Consequences of Covid-19 on the Social Isolation of the Chinese Economy: Accounting for the Role of Reduction in Carbon Emissions

The main contribution of the present study to the energy literature is linked to the interaction between economic growth and pollution emission amidst globalization. Unlike other studies, this research explores the effect of economic and social isolation as a dimension of globalization. This allows underpinning the effects on the Chinese economic development of the isolation phenomenon as a consequence of coronavirus (COVID-19). To this end, annual time frequency data is used to achieve the hypothesized claims. The study resolutions include (i) The existence of a long-run equilibrium bond between the outlined variables (ii) The long-run estimates suggest that the Chinese economy over the investigated period, is inelastic to pollutant–driven economic growth as reported by the dynamic ordinary least squares, fully modified ordinary least squares and canonical regressions with a magnitude of 0.09%. (iii) The Chinese isolation is less responsive to its economic growth while the country political willpower is elastic as demonstrated by current government commitment to dampen the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is marked by the aggressive response on the government officials resolute by flattening the exponential impact of the pandemic. Based on these robust results some far-reaching policy implication(s) are underlined in the concluding remark section

Teachers' pictorial representations of the scientist

Research concerning the conceptions of non-experts (mainly students and teachers) about the nature of science has focused over the last decades on their images of scientists. Specifically, studies concentrating on teachers' relevant conceptions are particularly critical, since their images of scientists affect their teaching practices, forming a 'hidden curriculum'. Thus, the teachers who adopt stereotypical images of scientists and their activity are likely to induce negative attitudes towards science and scientists to students, which in turn affect the students' future personal, professional and social aspirations. The study presented in this chapter aims at determining a) the extent to which Greek teachers adopt a stereotypical model of the scientist and b) the types of activities they consider to be scientific. The sample consisted of 240 teachers, either pre-service, or in-service (primary, secondary, tertiary, and vocational education teachers). The method used draws on the 'DAST' ('Draw-A-Scientist-Test') technique ('DAST', Chambers, 1983; She, 1998). The participants were originally asked to individually draw a male or female scientist in their workplace and subsequently to produce a second drawing representing a scientist of the opposite sex. The analysis of the collected data indicates that the teachers hold stereotypic images of scientists. Moreover, a variety of activities (relevant to science, as well as to medicine, teaching, informatics, or law) are considered by them as scientific. Furthermore, interesting differentiations appear in the stereotypic model of the scientist according to teachers' sex, represented scientist's sex, type of scientific activity, and teachers' professional status (pre-service or in-service, and level of education they are employed in). The discussion of the results allows for valuable conclusions and implications for teacher education aiming at inspiring a more appropriate, meaningful and egalitarian image of science and scientists as well as improving teachers' attitudes towards them. © 2009 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved

‘A smile stands for health and a bed for illness’: Graphic cues in children’s drawings

Objective: The study aimed to investigate whether children use specific types of graphic cues (facial, postural, contextual) in their drawings of healthy and ill persons and whether these cues differ as a function of age. Design: Cross-sectional design. Setting: A public primary school in a medium-sized city in Greece. Method: A total of 200 children in the age group of 5, 7, 9 and 11 years were first asked to define the terms under investigation, and then to draw a healthy and an ill person, as well as a baseline drawing (of a person neither healthy nor ill). Human figure drawings of health and illness were compared with their baseline drawing in an attempt to detect possible alterations in the (1) face, (2) body and (3) overall context of the drawing. Results: From the age of 5 years onwards, children were able to use a combination of graphic cues to convey health and illness in their drawings. Moreover, children in all age groups more often (1) employed facial cues to depict illness and health, (2) used more postural and contextual cues to depict illness than health, (3) introduced a variety of contextual cues in their drawings (e.g. linguistic, nutritional, environmental, physical and medical) and (4) used more types of graphic cues as well as more categories of contextual cues to depict illness than health. Finally, it was found that the drawings of the 5-year-old children involved significantly fewer graphic cues than those of the 7- and 11-year-olds, and significantly less contextual cues than the drawings produced by the 9- and 11-year-olds. Conclusion: Study findings shed light on the way children perceive and represent graphically illness and health and these are discussed in relation to their implications for health education. © The Author(s) 2019

Drawing a scientist: using the Emo-DAST to explore emotional aspects of children’s images of scientists

Background: There is a long research tradition on students’ images of scientists based on their drawings. However, the dimension of scientists’ emotions, as a critical aspect of these images has not been thoroughly investigated. Purpose: The present study aims to investigate scientists’ emotions as depicted in children’s drawings to shed light on less explored aspects of the complex construct of the image of scientists. Sample: 245 boys and girls divided into three age groups with a mean age of 5, 8, and 11 years, participated in the study. Design and methods: In this cross-sectional design, participants were first asked to draw a scientist experiencing an emotion and to produce a control drawing (a person feeling nothing) and then to describe their drawing of the scientist, to label and to justify the depicted emotion. The drawings of the scientists were rated against their controls to identify the graphic cues employed to denote the depicted emotions. Results: Data analysis showed that children in all age groups mainly attributed positive emotions to scientists, which they primarily associated with scientists’ self-efficacy. The vast majority of children altered the scientist’s facial expression to denote the intended emotion, while other types of cues were less frequently used. Justifications of the emotions attributed to scientists varied as a function of age, indicating that as they get older children seem to acquire a broader and more sophisticated image of scientists’ emotions. Conclusion: By shifting the focus on drawing the emotions prompted by scientific work, this study provides a novel, complementary perspective to the kaleidoscopic construct of students’ image of scientists. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

American and Greek Children’s Visual Images of Scientists: Enduring or Fading Stereotypes?

This study explores American and Greek primary pupils’ visual images of scientists by means of two nonverbal data collection tasks to identify possible convergences and divergences. Specifically, it aims to investigate whether their images of scientists vary according to the data collection instrument used and to gender. To this end, 91 third-grade American (N = 46) and Greek (N = 45) pupils were examined. Data collection was conducted through a drawing task based on Chambers (1983) ‘Draw-A-Scientist-Test’ (DAST) and a picture selection task during which the children selected between 14 pairs of illustrations those that were most probable to represent scientists. Analysis focused on stereotype indicators related with scientists’ appearance and work setting. Results showed that the two groups’ performance varied significantly across the tasks used to explore their stereotypic perceptions, although the overall stereotypy was not differentiated according to participants’ ethnic group. Moreover, boys were found to use more stereotypic indicators than girls, while the picture selection task elicited more stereotypic responses than the drawing task. In general, data collected by the two instruments revealed convergences and divergences concerning the stereotypic indicators preferred. Similarities and differences between national groups point to the influence of a globalized popular culture on the one hand and of the different sociocultural contexts underlying science curricula and their implementation on the other. Implications for science education are discussed. © 2016, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Children’s conceptions of coronavirus

The present study aimed to examine children’s conceptions of coronavirus as denoted in their verbal descriptions and drawings and whether these vary as a function of children’s age and the mode of expression. Data were collected in Greece during spring 2020 and 344 children aged 4 to 10 years were first asked to verbally describe coronavirus and then to produce a drawing of it. Content analysis of data revealed the following main themes: (a) Coronavirus, (b) Medical, (c) Psychological, and (d) Social. Results showed that children from an early age present a remarkable level of understanding of coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease as a multidimensional construct, which can be designated not only through characteristics of the Sars-Cov-2 but also through its medical, social, and psychological consequences on people’s lives. Moreover, children were found to emphasize different aspects of this construct depending on their age and the mode of expression. © The Author(s) 2021