Massey Documents by Type

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/294

Browse

Filters

2004 - 20062

Settings

Has files: YesSubject: search.filters.subject.Children -- Attitudes

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Co-constructing early adolescent education through image-based research : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University, Palmerston North
    (Massey University, 2006) Nelson, Emily Jane
    Professional literature reporting the needs and characteristics, both educational and developmental of early adolescents presents a compelling case that students of this age group are distinct and require the development of a unique educational approach to best support their needs as learners and young people. Although much has been written about these students, little has been written with them, and even fewer studies have involved students themselves as co-researchers to investigate their own experience and understandings. The research reported in the thesis describes the implementation into practice of an image-based research methodology with early adolescent students themselves constructing and articulating their voice as the core focus of the research. The research was predicated on the belief that 'student voice' is the element vital in an educational approach developmentally responsive to students of this age group, and an element all too often missing. Extended Visual Dialogue, the methodological approach devised to implement the research, was employed to conduct exploratory voice research with 38 early adolescent students in Years 7 and 8, across three participating schools in 2004. The approach combined elements from the research genres of voice research, participatory action research and image-based research and the students used a combination of auto-photography (participant-generated photography) and photo elicitation interviews to investigate how they perceive school and learning, perceive their identity as young persons and learners, and perceive the world in which they live. Through the processes of the research progressively, the students shared their perspectives with the adult researcher and brought themselves, and the researcher, to a deeper understanding of their unique point of view as learners in our schools, and as young persons in their own right. The findings of the research revealed the sound understanding the students have about their educational and personal needs, preferences, and agendas, and organised these into a framework representing the perspective of the students, accessible to their teachers as key stimulus for their development as distinctly middle level practitioners and their schools as authentic middle level education providers.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    "Food's yum" : primary school children's constructions of food and healthy food messages : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2004) Sargisson, Julie Michelle
    In the current climate of increasing child obesity levels, and the accompanying media constructions of child obesity, improving children's eating behaviours is the focus of much attention. Traditional methods of promoting healthy eating have had limited success in improving eating behaviours, in part because they do not adequately address the social and environmental complexities associated with food and eating. This study adopts a discursive approach to examine the ways in which children construct food and make meaning of food in their everyday lives. A discursive analysis of conversations from small groups of 9-11 year old children about food, with an emphasis on healthy food, resulted in the identification and reporting of the use of four of the interpretative repertoires drawn on by the children: sensory, nutrition, natural and healthism. I describe the ways in which the children draw upon these repertoires to construct food as an object and to use food as a social marker and personal identifier. By drawing on multiple discourses in their constructions of food, the children demonstrate the socially negotiated nature of food. Unlike previous studies examining children's food preferences and eating habits, these children indicate that they are interested in healthy eating, however this position is negotiated rather than static. The strong presence of the healthism discourse in the conversations indicates that children are receiving healthy food messages, but emphasises that these messages form one part of a complex social negotiation of food practices and are used for the children's own social purposes. The children's focus on the responsibility of individuals to maintain health indicates that some of the concern that health promotion messages create a morality around health behaviours is justified.