Literature Input Tables

Theme 2: Concern for Children’s Overall Development and Well Being due to Changes in Play in Modern Society

Theme 2: Literature Input Table 1

Article: Navigating the Neighborhood

Topic: Children’s Literature & Changes in Society

Date Retrieved/Used: February 7th 2018

Bib. Information Armstrong, J. (2001, Fall). Navigating the neighborhood. Riverbank Review, 4(3),
(APA Formatting): 4-5.

Author(s)
Affiliation:
Jennifer Armstrong – American children’s writer (fiction and non-fiction)

Type of Resource:
(Scholarly Article from Riverbrook Review (Magazine about children’s books)
/Trade/Other)

Summary of  The author begins the article by describing the community in which she lives
essential – claiming it has “almost every civic, cultural, and commercial institution”
information: (“can participate in civic life by walking, biking, or taking public transit”).
However, the author claims this is not the case in most neighborhoods –
despite this, it is still the predominant setting used in children’s literature
(p.4).
 Addresses cultural changes in children’s freedom (“children spend a large part
of their time subjected to the numbing tedium of the car and highway, or
waiting for their rides to vome. But very few realistic novels reflect this world
except to show its insidious effects. If this kind of car-bound tedium doesn’t
make for good fiction, how can anyone think it makes for a good childhood?”)
(p.5).
 Author claims that the majority of children’s literature (novels written today
and earlier time periods) are set in “a small, navigable community in which
the young protagonist moves around without adult assistance, supervision, or
mediation. Fictional kids interact freely with people who are different from
themselves in age, background, and lifestyle, including adults who are not
family members or teachers (a group that contemporary children are
frequently warned to avoid). But unencumbered by parents, mobile kids learn
how to comport themselves as citizens, not as aliens beamed in from the
housing subdivisions. They are able to develop naturally: they are not stunted
or confined. A traditional navigable community serves as a training ground for
adult life” (p.4).
 The author argues that many books set in the 20th century “have the feeling of
historical context; it’s a whiff of nostalgia from the good old days” (p.5).
Way in which this  Context depicted in children’s literature does not reflect the society children
source influences nowadays are growing up in – lack of freedom, worrying about strangers,
the field related to spending time travelling in cars.
 If children’s literature reflected modern society/childhood accurately, it may
your inquiry (ex.
result in a dull story that is not as appealing as a setting that reflects society and
 Literature Input Tables

Theme 2: Concern for Children’s Overall Development and Well Being due to Changes in Play in Modern Society

Math community values in the past.

teaching/learning
elementary)

Potential relevance 1. Describes lack of freedom children have in society today.

to your research 2. Setting, character’s engagement with environment does not reflect modern day
topic and study: society. Are characters free to engage in unsupervised activities, interact with
strangers?
3. What message does this communicate to children?
Stage of action List all stages of the action research process where this source will be used and
research where the briefly describe how it has informed your work.
source will be Background:
 To build researcher understanding of perceptions and views of children’s
used:
literature in the field.
 To build researcher understanding of what is depicted in children’s
literature.
 Identifies that society does not encourage children to engage in free
exploration, unsupervised activities.
Design:

Data Collection/Analysis Methodology:

Findings/Conclusions:
 Connect insights to findings.
Implications/Action Planning
 Key consideration when making recommendations – how to encourage
children to engage in exploration and play in today’s society.
 Literature Input Tables

Theme 2: Concern for Children’s Overall Development and Well Being due to Changes in Play in Modern Society

Theme 2: Literature Input Table 2

Newspaper Article: Junk culture ‘is poisoning our children’

Topic: Children’s Literature and Childhood

Date Retrieved/Used: February 8th 2018

Bib. Information Fenton, B. (2009, Sept 13). Junk culture ‘is poisoning our children.’ The
(APA Formatting): Telegraph. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1528642/Junk-
culture-is-poisoning-our-children.html?mobile=basic.

Author(s) Affiliation:

Ben Fenton - Journalist

Type of Resource:
(Scholarly National British daily broadsheet newspaper
/Trade/Other)

Summary of essential  Refers to children’s experts views of childhood as “a sinister cocktail of

information: junk food, marketing, over-competitive schooling and electronic
entertainment is poisoning childhood”
 Letter written to the Daily Telegraph by 110 teachers, psychologists,
children's authors and other experts call on the Government to act to
prevent the death of childhood.
 They write: "We are deeply concerned at the escalating incidence of
childhood depression and children's behavioral and developmental
conditions."
 "Since children's brains are still developing, they cannot adjust. . . to the
effects of ever more rapid technological and cultural change," they write.
 "They still need what developing human beings have always needed,
including real food (as opposed to processed "junk"), real play (as opposed
to sedentary, screen-based entertainment), first-hand experience of the
world they live in and regular interaction with the real-life significant
adults in their lives.
 "They also need time. In a fast-moving, hyper-competitive culture, today's
children are expected to cope with an ever-earlier start to formal
schoolwork and an overly academic test-driven primary curriculum.
 "It is like this giant elephant in all our living rooms, the fact that children's
development is being drastically affected by the kind of world they are
brought up in." "I think that is shocking. We must make a public statement
– a child's physical and psychological growth cannot be accelerated. "It
changes in biological time, not at electrical speed. Childhood is not a
race."(Sue Palmer, a former head teacher and author of Toxic Childhood)
 Mr Morpurgo said: "We have so much anxiety about children, their
protection, their care, their education, that this has developed into fear.
There is a fear around children, both from schools and politicians, which
has led to this target-driven education system. "That has put children into
an academic straitjacket from a very early age which restricts creativity and
 Literature Input Tables

Theme 2: Concern for Children’s Overall Development and Well Being due to Changes in Play in Modern Society

the enrichment of childhood." He condemned the "virtual play" represented

by electronic games and internet surfing. "That is where children are
getting their ideas from and I find it quite "toxic" and pretty scary for the
future."
 Jacqueline Wilson said: "We are not valuing childhood. I speak to children
at book signings and they ask me how I go through the process of writing
and I say, 'Oh you know, it's just like when you play imaginary games and
you simply write it all down'. "All I get is blank faces. I don't think children
use their imaginations any more."
 Baroness Greenfield is so concerned about the effect of technology on
children she has set up an all-party group in the Lords to look into it. The
other members are three former education secretaries, Baroness Williams,
Baroness Shephard and Baroness Morris.
Way in which this  Concerns in relation to everyday stresses of children’s lives – no time for
source influences the play.
field related to your  Focus on technology in society – effects on children’s lives.
inquiry (ex. Math
teaching/learning
elementary)

Potential relevance to 4. Concern for children in today’s society – no time for play, technological
your research topic advances.
and study: 5. Need to make an effort to ensure children engage in play.

Stage of action List all stages of the action research process where this source will be used
research where the and briefly describe how it has informed your work.
source will be used: Background:
 To build researcher understanding of current context of childhood in the
field.
Design:

Data Collection/Analysis Methodology:
 To inform formulating interview questions.
Findings/Conclusions:
 Link to depiction of play in children’s literature.
Implications/Action Planning:
 Role of teacher to encourage children to engage in play.