province of Pakistan. We used structured observations and structured interviews to ascertain the school’s WASH conditions. Our primary exposures of interest were the implementation of previous WASH interventions in the school and the water source type. Outcomes of interest included water quality (measured by various chemical and microbiological indicators) and water availability at the school’s primary drinking water source. We used log-binomial regression to characterize how WASH exposures were associated with water quality outcomes. We collected data from 256 schools. Groundwater was the primary drinking water source at most schools (87%). Water testing showed that 14% of the school’s water had arsenic above the WHO recommendations, and over 50% of the water samples exceeded recommendations for both lead and cadmium. A majority of the water sources (52%) had fecal coliform contamination. None of the schools had nitrate contamination (0%), and few had fluoride contamination (5%). Regression results indicated that having a recent WASH intervention at the school was not associated with either arsenic contamination (prevalence ratio=0.97; 95% CI: 0.46-2.1) or with fecal coliform contamination (PR=0.88; 95% CI: 0.67-1.17). Our assessment unveiled several water quality gaps that exist, including high heavy metal and fecal contamination. Our findings will help various stakeholders to take suitable action to improve water quality in Pakistani schools.

Keywords: WASH interventions, water quality, primary school children, heavy metals

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Authors: Xuan Li

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The English language occupies a crucial position in the Chinese educational system and is officially introduced in the school curriculum from the third year of primary school onward. However, it is worth noting that along with the movement to remove primary-oriented education from preschools, the teaching of English is banned in preschools. Considering the worldwide trend of learning English at a young age, whether this ban can be implemented successfully is doubtful. With an initial focus on the interaction of language-in-education planning and policy (LEPP) at the macro level and actual practice at the micro level, this research selected three private preschools and two public preschools to explore what is taking place in terms of English education. All data collected is qualitative and is gained from documentary analysis, school observation, interviews, and focus groups. The findings show that: (1) although the English ban in preschool education aims to regulate all types of preschools and all adult Chinese participants are aware of this ban, there are very different scenarios according to type of preschool, such that no English classes are found in public schools while private preschools commonly provide some kind of English education; (2) even public schools do not have an English-free environment and parents’ demand for English education is high; (3) there is an obvious top-down hierarchy in both public and private schools, in which administrators make the decisions while others have little power to influence the school curriculum; (4) there is a clear gap in the perception of English teaching between children and adults, in which adults prefer foreign English teachers and think English teaching is just playing, while children do not have a clear preference regarding teachers and do not think English class is just for fun; (5) without macro support, there are many challenges involved in preschool English education, including the shortage of qualified teachers and teaching resources, ineffective personnel management and few opportunities for speaking English in daily life. Hopefully, this research will not only highlight the interaction of LEPP at different levels and the importance of individual agency but also raise the awareness of how to provide qualified and equal education for all children.

Keywords: individual agency, language-in-education planning and policy, micro context, preschool English education

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Authors: Alicia Greenbank, Efrat Bengio

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The aim of this research was to examine the efficacy of the first course in Israel, whose objective is to train student teachers in the special education department to work cooperatively with parents of children with special needs. Studies often highlight the importance of cooperation between teachers and parents of students with special needs. Israel’s Special Education Law defines parents as complete partners, and the Ministry of Education encourages and even requires that partnership be present. Yet this partnership is difficult to achieve many kindergarten teachers, and teachers have a lot of difficulties establishing and managing a pattern of cooperation with their students’ parents. Often we see different perspectives on the child's development and needs, distrust, lack of appreciation, and communication difficulties on both sides – parents & teachers. The course describes a method of instilling the need for cooperation at an early stage of teacher training-in the teacher training program. 22 students in the special education program for early childhood education in the fourth year of learning took part in the course. The fourth-year is the experiential training year and the first time that students have worked in a school. The course consisted of 14 sessions. Seven parents of students with different disabilities participated at 6 of the sessions. The changes in the students' attitudes towards partnership and their ability to manage this partnership were carried out by examining the reports written by the students before the meetings with the parents and the reflections they wrote after each meeting with the parents and at the end of the course. Three themes emerged from the narrative analysis, corresponding to the three preconditions for joint activities with parents — Approach, Attitude, Appropriate Atmosphere, according to the Four A’s Model. The findings showed that a course combining meetings with parents of children with special needs offers many benefits for teacher training. The course raised student awareness of the question partnership, changed students’ approaches and attitudes towards the parents, stressed the importance of partnership, and provided students with tools for working with parents through the school. Based on the findings of this study, courses in this format can be applied in order to cooperate between teachers and parents, for example, parents of gifted children with special needs.

Keywords: Partnership with parents in special education, parents of children with disabilities, parents of children with special needs, parents’ involvement in special education

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Authors: Nursel Bektas

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the roles of teaching assistants (TAs) working in reception classes through practitioners’ perspectives. The study has two major purposes; firstly to explore the general roles of TAs, and secondly to identify their roles in supporting children for mathematics. A small-scale case study approach was adopted for this study. The research was carried out in two reception classes within a primary school in London. The qualitative data were gathered through observations and semi-structured interviews with four reception class practitioners, comprising two teachers and two TAs. The results show that TAs consider their role to be more like a teacher, whereas classroom teachers do not corroborate this and they generally believe that the role of TAs depends on their personal characteristics and skills. In regard to the general role of TAs, the study suggests that reception class TAs are deployed both at the classroom level to provide academic support for children’s learning and development, and at the school level they are deployed as support staff such as Midday Meal Supervisor or assistants. In terms of the pedagogical roles of TAs, it was found that TAs have a strong teaching role in literacy development, with notable autonomy if conducting their own phonics sessions without teacher direction, but a negligible influence in numeracy/ math’s. In addition, the results show that the TA role is perceived to be quite limited in planning and assessment processes. Linked to their limited roles in such processes, all participants agree that all the responsibility regarding the children’s learning and development, planning and assessment lies with the teacher. Therefore, data suggest that TAs’ roles in these areas depend on TAs’ their own initiatives.

Keywords: early years education, reception classes, roles, teaching assistants

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Authors: Shri Krishna Mishra, Badri Yadav

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Effect of collaborative learning on development of process skills and attitude towards science is It rightly said that the destiny of the nation is shaped inside its classroom. Classroom is a place where the pupil and teacher interact purposefully to gain knowledge. Teaching is the principal mode of education. It can be called a transaction between teacher and pupil, in which one transmits knowledge to other. The teaching learning process consists of three important components, the pupils, the teacher and the curriculum; the classroom is the collection of students of their own individual abilities and needs. In the present classroom teaching learners are either persuasive recipient or passive observant. The school environment leading to low-achievement we have to try better to develop in the young mind. Children are the sticks of dynamite, bundles of energy and potential power waiting to be ignited. Guide them carefully to a place where their potentialities and strength will be used to build a better world. Man’s future depends to large extent on scientific advances and development of productive activity. Science is considered as an important subject in school curricular. The education commission (1964-66) has suggested that science education is necessary for all children at school stage. It is essential to develop children’s logical and critical thinking. But these days thinking process and academic achievement of students have been suppressed by competitive environment of our schools. How the students perceive each other and interact with one another is a neglected aspect of instruction. In the constructivist perspective learning in a process of construction of knowledge. Learners actively construct their own knowledge by connecting new ideas to existing ideas on the basis of materials/ activities presented to them (experience).

Keywords: effect of collaborative learning, development of process skills, science education, attitude towards science

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Authors: Aristi Alopoudi, Sofia Beloka, Vassiliki Pliogou

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Autism is a complex neuro-developmental disorder with a variety of difficulties in many aspects such as social interaction, communication skills and verbal communication (speech). The aim of this study was to examine the impact of therapeutic horseback riding in improving the verbal and communication skills of children diagnosed with autism during 16 sessions. The researcher examined whether the expression of speech, the use of vocabulary, semantics, pragmatics, echolalia and communication skills were influenced by the therapeutic horseback riding when we increase the frequency of the sessions. The researcher observed two subjects of primary-school aged, in a two case observation design, with autism during 16 therapeutic horseback riding sessions (one riding session per week). Compared to baseline, at the end of the 16th therapeutic session, therapeutic horseback riding increased both verbal skills such as vocabulary, semantics, pragmatics, formation of sentences and communication skills such as eye contact, greeting, participation in dialogue and spontaneous speech. It was noticeable that echolalia remained stable. Increased frequency of therapeutic horseback riding was beneficial for significant improvement in verbal and communication skills. More specifically, from the first to the last riding session there was a great increase of vocabulary, semantics, and formation of sentences. Pragmatics reached a lower level than semantics but the same as the right usage of the first person (for example, I make a hug) and echolalia used for that. A great increase of spontaneous speech was noticed. The eye contact was presented in a lower level, and there was a slow but important raise at the greeting as well as the participation in dialogue. Last but not least; this is a first study conducted in therapeutic horseback riding studying the verbal communication and communication skills in autistic children. According to the references, therapeutic horseback riding is a therapy with a variety of benefits, thus; this research made clear that in the benefits of this therapy there should be included the improvement of verbal speech and communication.

Keywords: Autism, communication skills, speech, therapeutic horseback riding

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Authors: Beruk Berhanu Desalegn, Tona Diddana, Alemneh Daba

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Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the magnitude and determinants of overnutrition among school going adolescents from Dale District of Ethiopia. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was done between November and December 2020. A total of 333 school going adolescents aged 10-19 years were participated. Socio-demographic, lifestyle, physical activity level, an estimated individual dietary energy intake; and height and weight data were collected. Body Mass Index for age (BAZ) was computed. Results: The magnitude of over-nutrition was 7.2% (10.8% in urban vs. 3.6% in rural). Lack of adequate playing area (AOR=2.53, 95% CI:1.02, 6.26), being an urban resident (AOR=3.05, 95% CI:1.12, 8.29), having more energy intake than expenditure (AOR=9.47, 95% CI:1.58, 56.80), ever consumed fast foods a month before the survey (AOR=2.60, 95% CI:1.93, 6.83), having moderate physical activity (PA) (AOR =9.28, 95% CI: 6.70, 71.63), low PA (AOR=7.95, 95% CI:1.12, 56.72), and having snack between meals (AOR=3.32, 95% CI:1.15, 9.58) were positively associated with over-nutrition. Conclusion: The magnitude of over-nutrition among school going adolescents was lower compared to previous reports in Ethiopia. Sedentary lifestyles, excess calorie intake, not having adequate playing areas in the schools, and having snacks between meals were statistically predicted determinants for over-nutrition in the study area.

Keywords: adolescent, over-nutrition, school, Ethiopia

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Authors: James A. Bryant Jr

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This article examines the far-reaching consequences of the mainstreaming of the Christian Dominionist philosophy on public schools all across the United States of America. Under the guise of “school choice,” and the ever-growing influence and legacy of its most vocal proponent, R.J. Rushdoony, the American right has declared an all-out war on public education, public schools, and the men and women who staff these institutions. For the purposes of this paper, the term “school choice” encompasses both the efforts to use public money to support private, religious education as well as the move to dramatically expand the number of children and youth who are home schooled. This article examines both the history and dangers of the homeschool movement and the vouchers-for-religious school's scheme, with particular attention to the philosophy and words of its most renowned advocate, the missionary Rousas John Rushdoony.

Keywords: history education, multicultural education, public education, Christian Dominionism

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Authors: Sherry Junette Tagle

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Extensive research continues to prove the positive effects of home and school collaborations in education. Although parent involvement programs in Benguet, Philippines are in place, the impact has yet to affect the current aggregate performance of elementary pupils. This study describes the involvement of public elementary teachers and parents along Epstein’s types of involvement using the sequential explanatory design. Survey and interview results show that teachers place greater value on activities that cater to communicating, volunteering, learning at home and decision making. On the other hand, parents are actively involved in all six types and value the importance of their involvement in school to their child’s schooling. Parents of grades 1-4 pupils significantly give importance to communicating activities to offset difficulties encountered by young pupils while parents of grades 5-6 pupils, have declining interest in volunteering and learning at home activities citing older children as being more independent to do teacher-assigned tasks. Teachers, compared to the other respondent groups, significantly place higher value on the importance of parent leaders as their partners in implementing school activities. In general, involvement of parents and teachers in home-school activities is intensive in the lower grade levels and decreases as their child progresses through school. A recommended program for future collaborations of the Philippine’s Department of Education has been formulated to diversify existing activities and elicit greater participation among the school’s stakeholders to achieve holistic development of the pupils and ultimately improve pupils’ school aggregate performance.

Keywords: Epstein's types of involvement, community collaborations, home and school partnerships, parent involvement

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Authors: Letizia Maria Drammis, Maria Antonella Brandimonte

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The idea that people use space representations to think about time and number received support from several lines of research. However, how these representations develop in children and then shape space-time and space-number mappings is still a debated issue. In the present study, 40 children (20 pre-schoolers and 20 elementary-school children) performed 4 main tasks, which required the use of more concrete (non-symbolic) or more abstract (symbolic) space-time and space-number associations. In the non-symbolic conditions, children were required to order pictures of everyday-life events occurring in a specific temporal order (Temporal sequences) and of quantities varying in numerosity (Numerical sequences). In the symbolic conditions, they were asked to perform the typical time-to-position and number-to-position tasks by mapping time-related words and numbers onto lines. Results showed that children performed reliably better in the non-symbolic Time conditions than the symbolic Time conditions, independently of age, whereas only pre-schoolers performed worse in the Number-to-position task (symbolic) as compared to the Numerical sequence (non-symbolic) task. In addition, only older children mapped time-related words onto space following the typical left-right orientation, pre-schoolers’ performance being somewhat mixed. In contrast, mapping numbers onto space showed a clear left-right orientation, independently of age. Overall, these results indicate a cross-domain difference in the way younger and older children process time and number, with time-related tasks being more difficult than number-related tasks only when space-time tasks require symbolic representations.

Keywords: space-time associations, space-number associations, orientation, children

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Authors: E. Didaskalou, C. Roussi-Vergou, E. Andreou, G. Skrzypiec, P. Slee

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There has been growing interest lately, in the study of victimization among adolescent students in Greece and elsewhere with a view to improve school policies concerning anti-bullying practices. Researchers have recently focused on investigating the relationships between the extent of students’ victimization and the distinct mechanisms that they employ for coping with this particular problem. In particular, the emphasis has been placed on exploring the relationship between the coping strategies students use to counteract bullying, their sense of belonging at school, and extent of their victimization. Methods: Within the research framework outlined above, we set out to: a) examine the frequency of self-reported victimization among secondary school students, b) investigate the coping strategies employed by students when confronted with school bullying and c) explore any differences between bullied and non-bullied students with regard to coping strategies and school belongingness. The sample consisted of 860 from fifteen secondary public schools in central Greece. The schools were typical Greek secondary schools and the principals volunteered to participate in this study. Participants’ age ranged from 12 to 16 years. Measures: a) Exposure to Victimization: The frequency of victimization was directly located by asking students the question: ‘Over the last term, how often have you been bullied or harassed by a student or students at this high school?’ b) Coping Strategies: The ‘Living and Learning at School: Bullying at School’ was administered to students, c) School belongingness was assessed by the Psychological Sense of School Membership Scale, that students completed. Results: Regarding the frequency of self-reported victimization, 1.5% of the students reported being victimized every day, 2.8% most days of the week, 2.1% one or more days a week, 2.9% about once a week, 22.6% less than once a week and 68.1% never. The coping strategies that the participants employed for terminating their victimization included: a) adult support seeking, b) emotional coping/keep away from school, c) keeping healthy and fit, d) demonstrating a positive attitude towards the bully, d) peer support seeking, e) emotional out bursting, f) wishful thinking and self-blaming, g) pretending as if it is not happening, h) displaying assertive behaviors and i) getting away from the bullies. Bullied from non-bullied children did not differ as much in coping, as in feelings of being rejected in school. Discussion: The findings are in accordance with accumulated research evidence which points to a strong relationship between student perceptions of school belongingness and their involvement in bullying behaviors. We agree with the view that a positive school climate is likely to serve as a buffer that mitigates wider adverse societal influences and institutional attitudes which favor violence and harassment among peers.

Keywords: school bullying, school belonging, student coping strategies, victimization

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Authors: Hestiasari Rante, Leonardo De Araújo, Heidi Schelhowe

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Usability testing with children is similar in many aspects to usability testing with adults. However, there are a few differences that one needs to be aware of in order to get the most out of the sessions, and to ensure that children are comfortable and enjoying the process. This paper presents the need to acquire methodological knowledge for involving children as test users in usability testing, with consideration on Piaget’s theory of cognitive growth. As a case study, we use BatiKids, an application developed to evoke children’s enthusiasm to be involved in culture heritage preservation. The usability test was applied to 24 children from 9 to 10 years old. The children were divided into two groups; one interacted with the application through a graphic tablet with pen, and the other through touch screen. Both of the groups had to accomplish the same amount of tasks. In the end, children were asked to give feedback. The results suggested that children who interacted using the graphic tablet with pen had more difficulties rather than children who interacted through touch screen. However, the difficulty brought by the graphic tablet with pen is an important learning objective in order to understand the difficulties of using canting, which is an important part of batik.

Keywords: batikids, children, child-computer interaction, usability test

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Authors: Goulet Marie-Pier, Voyer Dominic, Simoneau Victoria

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In a previous research project (2011-2019) funded by the Quebec Ministry of Education, an educational approach was developed based on the teaching and learning of place value through children's literature. Subsequently, the effect of this approach on the conceptual understanding of the concept among first graders (6-7 years old) was studied. The current project aims to create a series of children's literature to help older elementary school students (8-10 years old) in developing a conceptual understanding of complex mathematical concepts taught at their grade level rather than a more typical procedural understanding. Knowing that there are no educational material or children's books that exist to achieve our goals, four stories, accompanied by mathematical activities, will be created to support students, and their teachers, in the learning and teaching of mathematical concepts that can be challenging within their mathematic curriculum. The stories will also introduce a mathematical dialogue into the characters' discourse with the aim to address various mathematical foundations for which there are often erroneous statements among students and occasionally among teachers. In other words, the stories aim to empower students seeking a real understanding of difficult mathematical concepts, as well as teachers seeking a way to teach these difficult concepts in a way that goes beyond memorizing rules and procedures. In order to choose the concepts that will be part of the stories, it is essential to understand the current landscape regarding the main difficulties experienced by students in third and fourth grade (8-10 years old) and their teacher’s needs. From this perspective, the preliminary phase of the study, as discussed in the presentation, will provide critical insight into the mathematical concepts with which the target grade levels struggle the most. From this data, the research team will select the concepts and develop their stories in the second phase of the study. Two questions are preliminary to the implementation of our approach, namely (1) what mathematical concepts are considered the most “difficult to teach” by teachers in the third and fourth grades? and (2) according to teachers, what are the main difficulties encountered by their students in numeracy? Self-administered online questionnaires using the SimpleSondage software will be sent to all third and fourth-grade teachers in nine school service centers in the Quebec region, representing approximately 300 schools. The data that will be collected in the fall of 2022 will be used to compare the difficulties identified by the teachers with those prevalent in the scientific literature. Considering that this ensures consistency between the proposed approach and the true needs of the educational community, this preliminary phase is essential to the relevance of the rest of the project. It is also an essential first step in achieving the two ultimate goals of the research project, improving the learning of elementary school students in numeracy, and contributing to the professional development of elementary school teachers.

Keywords: children’s literature, conceptual understanding, elementary school, learning and teaching, mathematics

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Authors: Nayera E. Hassan, Sahar A. El-Masry, Rokia A. El Banna, Mones M. Abu Shady, Muhammad Al-Tohamy, Manal Mouhamed Ali, Mehrevan M. Abd El-Moniem, Mona Anwar

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Association between vitamin D, adiponectin and obesity is a matter of debate, as they play important role in linking obesity with different cardiometabolic risk factors. Objectives: Evaluation of the association between metabolic risk factors with both adiponectin and vitamin D levels and that between adiponectin and vitamin D among obese Egyptian children. Subjects and Methods: This case-control cross-sectional study consisted of 65 obese and 30 healthy children, aged 8-11 years. 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH) D) level, serum adiponectin, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) were measured. Results: The mean 25(OH) D levels in the obese and control groups were 29.9± 10.3 and 39.7 ± 12.7 ng/mL respectively (P < 0.001). The mean 25(OH) D and adiponectin levels in the obese were lower than that in the control group (P < 0.0001). 25(OH) D were inversely correlated with body mass index (BMI), triglyceride, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), while adiponectin level were inversely correlated with systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and positively correlated with HDL-C. However, there is no relation between 25(OH) D and adiponectin levels among obese children and total sample. Conclusion: In spite of strong association between vitamin D and adiponectin levels with metabolic risk factors and obesity, there is no relation between 25(OH) D and adiponectin levels. In obese children, there are significant negative correlations between 25(OH) D with lipid profile, and between adiponectin levels with blood pressure. At certain adiponectin level, the relation between it and BMI disappears.

Keywords: 25-hydroxy vitamin D, adiponectin, lipid profile, blood pressure, children

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Authors: Abbas Nesayan

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Background: In recent years, autism has been under consideration in public and research area. Autistic children have dysfunction in communication, socialization, repetitive and stereotyped behaviors. In addition, they clinically suffer from difficulty in attention, challenge with familiar behaviors and sensory processing problems. Several variables are linked to sensory processing problems in autism, one of these variables is working memory. Working memory is part of the executive function which provides the necessary ability to completing multiple stages tasks. Method: This study has categorized in correlational research methods. After determining of entry criteria, according to purposive sampling method, 50 children were selected. Dunn’s sensory profile school companion was used for assessment of sensory processing patterns; behavioral rating inventory of executive functions was used (BRIEF) for assessment of working memory. Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression were used for data analyzing. Results: The results showed the significant relationship between sensory processing patterns (low registration, sensory seeking, sensory sensitivity and sensory avoiding) with working memory in autistic children. Conclusion: According to the findings, there is the significant relationship between the patterns of sensory processing and working memory. So, in order to improve the working memory could be used some interventions based on the sensory processing.

Keywords: sensory processing patterns, working memory, autism, autistic children

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Authors: Jou-An Chung

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the verb bias of the Mandarin verbs in children’s reading materials and provide the criteria for categorization. Verb bias varies cross-linguistically. As Mandarin and English are typological different, this study hopes to shed light on Mandarin verb bias with the use of corpus and provide thorough and detailed criteria for analysis. Moreover, this study focuses on children’s reading materials since it is a significant issue in understanding children’s sentence processing. Therefore, investigating verb bias of Mandarin verbs in children’s reading materials is also an important issue and can provide further insights into children’s sentence processing. The small corpus is built up for this study. The corpus consists of the collection of school textbooks and Mandarin Daily News for children. The files are then segmented and POS tagged by JiebaR (Chinese segmentation with R). For the ease of analysis, the one-word character verbs and intransitive verbs are excluded beforehand. The total of 20 high frequency verbs are hand-coded and are further categorized into one of the three types, namely DO type, SC type and other category. If the frequency of taking Other Type exceeds the threshold of 25%, the verb is excluded from the study. The results show that 10 verbs are direct object bias verbs, and six verbs are sentential complement bias verbs. The paired T-test was done to assure the statistical significance (p = 0.0001062 for DO bias verb, p=0.001149 for SC bias verb). The result has shown that in children’s reading materials, the DO biased verbs are used more than the SC bias verbs since the simplest structure of sentences is easier for children’s sentence comprehension or processing. In sum, this study not only discussed verb bias in child's reading materials but also provided basic coding criteria for verb bias analysis in Mandarin and underscored the role of context. Sentences are easier for children’s sentence comprehension or processing. In sum, this study not only discussed verb bias in child corpus, but also provided basic coding criteria for verb bias analysis in Mandarin and underscored the role of context.

Keywords: corpus linguistics, verb bias, child language, psycholinguistics

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Authors: Sarah E. Casey

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Epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder in children and approximately one-third of children with epilepsy have seizures that are uncontrolled on anticonvulsants alone. Cannabidiol is shown to be an effective treatment at reducing the amount of breakthrough seizures experienced by children with drug resistant epilepsy. Improvements in quality of life and overall condition were noted during cannabidiol treatment. Adverse side effects were experienced and were generally mild to moderate in nature. Additional double-blind, controlled studies with a more diverse sample population and standardized dosing are needed to ensure the efficacy and safety of cannabidiol use in children with drug resistant epilepsy.

Keywords: cannabis, drug resistant epilepsy, children, epilepsy

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