Attributes of democratic culture as represented in young children’s drawings
Democratic culture refers to a set of values, attitudes, and practices shared by citizens and institutions, without which democracy cannot exist. Preschools and schools have a core role in teaching and transmitting democratic culture as they offer most children their early encounters with the public...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2022-01-01
|
| Series: | Social Sciences and Humanities Open |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291122000262 |
| _version_ | 1797987544976064512 |
|---|---|
| author | Tuuli Lähdesmäki |
| author_facet | Tuuli Lähdesmäki |
| author_sort | Tuuli Lähdesmäki |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Democratic culture refers to a set of values, attitudes, and practices shared by citizens and institutions, without which democracy cannot exist. Preschools and schools have a core role in teaching and transmitting democratic culture as they offer most children their early encounters with the public realm that provides social environments for democratic culture. The aim of this article is to increase knowledge on democratic education of young children and creative means to implement it. The core questions raised are: How do young children understand their classroom social environment and their own role in it? Which of the children’s understandings of their classroom social environment reflect attributes of democratic culture? The data include 125 children’s drawings and their linguistic explanations of them collected from schools that implemented the Cultural Literacy Learning Programme in Cyprus, Israel, Lithuania, Portugal, and the UK. The method used is data-driven content analysis, including qualitative categorizing of the data, quantification of its core features, and a reflexive interpretation of the contents of the drawings. The study reveals how children aged 5–6 are able to elaborate on the ideas, principles, and practices of democratic culture, including participation, collaboration, negotiation, dialogue, listening, and expressing one’s own opinions. The analysis of the data elicited five thematic categories of how children think about social life in their classroom, approach democratic culture, and understand their role in practising it in school. The categories were based on the children’s approach to rules; suggestions taking the action either alone or as a member of a group; and views of the purpose and beneficiary of this action. The analysis revealed how drawing with peers is a multimodal and dialogic process of learning democratic culture. Children engage in dialogic chains of thinking not only in verbal, but also in visual interaction. Since the ability to participate in a dialogue is seen as a core skill in democratic education, educators should better recognize visual dialogic chains of thinking as a way for students to familiarize themselves with and practise democratic culture. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T07:50:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f877cf1baf6a4854b24cf5a78ae53c66 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2590-2911 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T07:50:01Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Sciences and Humanities Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-f877cf1baf6a4854b24cf5a78ae53c662022-12-22T04:36:08ZengElsevierSocial Sciences and Humanities Open2590-29112022-01-0161100272Attributes of democratic culture as represented in young children’s drawingsTuuli Lähdesmäki0Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, 40014, FinlandDemocratic culture refers to a set of values, attitudes, and practices shared by citizens and institutions, without which democracy cannot exist. Preschools and schools have a core role in teaching and transmitting democratic culture as they offer most children their early encounters with the public realm that provides social environments for democratic culture. The aim of this article is to increase knowledge on democratic education of young children and creative means to implement it. The core questions raised are: How do young children understand their classroom social environment and their own role in it? Which of the children’s understandings of their classroom social environment reflect attributes of democratic culture? The data include 125 children’s drawings and their linguistic explanations of them collected from schools that implemented the Cultural Literacy Learning Programme in Cyprus, Israel, Lithuania, Portugal, and the UK. The method used is data-driven content analysis, including qualitative categorizing of the data, quantification of its core features, and a reflexive interpretation of the contents of the drawings. The study reveals how children aged 5–6 are able to elaborate on the ideas, principles, and practices of democratic culture, including participation, collaboration, negotiation, dialogue, listening, and expressing one’s own opinions. The analysis of the data elicited five thematic categories of how children think about social life in their classroom, approach democratic culture, and understand their role in practising it in school. The categories were based on the children’s approach to rules; suggestions taking the action either alone or as a member of a group; and views of the purpose and beneficiary of this action. The analysis revealed how drawing with peers is a multimodal and dialogic process of learning democratic culture. Children engage in dialogic chains of thinking not only in verbal, but also in visual interaction. Since the ability to participate in a dialogue is seen as a core skill in democratic education, educators should better recognize visual dialogic chains of thinking as a way for students to familiarize themselves with and practise democratic culture.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291122000262Democratic cultureYoung childrenDrawingMeaning-makingDialogue |
| spellingShingle | Tuuli Lähdesmäki Attributes of democratic culture as represented in young children’s drawings Social Sciences and Humanities Open Democratic culture Young children Drawing Meaning-making Dialogue |
| title | Attributes of democratic culture as represented in young children’s drawings |
| title_full | Attributes of democratic culture as represented in young children’s drawings |
| title_fullStr | Attributes of democratic culture as represented in young children’s drawings |
| title_full_unstemmed | Attributes of democratic culture as represented in young children’s drawings |
| title_short | Attributes of democratic culture as represented in young children’s drawings |
| title_sort | attributes of democratic culture as represented in young children s drawings |
| topic | Democratic culture Young children Drawing Meaning-making Dialogue |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291122000262 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tuulilahdesmaki attributesofdemocraticcultureasrepresentedinyoungchildrensdrawings |