Conceptualising quality early childhood education:Learning from young children in Brazil and South Africa through creative and play-based methods

Early childhood has increasingly been acknowledged as a vital time for all children. Inclusive and quality education is part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with the further specification that all children have access to quality pre-primary education. As early childhood education (ECE) has expanded worldwide, so have concerns about the quality of ECE provision, including whether its pedagogy is culturally meaningful and contextually appropriate. While these issues are much debated in themselves, often missing is a key stakeholder group for such discussions: young children. Young children have critical insights and perspectives of key importance for ensuring quality ECE. This article addresses how quality ECE can be conceptualised, through reflections on creative and play-based methods with young children, used in a cross-national project titled Safe Inclusive Participative Pedagogy. The article draws on community case studies undertake by two of the country teams in Brazil and South Africa. In contexts where children's participation is not necessarily familiar in ECE settings nor understood by key stakeholders, the fieldwork shows that children can express their views and experiences through using creative and play-based methods. We argue that these methods can become part of a critical pedagogy through ECE settings, where ECE practitioners, children and other key stakeholders engage in ongoing, challenging and transformative dialogue. In turn, critical pedagogy has the potential to strengthen local practices, challenge top-down approach, and foster quality safe, inclusive, participative early years education.</p

New rat model that phenotypically resembles autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease

Numerous murine models of polycystic kidney disease (PKD) have been described. While mouse models are particularly well suited for investigating the molecular pathogenesis of PKD, rats are well established as an experimental model of renal physiologic processes. Han:SPRD-CY: rats have been proposed as a model for human autosomal dominant PKD. A new spontaneous rat mutation, designated wpk, has now been identified. In the mutants, the renal cystic phenotype resembles human autosomal recessive PKD (ARPKD). This study was designed to characterize the clinical and histopathologic features of wpk/wpk mutants and to map the wpk locus. Homozygous mutants developed nephromegaly, hypertension, proteinuria, impaired urine-concentrating capacity, and uremia, resulting in death at 4 wk of age. Early cysts were present in the nephrogenic zone at embryonic day 19. These were localized, by specific staining and electron microscopy, to differentiated proximal tubules, thick limbs, distal tubules, and collecting ducts. In later stages, the cysts were largely confined to collecting ducts. Although the renal histopathologic features are strikingly similar to those of human ARPKD, wpk/wpk mutants exhibited no evidence of biliary tract abnormalities. The wpk locus maps just proximal to the CY: locus on rat chromosome 5, and complementation studies demonstrated that these loci are not allelic. It is concluded that the clinical and renal histopathologic features of this new rat model strongly resemble those of human ARPKD. Although homology mapping indicates that rat wpk and human ARPKD involve distinct genes, this new rat mutation provides an excellent experimental model to study the molecular pathogenesis and renal pathophysiologic features of recessive PKD

WMAP constraint on the P-term inflationary model

In light of WMAP results, we examine the observational constraint on the P-term inflation. With the tunable parameter $f$, P-term inflation contains richer physics than D-term and F-term inflationary models. We find the logarithmic derivative spectral index with $n>1$ on large scales and $n<1$ on small scales in agreement to observation. We obtained a reasonable range for the choice of the gauge coupling constant $g$ in order to meet the requirements of WMAP observation and the expected number of the e-foldings. Although tuning $f$ and $g$ we can have larger values for the logarithmic derivative of the spectral index, it is not possible to satisfy all observational requirements for both, the spectral index and its logarithmic derivative at the same time.Comment: 6 pages, double column, 13 figures included. Version appearing in the Physical Review

Online intergenerational participatory research : Ingredients for meaningful relationships and participation

Over thirty years ago, children's participation rights were recognized internationally with the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Increased involvement of children and young people in lead, collaborative, and advisory roles in interdisciplinary research has challenged 'traditional' adult research practices in numerous ways. Co-production recognizes participants as experts and creators of knowledge, engages children and young people in decision-making, and addresses traditional adult-child hierarchies. #CovidUnder19 is a movement that aims to foster intergenerational partnerships between children, young people and adult members of the child rights community to develop evidence-based advocacy to uphold children's rights throughout the pandemic, as well as in response and recovery. The COVID 4P Log smartphone app was designed to better understand ways practitioners and policymakers protect, provide, enable participation, and prevent harm in their practice. Children and young people aged 14 to 19 from countries around the world are involved as co-researchers and advisors in research design, data analysis, and knowledge exchange. This paper explores the experiences of #CovidUnder19 young people as researchers focusing on the data analysis and knowledge exchange phase and includes their reflections on meaningful intergenerational partnership in research. This includes the importance of relationships, embracing the 'inner child', and fostering meaningful participation in the research process. The paper concludes with recommendations for other researchers on how to work in partnership with children and young people meaningfully to strengthen the process and impact for researchers and children's human rights