Abstract/Notes: MANZ conference 2008, Napier

Language: English

ISSN: 1178-6213, 2744-662X

Abstract/Notes: In this article, the author discusses how the JUCONI Foundation in Puebla, Mexico is helping children. (JUCONI is an acronym for "Junto con los Ninos", or "Together with the Children)." This Mexican nongovernmental organization (NGO) has been successfully working with distressed families and children in Puebla since 1989. For the JUCONI Foundation, success means breaking destructive cycles of poverty and abuse, and reintegrating children and parents into society, where it is possible for them to attain education and steady jobs. With a success rate greater than 80 percent, JUCONI has been recognized for its innovative work by such organizations as UNESCO, the World Bank, the European Union, the British government, and the International Youth Foundation. The JUCONI Foundation helps 350 children and 150 families a year. The JUCONI Day Center offers educational and therapeutic services to families and children (up to age 13) working in the markets and provides a Montessori model of education for children ages 18 months to 5 years. Children attend a child-friendly center where they engage in activities designed to foster their creativity, curiosity, and independence. Based upon the guiding principle of fostering a love of learning in children through self- and teacher-initiated experiences, the JUCONI Day Center benefited from the teachings of an experienced guide who played a key role in the implementation of the Montessori model. The Montessori model for the younger children prepares them for the challenges of public education. It is an integrated program designed to help the children realize their emotional, cognitive, social, and physical potential, so they can benefit more from the services available to them.

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Abstract/Notes: The focus of this research is the spiritual experience of young children in early childhood educational settings. Spirituality is included in the New Zealand early childhood curriculum, Te Whariki, but is a relatively unarticulated aspect of educational practice. In order to find out how spirituality is supported in early childhood educational contexts this qualitative case study research took place in three early childhood settings: a Montessori casa, a private preschool and a Steiner (Waldorf) kindergarten. The methods used in the research included participant observation, interviews and focus groups. The teachers were asked to make a video about spirituality to reflect their own context and photographs were taken in each setting. The metaphor of spiritual landscape is used in this research. In this landscape everyday experience merged with the spiritual to form the concept of everyday spirituality. The cultural theories of everyday life supported a realisation that ordinary daily activity can become wonderful and mysterious when the spiritual dimension is realised. The themes that emerged from analysis of the case studies are conceptualised as transformative aspects of learning and relationships. They are aspects of everyday spirituality identified as spiritual withness; spiritual inbetweenness; and the spiritually elsewhere. Representing spiritual experience is challenging. The thesis is written in narrative form and contains core narratives as prose and poems. Using writing as a means of discovery made communicating spirituality through the medium of words a possibility. Spirituality is proposed to be an inclusive concept that affirms a sense of connection and this thesis found that all pedagogical practices in early childhood settings have the potential to include a spiritual aspect. In Aotearoa New Zealand many children lead their everyday lives in the context of an early childhood environment that includes teachers and parents as part of that community. This thesis argues that when everyday spirituality permeates early childhood contexts that all aspects of the curriculum are realised and the spiritual experience of everyone connected to that setting is supported.

Language: English

Published: Palmerston North, New Zealand, 2007

Language: English

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: 31-40

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Japanese translation of "Il potenziale religioso".

Language: Japanese

ISSN: 0913-4220

Language: English

ISSN: 0959-4108

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Abstract/Notes: The 4 P’s creativity model (person, process, press, and product) underlines how creativity is strongly connected with the materials employed to conceive and realize a creative outcome. As a multiform construct, it invites a wide variety of approaches to the study of it. One of the most promising ways to address this issue is to connect it with cognitive development and related educational pathways, as creativity can be enhanced and stimulated in every child, leading to an improvement both at personal and societal level. Even if creativity is recognized and highly valued, there is still a lack of methods which can stimulate creativity in an effective way. Useful hints may come from the outstanding contributions of Piaget and Montessori who underlined that interaction with the physical world is a fundamental building block for cognitive development. In this paper, starting from these fixed points, we describe some creativity enhancing methods for children which give importance to the edge between digital and physical materials. Digital materials open new ways to the use and integration of physical materials with hybrid platforms which can be used in educational contexts. Together with this perspective we provide a description of the application of these methodologies to enhance creativity in children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

Language: English

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00755

ISSN: 1664-1078