6992 research outputs found
Sort by
Preschool children's views on body image
Get PDFThe thesis Views of preschool children on body image examines the views of preschool children on their own body image and the body image of others.
In the theoretical part, I first focus on self-image, its development and importance for human beings. I further focus on one of the extremely important aspects of self image, namely body image, which has a profound impact on each individual's experience of the world and of life in general. Due to the importance of the factors that influence the development of (body) self-image, our behavior and well-being, I then focus on society, its ideals and expectations of girls/boys or women/men. In addition to social ideals and the definition of gender differences in the development of (body) self-image, I also focus on analyzing other factors (age, parents, peers, media, preschool teachers and teachers) that contribute to the development of an individual's (body) self-image.
The results of research carried out abroad in this field are worrying, while in Slovenia they are insufficient or non-existent. For this reason, I conducted a survey among Slovenian preschool children to find out: how satisfied Slovenian children are with their body image; whether they choose friends to play based on their physical appearance; whether they may have a negative attitude towards people with a heavier body image; whether they judge persons by their physical appearance, and whether they are aware of the teasing of another on the basis of his/her body image.
The results described in the empirical part of the thesis show that preschool children are already aware of the demands of society and its ideals. Namely, some five- and six-year-old children expressed dissatisfaction with their own body image and desire for a slimmer or heavier physique. The results further show that children would mostly choose people with a slimmer body image as a playmate. Children attributed the most negative and very few positive personality traits to heavier people. They expressed their own internalized negative beliefs towards heavier body images. It has also been shown that some children already understand and are aware of the teasing of others because of their body image. Nevertheless, it is encouraging that children did not always focus on the physical appearance of persons, but showed that they also see more than just appearance on an individual
The function of humor in fine arts
Get PDFThere are many functions of humour in visual art. Humour affacts the way we perceive an artwork and makes us think. When it empowers the members of the audience and connects them we are talking about relational art. Humour can establish the distance that enables us to see a certain problem from a different perspective. Art critics often disregard and not aknowledge the humorous side of an artwork, describing it instead. Humour in relation with satire is the key for social criticism. With recognition of different functions of humour, we can better understand its power and use it more effectively in visual art. Only quality humour can overpower the widespread entertainment of western culture and add a special value to an artwork
Transformations in Euclidean Geometry
Get PDFIn this diploma thesis, we discuss geometric transformations. Being such a broad concept, the focus is only on transformations in Euclidean geometry. Before considering transformations, we look at axioms of planar Euclidean geometry that are the basis for exploring transformations. Isometries represent a special type of transformations that are subject to special properties. Beside isometries, we consider two other types of transformations. These are dilations and inversions in circles. In conclusion, we look at the possibility of changing the foundations of Euclidean geometry with a transformational approach
Exploring the senses through dance in the first years
Get PDFMovement is a human’s primary need, which we need to promote from the earliest years. Already as newborns, we discover the world through our body and communicate with it. In my dissertation I focused on a toddler’s dance creation. At the beginning, this is based on the acquisition of basic movements, which we gradually upgrade and connect with the elements of dance – time, energy and space.
In the beginning of the theoretical part, the movement and its analysis are defined. Since movement and dancing are closely related, I defined the difference between them and described the elements of dance. The dance in the past and today is also briefly described, which I linked to my own experience. Next, I have described the importance of dance incentives for creation, key developmental characteristics of toddlers, the senses and the sense organs, their development in the earliest years and concluded the theoretical part with the connection between the senses and dancing.
The empirical part describes the practical connection between the senses and dancing. 5 activities are described and evaluated – in each of them the research of one of the five senses is in the forefront. I performed them in a group of children, aged 2–3 years. Through the activities I presented some examples of how we encourage the exploration of the senses through dancing and through the implementation I found out how toddlers react to such activities, how they experience them and what stimulated them the most to dance-movement creation.
Although toddlers still need a lot of external incentives, especially when exploring the senses, they responded very well to incentives, communicated with me and their peers with their bodies, and were creative to the best of their ability
Impact of technical activities with wooden materials on children`s introduction to kindergarten
Get PDFUpon entering the kindergarten, the child encounters enormous changes, which triggers much distress in him. It is a time when he is for a long time separated from his parents for the first time, and he also has to adapt to a new environment, new people and the new rhythm of life. During this time, educators must be willing to establish new bonds with children and create an environment where they will feel comfortable. The material and toys placed in the playroom will make it easier for children to adapt as they will play with it.
In the pre-school period, play is the primary way of a child's development and learning. During this period, the child loves to experiment with new objects, and through the grip, he learns about their various properties and information. During this time, as he explores something he is not yet familiar with, he also gets distracted. He temporarily forgets that he has separated from his parents for the first time and that they are not present in the group. With the help of the educator, in his game, they can begin to build a bond with each other, which is necessary to facilitate adaptation to the new environment and build trust.
In the diploma thesis, we focused on wood, which is a natural material, but gentle and warm to the touch, thus affecting the individual's well-being. Therefore, we want to encourage educators to make greater use of all wood materials at the early inclusion of children in kindergarten. The wood has the function of calming down children. Furthermore, we would encourage all educators to step outside their framework and introduce technical education to the youngest children.
The diploma thesis consists of theoretical and empirical work. In the theoretical part, we present the developmental characteristics of children aged 1-2 years and their play, introducing children to kindergarten, technical education for the youngest and critical information about wood, which is good to know when using this material.
The empirical part includes the analysis of a questionnaire. We wanted to find out educators' attitudes regarding the introduction of children to kindergarten with the help of wood materials, how many times they use different wood materials and if wood as a material makes sense in kindergarten. The second part presents a diary of records of the 14 days of observation of children who experimented with different wood materials during the introduction to the kindergarten. Based on observations and detailed records, we also evaluated the introduction of wood materials during the introduction.
We have found that educators find it essential to introduce wood materials during a child's introduction to kindergarten, but they often do not do this themselves. They still stick to familiar things, offering children only structured wooden material (toys). The rest they do not find suitable for the youngest (home-made toys and unstructured wooden material). However, they see many advantages in wood as a natural material that calms down children and develops imagination and curiosity. Through the introduction of wood materials during the introduction to the kindergarten, we offered the children something new, unknown, something with which they could explore indefinitely and at the same time feel good. In addition, we have now shown educators that children feel good around wood and that it is suitable for them from the very beginning
Kinetic sculpture under the influence of the natural force of light
Get PDFArtists began to incorporate movement into their work from different motives and with different goals, each in their own way adding a whole new aesthetic and perceptual dimension of infinite dimensions to traditional art. Art that uses and deals with movement is called kinetic art. Kinetic art relates directly to movement and incorporates it into the work of art. Such work is dynamic and constantly changing. The element of movement is responsible for radical metamorphoses in our way of visualising the external and internal world. ( Kepes, 2002 ) In my thesis I explore the connection between art and nature in the form of a kinetic sculpture. I focus on movement as a consequence of natural forces and phenomena and on the aspects of chance and indeterminacy. I address the artistic field of sculpture by exploring not only different concepts but also different materials and sculptural techniques. In the theoretical part, I present the main concepts related to kinetic art, the history and development of this art, its pioneers and important representatives. I also briefly present Slovenian representatives in this field and contemporary solutions. In particular, I focus on the natural phenomenon of light and the visual effects of light movement; reflection, shadow, flicker, beam, reflection. Light fascinates me because of its invisible power; it is the source of all our visible world, and at the same time it is the most intangible and immaterial natural element (Pirc, 2010). It is incredibly sublime, unobtrusive and has an incredible impact on the viewer.
In the practical part I presented my artistic practice through which I explored kinetic sculpture under the influence of the natural phenomenon of light. I present different kinetic sculptures that I have placed in different environments. I explore the different modes of movement; actual and purely visual, that a stationary sculpture achieves through the movement of light. I have been concerned with the perception of the viewer - the passer-by and their reaction to the sculptural intervention in urban space
Quality of life of children and adolescents with cochlear implant
Get PDFGood hearing is of key importance when it comes to the speech and language development of a child. Such development is related to and can therefore influence other development fields, such as an individual's social, cognitive, and personal development. Nowadays, early hearing screenings are essential to identifying the status of hearing ability in infants, while modern technology and early intervention significantly influence the speech and language development of a deaf child. One of the hearing aids is a cochlear implant which helps deaf children sense sound. Children and adolescents with cochlear implant are increasingly often integrated into adapted school programmes with additional professional assistance where they are included among hearing peers. Cochlear implant allows the children to reach age-appropriate milestones in their speech and language communication which improves their quality of life.
For the empirical part of the thesis, we used a questionnaire, designed specifically for purposes of our research, to establish how deaf children and adolescents, who have cochlear implant and are included in adapted school programmes with additional professional assistance, evaluate their quality of life in comparison to their hearing peers. The questionnaire consists of five areas that greatly influence the quality of life during childhood and adolescence: physical well-being, general well-being and self-image, family, friendship, and school. In the sample, we included forty-six children and adolescents aged eight to fifteen. Twenty-three of these are deaf children and adolescents with cochlear implant who attend an adapted school programme with additional professional assistance, while the other twenty-three children and adolescents experienced typical development and have no hearing difficulties. Through our research, we concluded that deaf children and adolescents with cochlear implant evaluate their general quality of life similar to their hearing peers. Their evaluation of physical well-being and family is slightly worse than that of their hearing peers; however, they evaluated the areas of friendship and school better than their hearing peers did. Despite marginally different results in certain areas, we did not find any statistically important differences in the evaluation of individual areas nor in evaluating the general quality of life between the two groups
Development and validation of a framework for the assessment of school curricula on the presence of evolutionary concepts (FACE)
Get PDFEvolution is a key concept of biology, fundamental to understand the world and address important societal problems, but research studies show that it is still not widely understood and accepted. Several factors are known to influence evolution acceptance and understanding, but little information is available regarding the impacts of the curriculum on these aspects. Very few curricula have been examined to assess the coverage of biological evolution. The available studies do not allow comparative analyses, due to the different methodologies employed by the authors. However, such an analysis would be useful for research purposes and for the development of appropriate educational poli‑cies to address the problem of a lack of evolution acceptance in some countries. In this paper we describe the steps through which we developed a valid and reliable instrument for curricula analysis known as FACE: “Framework to Assess the Coverage of biological Evolution by school curricula.” This framework was developed based on the “Under‑standing Evolution Conceptual Framework” (UECF). After an initial pilot study, our framework was reformulated based on identified issues and experts’ opinions. To generate validity and reliability evidence in support of the framework, it was applied to four European countries’ curricula. For each country, a team of a minimum of two national and two for‑eign coders worked independently to assess the curriculum using this framework for content analysis. Reliability evi‑dence was estimated using Krippendorf ’s alpha and resulted in appropriate values for coding the examined curricula. Some issues that coders faced during the analysis were discussed and, to ensure better reliability for future research‑ers, additional guidelines and one extra category were included in the framework. The final version of the framework includes six categories and 34 subcategories. FACE is a useful tool for the analysis and the comparison of curricula and school textbooks regarding the coverage of evolution, and such results can guide curricula development
Revision of Myosotis arvensis agg. in Slovenia
Get PDFThe genus of forget-me-nots (Myosotis) belongs to the family of borages (Boraginaceae). The genus includes approximately 100 different species. Most of these can be found in temperate climate; however some species also grow in the mountainous parts of the tropics. For the purpose of this master's thesis, I studied the group of Field forget-me-nots in Slovenia in detail. The group consists of three forget-me-not species (M. arvensis (L.) Hill, M. ramosissima Rochel in Schultes and M. stricta Link ex Roemer & Schultes). The two most important goals of the research were to find key morphological characteristics to distinguish the species from the Field forget-me-not group between one another, and to determine where in Slovenia these species grow. In our research we used the herbarium specimens from the herbarium of University of Ljubljana (LJU) which were previously identified as one of the Field forget-me-not species. The data from herbarium labels were collected in a table to which we also added some other information that helped us with the selection of an appropriate sample for our measurements. We defined 17 different morphological characteristics in the selected sample (14 numerical and 4 descriptive), most of which can also be found in relevant literature. We established that the most important distinguishing features between the species are the characteristics of the nutlet, the pedicels of calyxes with already developed nutlets, and the calyx. The distinguishing features of nutlets that have proved useful are: length and width of the nutlet, width and height of the attachment area, position of the attachment area, length from the nutlet base to its widest part, the shape and symmetry of the nutlet, presence of the rim (edge) on the nutlet, and, though only conditionally, also the colour of the nutlet. We found out that also the length of the pedicel of the calyx with developed nutlets and its growing angle between the pedicel of the calyx and the stem are two other valuable distinguishing features. Two distinguishing characteristics of the calyx during the fruiting period are the shape of calyx lobes, and the openness and closing of the calyx. However, the measured features of the flowers did not prove to be among the most suitable ones for species identification – the only distinguishing feature that proved appropriate was the measurement of the width of the corolla. After the completion of the measurements and data processing we created a dichotomous key for species identification. In the end we also revised the rest of the herbarium material and created new maps of species distribution in Slovenia using the herbarium specimens from the herbarium LJU. We confirmed that all three species of Filed forget-me-nots were present in Slovenia. The most widespread species is M. arvensis (L.) Hill, whereas the rarest (with only one specimen in the herbarium LJU) is M. stricta Link ex Roemer & Schultes
Comparison and analysis of violence in the fairy tales of the Grimm brothers and Svetlana Makarovič
Get PDFThe diploma thesis Comparison and Analysis of Violence in the Fairy Tales of the Grimm Brothers and Svetlana Makarovič begins with a presentation of youth literature, which includes the fairy tale. It details the types of fairy tales and their main features. This is followed by an examination of the topic of violence and its forms, with an emphasis on child abuse, particularly the topic of violence in fairy tales. The theoretical part is concluded with a description of the lives and works of the authors, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and Svetlana Makarovič.
The thesis continues with a description and detailed analysis of the five selected fairy tales by each author. The selected fairy tales for Brothers Grimm are The Two Brothers, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Snow-White and Rose-Red, and The Golden Bird, and for Svetlana Makarovič Kokoška Emilija, Sapramiška, Ščeper in mba, Šuško in gozdni dan, and Tacamuca.
The main section of the diploma thesis includes tables that show the forms of violence, examples of motifs of violence in the selected fairy tales, and the interpretations of violence.
The purpose of the diploma thesis is to present a comparison of the presence of the motifs of violence in fairy tales by the same author, followed by a comparison of the presence of the motifs of violence in fairy tales by different authors