Childrens Geographies

Re-Exploring Childhood Studies

by Anandini Dar

Co-authored with Patrick Cox

Contesting powerful knowledge: the primary geography curriculum as an articulation between academic and children's (ethno-) geographies, Curriculum Journal, 22:3, 317-335

by Fran Martin

Co-authored with Simon Catling, 2011.

The argument has been propounded that academic disciplines and school subjects provide a powerful, authoritative... more The argument has been propounded that academic disciplines and school subjects provide a powerful, authoritative knowledge which is key to enabling children to better understand the world in which they live. Inherent in this perspective is that children’s experience, knowledge and understanding are poorly formed and of limited everyday use and value. Yet it is appreciated that children’s naı ̈ve knowledge can be a pedagogic starting point to initiate them into academic subjects. While appreciating the purpose and roles of academic subjects, this article challenges these assumptions, arguing that children’s ethno-knowledges provide powerful learning bases of equivalent authority to subjects. Using the example of younger children’s everyday or ethno-geography, the case is that children bring to school powerful (geographical) knowledge of their own. This can and should be recognised and valued in dialogue with authoritative (geographical) subject knowledge, not as subservient to it. It is argued that this perspective goes beyond that of the child/subject co- construction of knowledge to interrelate the developmental nature of children’s everyday (geographical) learning with (geography) sense- of-subject evolution. This case is set in the context of geography but is applicable to other school subjects, where children’s and subjects’ powerful knowledges can mutually engage with and enhance each other.

Trees Talk; Are You Listening? Nature, Narrative and Children's Anthropocentric Place-Based Play

by Philip Waters

Published in journal, Children, Youth and Environments 2011

This paper describes a series of experimental play-based activities called “Narrative Journeys” piloted by the author... more This paper describes a series of experimental play-based activities called “Narrative Journeys” piloted by the author in his work at the Eden Project, UK, which are used to practically, imaginatively and socially connect children to the natural world, and thus encourage place-based learning and cultivate ecological literacy. It argues that anthropomorphic narratives, despite their seemingly human-centric values, can actually help combat the development of anthropocentric attitudes, by the careful framing of objects, collaborative and social action, and with the support of an environmentally sensitive facilitator.

Opening Spaces for Dialogue and Re-Envisioning Children’s Bathroom in a Preschool: Practitioner Research with Children on a Sensitive and Neglected Area of Concern

by Zsuzsa Millei

Zsuzsa Millei • Jannelle Gallagher
International Journal of Early Childhood Online First

Abstract:
Early years environments play a significant role in children’s sense of belonging, wellbeing and... more Abstract:
Early years environments play a significant role in children’s sense of belonging, wellbeing and learning. Yet, bathroom spaces have received minimal considerations as part of early years environments. Bathroom practices in early childhood settings are usually examined from medical and developmental perspectives, such as pathologies related to urinating and defecating, best practices of toilet training or the acquisition of appropriate toilet and hygiene habits. This paper explores participants’ accounts of the bathroom in one preschool setting in New South Wales (NSW) Australia. These accounts are articulated as critiques about the existing bathroom or as visions about an alternative bathroom space. The practitioner research with children project opened up spaces for dialogue and the perspectives offered by participants exceeded the literature and brought new ways to understand the bathroom as a social and cultural space and a space that is a part of a quality environment for children. Therefore, we not only argue that bathrooms deserve greater attention in early years settings, but also offer a brief agenda for research to potentially improve understandings and practices related to the bathroom.

Keywords:
children’s bathroom environment, practitioner research, researching with children, children’s wellbeing, early childhood curriculum and pedagogy

The predictors of children's geographical knowledge of other countries

by Martyn Barrett

Emotional geographies of young people's aspirations for adult life

by Gavin Brown

For the last decade, the aspirations of working class young people have been a significant policy concern in the UK,... more For the last decade, the aspirations of working class young people have been a significant policy concern in the UK, with a range of interventions being implemented to work on and ‘raise’ them (particularly through initiatives to widen participation in higher education). This paper considers the emotional geographies of young people’s aspirations. Interventions to ‘raise’ young people’s aspirations act on an emotional/affective level (creating ‘wow’ moments that affect their perceptions of what is possible) but seldom engage holistically with the full range of emotions that young people experience in relation to their imagined adult lives. The prioritisation of progression to higher education (and, by extension, professional careers) as the most acceptable ‘aspirations’ to have overlooks the wide range of other ambitions young people have for their adult lives (and how these often rest upon the desire for emotional security and happiness). This disconnection between working class young people’s aspirations and those promoted by policy interventions undermines efforts to inspire more working class teenagers to progress to HE and creates greater emotional risk for those that do so.

Children's Views of Independent Mobility

by Vivian Romero

In Pursuit of Nature: The Role of Nature in Adolescents' Lives

by Innisfree McKinnon

Impact of outdoor air pollution on the health of London’s children

by Giovanni Leonardi

Chemical Hazards and Poisons Report, Sept 2005
UK Health Protection Agency
page 32

History, entertainment, education and jiaoyü

by Stephanie Hemelryk Donald

Children's Independent Movement In the Local Environment

by Roger Mackett

The Therapeutic Value of Children's Everyday Travel

by Roger Mackett

Racial/Ethnic Socialization and Parental Involvement in Education as Predictors of Cognitive Ability and Achievement in African American Children

by Deborah J. Johnson

Appropriated Landscapes: The intrusion of technology and equipment into the homes and lives of families with a child with complex needs

by Andrew Moore

Kids in the City Study: Research design and methodology

by Suzanne Mavoa

Oliver M, Witten K, Kearns R, Mavoa S, Badland HM, Carroll P, Drumheller C, Tavae N, Asiasiga L, Jelley S, Kaiwai H, Opit S, Lin E, Sweetsur P, Moewaka Barnes H, Mason N, Ergler C (2011). Kids in the City Study: Research design and methodology. BMC Public Health, 11:587.

Background
Physical activity is essential for optimal physical and psychological health but substantial declines... more Background
Physical activity is essential for optimal physical and psychological health but substantial declines in children's activity levels have occurred in New Zealand and internationally. Children's independent mobility (i.e., outdoor play and traveling to destinations unsupervised), an integral component of physical activity in childhood, has also declined radically in recent decades. Safety-conscious parenting practices, car reliance and auto-centric urban design have converged to produce children living increasingly sedentary lives. This research investigates how urban neighborhood environments can support or enable or restrict children's independent mobility, thereby influencing physical activity accumulation and participation in daily life.

Methods
The study is located in six Auckland, New Zealand neighborhoods, diverse in terms of urban design attributes, particularly residential density. Participants comprise 160 children aged 9-11 years and their parents/caregivers. Objective measures (global positioning systems, accelerometers, geographical information systems, observational audits) assessed children's independent mobility and physical activity, neighborhood infrastructure, and streetscape attributes. Parents' and children's neighborhood perceptions and experiences were assessed using qualitative research methods.

Discussion
This study is one of the first internationally to examine the association of specific urban design attributes with child independent mobility. Using robust, appropriate, and best practice objective measures, this study provides robust epidemiological information regarding the relationships between the built environment and health outcomes for this population.

'A dog who I know quite well': everyday relationships between children and animals

by Becky Tipper

Tipper, B. (2011) Children’s Geographies, 9(2): 145-165.

Adult discourses often represent relationships between children and animals as beneficial for children's psycho-social... more Adult discourses often represent relationships between children and animals as beneficial for children's psycho-social development or as reflecting a 'natural' connection between children and animals. In contrast, this paper draws on recent work in sociology and geography where human-animal relationships are seen as socially situated and where conventional constructions of the human-animal boundary are questioned. Focussing on children's own perspectives on their connections with animals, it is argued that these relationships can also be understood within the social and relational context of children's lives. It is argued that this 'relational' orientation to children's relationships with animals might significantly enhance our understanding of children's lives and also open up ways of thinking about the place of animals in children's (and adults') social lives.

Youth, society and mobile media in asia (coll media, culture and social change in asia series)

by Stephanie Hemelryk Donald

The Right to the City: Social Justice and the Representation of Urban Space in Selected U.S. Children's Books

by Kimberly Black

32nd International IBBY Congress: The Strength of Minorities
Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain 8-12 September 2010
Link to paper: http://www.ibbycompostela2010.org/descarregas/12/12_IBBY2010_20.pdf

Mayhew, E., Uprichard, E., Beresford, B., Ridge, T. and Bradshaw, J. (2004) 'Children and Childhood in the United Kingdom ' in Jensen, A.-M., Ben-Arieh, A., Contin, A, Kutsar, D., Phádraig, M., and Neilsen, H. (eds) Children's Welfare in Ageing Europe. Norwegian Centre for Child Research: Vol. 1, 410-457.

by Emma Uprichard

'The Terrible Twos': Gaining Control In the Nursery?

by Lesley Gallacher