Development and Validation of the Material Values Scale for children

The aim of the study was to develop a scale to measure materialism, a tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort than spiritual values, to measure materialism among children. Richins and Dawson Material Values Scale was used as well with the Material Values Scale for children on 1001 children 8-11 years old. Previous studies have shown that gender and materialism have been found relatable due to the fact that boys are more materialistic than girls. Children who believe that possessions bring happiness and success are more likely to be unhappy because their expectations might not be fulfilled and peer group influence is negatively related to materialism due to the fact that children will continually compare themselves to others. The results showed that material centrality, material happiness, and material success are very important factor to materialism.

Reference :

Opree, S. J., Buijzen, M. A., Van Reijmersdal, E. A., & Valkenburg, P. (2011). Development and validation of the Material Values Scale for children (MVS-c). Personality and Individual Differences, 51(8), 963-968.

Video Gaming in School Children: How Much Is Enough?

Is video gaming a good thing for children? For some parent video gaming is the only thing that their child does while for other parents that is not one of the options in their child’s life. For the most part video gaming is not good or bad it just depends on the way that people see it. At a neural level, structural and functional brain changes associated with gaming use were most evident with respect to basal ganglia circuitry. It was shown in a study that playing video games for 1 hour per week was associated with faster and more consistent psychomotor responses to visual stimulation, while negative implications were clearly visible only in children at the extreme of our game-playing distribution, with 9 hours or more of video gaming per week. It was also stated that neuroimaging research now suggests that training with desktop virtual environments is also capable of modulating brain systems that support procedural learning. No matter how many studies are done parents are still going to allow their kids to play video games knowing that it will affect them later on in life.

 

                                         Reference:

Pujol, Fenoll, Forns, Harrison, Martínez‐Vilavella, Macià, . . . Sunyer. (2016). Video gaming in school children: How much is enough? Annals of Neurology, 80(3), 424-433.

Interactive technologies for preschool game-based instruction: Experiences and future challenges

There are many ways of interactive technologies for preschooler. Children play in many different ways and the benefits of game play in early childhood education have a variety of developmental milestones.  Cognitive and social-emotional growth is proven in studies of how children play, motivate, and enhance children’s growth. Technologies and games develop preschool children improve three dimensions of their development.  Using technology-aided learning activities to support preschool children, they rely on namely traditional computers, interactive surfaces, robots and other technologically-enhanced toys. Preschooler’s physical, socio-affective and intellectual abilities facilitated collaboration and engagement. They designed a care-receiving robot to give support in English learning to children, there have been many developments to help children with their skills. The tabletop’s form factor and size offers more opportunities for supporting collaboration between peers than the traditional computers do. Game technologies may have a real and noticeable Impact on preschool children. Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children are in their pre-operational phased of their development, interaction mechanism that been used in the past to support different forms of gameplay in preschool institutions. Gameplay affects the learning and user adaptation narrative or emotional experience when choosing or developing game experiences for the specific type of users. 

"Interactive Technologies for Preschool Game-based Instruction: Experiences and Future Challenges." Interactive Technologies for Preschool Game-based Instruction: Experiences and Future Challenges. Entertainment Computing, July-Aug. 201q6. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

Case study of gendered play in preschools: how early childhood educators’ perceptions of gender influence children’s play.

Case study of gendered play in preschools: how early childhood educators’ perceptions of gender influence children’s play.

Play is a very important factor on a child's growth.  The various types of play influence each part of a child’s body.  This article is based off of how gender roles might be displayed or braced during a child’s upbringing and the society they live in.  Gender is acknowledged as the social division of femininity and masculinity.  The differences in gender roles prosper in children at the early stages of life.  Educators and guardians also potentially influence the environment children play in, what children play with and how they engage in play.   Research has explained how gender is an obscure and perceptive area of discussion on how it is molded in individuals and the impact it has on society.  Early childhood education is the most important throughout a child's life.  What they learn at this point will be carried on within them throughout their growth and development.  Educators throughout these years play a significant role in supporting the acceptance of different people and cultures.  Would you want your kid to be left out of activities based on their physical features? Think about it and be a positive influence on your life and the life of others.

Reference

• Chapman, Rachel. (2016). A Case Study of Gendered Play in Preschools: How Early Childhood Educators' Perceptions of Gender Influence Children's Play. Early Child Development and Care, 186(8), 1271-1284.

How Technology is Transforming the Ways in Which Children Play

Play is essential for children's learning and is necessary in school. Play also helps children develop imagination and creativity which are major factors for the child's future cognitive and emotional development.There is a great concern over the amount of time that children spend with electronic devices. Although technology is prominent in the lives of the children; It has become a major concern. It could be an advantage or disadvantage depending on the way it's used. For instance, there has been research done that displays the concern that technology may affect other habits and activities like television watching, studying, free-time play, and sleeping. There was a study conducted to determine what activities preschoolers participated more in. The results showed that preschoolers were spending the same amount of time with technology as they were with traditional forms of play (non-technology). These results made parents realize that attention must be given to the role of play as it evolves. Times are changing and technology will continue to be a big part of the children's lives.

Slutsky, R., & Deshetler, L. (2016). How technology is transforming the ways in which children play. Early Child Development and Care, 1-9.

Can the neighborhood built environment make a difference in childrens development?

Have you ever heard the saying “You are what you eat”? When dealing with children and their environment it is the same concept due to the fact that your neighborhood is a reflection of you.  Neighborhoods are locations where children spend large periods of time outside of home and school. They help to set the trajectories for children ongoing physical, social, emotional and cognitive development. Children resemble sponges, they grasp onto everything they see and hear that is why it is important to have a safe and positive environment for them to grow. Having a livable and pedestrian-friendly neighborhood for children is gaining attention worldwide. It has been proven that when children live in a more walkable neighborhood, with well- connected streets with safe crossing points; footpaths, local destinations, and low traffic volumes and speeds are more likely to be physically active compared to those living in less walkable communities. Many say it takes a village to raise a child and they could not be more correct, having other people to go to for advice or even just a safe haven is important for a child’s development; it is a crucial part in whether or not a child will grow up a menace or respectable individual to society. Your neighborhood does shape you into who you are and who you will grow to be that it is why it is so important to be in a positive upbringing neighborhood and environment.

Reference 

Can the Neighborhood Built Environment Make a Difference in Children's Development? Building the Research Agenda to Create Evidence for Place-Based Children's Policy. (2016). Academic Pediatrics, 16(1), 10.

Curious play: Children's exploration of nature





The purpose of the article is to explain the concept of 'curious play' as a theoretical framework for understanding and discussing children's experiences. The concept of curious play emerged from three sources of inspiration: an ethnographically inspired study of children playing in nature; as a critique of risky play being the dominant discourse in research on children's play in nature; and from phenomenological and cultural-historical theories of children's play and their play environment. These theories recognize that children are born curious, and that environments invite children to engage with the world through playful explorations of many kinds. Most children have access to nature or green areas within a walking distance of their home; playing freely in nature environments is considered an important aspect of daily life and what it means to grow up. They seem to be curious when they are challenged by new or difficult tasks, and encounter physical challenges. Children grow by interacting and playing in and with their world, continually discovering new elements and information that influence their relationships, opinions and interpretations.