Using examples from family letters sent to the Department of Education's Elementary Correspondence School (ECS) in the western Canadian province of British Columbia in the early twentieth century, this article discusses three potential problems or traps associated with concepts of agency in the history of children and youth. Following a brief…

In this article, the authors suggest that current notions of advocacy in early childhood education should be expanded to include a view of young children as citizens. The authors ground their discussion in a how-to book project in Providence, Rhode Island, consider different concepts of children and citizenship, share commentary from City Hall and…

This paper's starting point is the dynamic changes and shifts in the field of measuring and monitoring children's well being. In the paper we focus on one specific change--the "new" role of children in measuring and monitoring their own well being--a role of active participants rather than of subjects for research. We then turn to present based on…

This article describes the findings from a qualitative study that explored the views of a small group of Australian children about their involvement in decision-making processes following their parents' separation. Sixteen children, aged between seven and 17 years, participated in in-depth interviews that focused on their understandings of the…

Analyzes how parents and children perceive and experience commercial playground environments, how such environments are marketed to them, and how they make use of them. Considers the marginal role children play in the production and visitation of these environments, and that the playgrounds provide primarily for the needs of adults. (JPB)

Discusses the five shortcomings of environmental education: (1) uses top-down and center-to-periphery teaching model; (2) does not lead to action competence; (3) lacks authenticity; (4) the record of success in changing children's attitudes and values is questionable; and (5) the context must facilitate participation and change. Offers four models…

Considers homework as an issue in the effort to define children's role as active participants in their lives. Notes the tension created as children attempt to find a place for themselves in their families and schools, the debates about children's rights, and the prescriptive approach of public policy toward homework. (JPB)

Presents an annotated bibliography for children in kindergarten through grade six. The titles in this bibliography focus not on world problems but more on the child's everyday world, particularly in the home and community. They positively strengthen and reinforce children's own world views and illustrate active roles children can play. (BB)

Examines the effects of television on children and asserts that its most serious consequence may be the erosion of the dividing line between childhood and adulthood. (APM)

Reflects on idea of representing children politically and socially or culturally, drawing on themes emerging from the United Kingdom's ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) Children 5-16 Programme, a research initiative focusing on children as social actors. Explores children as research subjects, documentation of "children's…

Reports three case studies on the position of children within adult institutions, focusing on difficulties surrounding children speaking for themselves. Argues that adult institutions are unable to decide the status of children's utterances, and that institutional deferral pushes the burden of ambiguity onto children's shoulders, thereby making…

Presents a model of parent, child, and parent-child variables as they influence children's academic achievement; discusses reciprocity of parent-child interactions; and presents preliminary findings of a study that simultaneously considered data from each component of the model. Analysis supported the model. (SKC)

Today childhood takes place within a multimedia context where education, marketing and entertainment operate together in one big melting pot. Childhood is commodified, a situation not everybody seems happy with. Due to increasing exposure with violence and sexual activities, for example in children's games, children seem to lose the chance to be…

Presents the findings from a study in which children acted as art museum tour guides for their adult pre- and in-service teachers. Focuses on the children's conceptions of museums, art museum rules, and tour guides; the children's interpretations of artworks; and the learning outcomes. (CMK)

The idea that children are not objects nor subjects but participants constitutes children as social actors with a part to play in their own educational processes and research connected to these processes. As a consequence, there is growing awareness that knowledge about children should be constituted on the basis of listening and hearing them.…