29 research outputs found
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The aims of early years outdoor education in England: a conceptual and empirical investigation
This paper explores the place of aims in the early years foundation stage outdoor environment in England. Through examining the writing of academics, various themes are identified, and constructed into possible aims. These themes/aims are compared to an empirical study of early years teachersâ attitudes. Data was collected by questionnaire from schools within the University of Reading partnership. There was general agreement between experts and teachers as to the aims. While some respondents were able to explain what the aims of outdoor activity were, a significant number were unable to identify aims; further, a significant number did not distinguish between approach/practice and aims. A lack of understanding and agreement as to what the aims are may indicate teachers are unsure about the purpose of outdoor education for young children. A result of this study is to agree and make explicit the aims for outdoor education in the early years
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What is outside? The early years foundation stage in England: outdoor facilities, organisation and staff attitudes
The purpose of this paper is to report on the facilities available, organisation of, and staff attitudes to early years outdoor education from schools within the south east of England, focusing on provision for children aged three to five. One component of the successful education of the child involves providing an âenvironment for learningâ, including the facilities, layout and routines. This paper presents findings concerning the type and variety of facilities available outside; the various styles of organisation of the space; staff attitudes about: their roles, their aims for the environment, childrenâs behaviour and learning, and perceived drawbacks to practice. This paper draws on empirical data collected from schools within the University of Reading partnership. The findings suggest that although all early years settings must adhere to the statutory framework there are a range of facilities available, and there are a number of ways this environment is organised. Further there appears to be uncertainty about the adult role outside and the aims for activities. The conclusions drawn indicate that staff do not appear to be linking their aims for outdoor education to the facilities provided or to their actions outside. This means there is not a clear link between what staff provide outside and the declared ambitions for learning. This study is important as all educators need to be certain about their aims for education to ensure best outcomes for children. The implications of these findings for early years teachers are that they need to be able to articulate their aims for outdoor education and to provide the correct facilities to achieve these aims. Finally this study was undertaken to raise debate, posit questions and to ascertain the parameters for further research about the early years outdoor environment
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Learning about the past: exploring the opportunities and challenges of using an outdoor learning approach
This paper examines the potential of outdoor learning for supporting childrenâs understanding of and attitude towards history. A class of primary school children participated in an intensive experiential, residential history programme. A range of data were collected before, during and after the residential programme, and the findings suggest that the experience had a positive impact on the childrenâs attitude towards history, and enabled many of the children to be able to recall easily highly specific factual knowledge. However the childrenâs understanding of history as a provisional construct was not developed, as it was not a strong feature of the programme. Nor was the experiential nature of the experience fully exploited. Overall the study suggests that such a programme has the potential to support childrenâs learning of the past, but a deeper understanding of history, drawing on the benefits of outdoor learning pedagogy needs to be planned for more explicitly
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Values stop play? Teachersâ attitudes to the early years outdoor environment
This paper explores the views and attitudes of a small group of teachers concerning the early years outdoor teaching and learning environment. Further their responses are compared to an online survey of teachers examining their attitudes to the early years outdoor environment. This extends the current knowledge as to the drivers for teachersâ professed actions when working in the early years outdoor environment, and specifically the extent to which the teachersâ own experiences of outdoors influences their professed behaviours in their role when working outside with children. At the heart of this discussion is the concern that only those teachers who have had good experiences of outdoor play themselves may go on to provide good outdoor experiences for young children
Childrenâs experiences outdoors: Education and community contexts
Childrenâs right to play is enshrined in Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 1990). The early childhood period is a time when childrenâs values and dispositions towards outdoor play and environments are formed. Children have an intrinsic drive and natural curiosity to explore the world around them and outdoor environments are a key context for this exploration. Outdoor play and learning provide significant benefits for all aspects of childrenâs development - physical, cognitive, social and emotional (Brussoni et al., 2015)
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The type and frequency of interactions that occur between staff and children outside in Early Years Foundation Stage settings during a fixed playtime period when there are tricycles available
This study reports on an investigation into adult and child interactions observed in the outdoor play environment in four Local Authority early years foundation stage settings in England. In this instance the common two features across the settings were the presence of tricycles and a timetabled outdoor play period. In total, across the four schools, there were 204 children. The study aimed to gain an understanding of the nature of the dialogues between staff and children, that is, the types of exchange that occurred when either the child approached an adult or the adult approached a child. The most frequent type of utterance was also analysed. The study concludes that adults in these settings spoke more than children and the greatest type of utterance was that of the adult about domestic matters. When the child initiated the conversation there were more extended child utterances than domestic utterances. This may suggest that children wish to be involved in conversations of depth and meaning and that staff need to become aware of how to develop this conversational language with children
Deeper knowledge of shallow waters: reviewing the invertebrate fauna of southern African temporary wetlands
Temporary lentic wetlands are becoming
increasingly recognised for their collective role in
contributing to biodiversity at the landscape scale. In
southern Africa, a region with a high density of such
wetlands, information characterising the fauna of
these systems is disparate and often obscurely published.
Here we provide a collation and synthesis of
published research on the aquatic invertebrate fauna
inhabiting temporary lentic wetlands of the region. We
expose the poor taxonomic knowledge of most groups,
which makes it difficult to comment on patterns of
richness and endemism. Only a few groups (e.g. large
branchiopods, ostracods, copepods and cladocerans)
appear to reach higher richness and/or endemicity in
temporary wetlands compared to their permanent
wetland counterparts. IUCN Red List information is
lacking for most taxa, thus making it difficult to
comment on the conservation status of much of the
invertebrate fauna. However, except for a few specialist
groups, many of the taxa inhabiting these
environments appear to be habitat generalists that
opportunistically exploit these waterbodies and this is hypothesised as one of the reasons why endemism
appears to be low for most taxa. Given that taxonomy
underpins ecology, the urgent need for more foundational
taxonomic work on these systems becomes
glaringly apparent
Piezo1 integration of vascular architecture with physiological force
The mechanisms by which physical forces regulate endothelial cells to determine the complexities of vascular structure and function are enigmaticÂčâ»â”. Studies of sensory neurons have suggested Piezo proteins as subunits of CaÂČâș-permeable non-selective cationic channels for detection of noxious mechanical impactâ¶â»âž. Here we show Piezo1 (Fam38a) channels as sensors of frictional force (shear stress) and determinants of vascular structure in both development and adult physiology. Global or endothelial-specific disruption of mouse Piezo1 profoundly disturbed the developing vasculature and was embryonic lethal within days of the heart beating. Haploinsufficiency was not lethal but endothelial abnormality was detected in mature vessels. The importance of Piezo1 channels as sensors of blood flow was shown by Piezo1 dependence of shear-stress-evoked ionic current and calcium influx in endothelial cells and the ability of exogenous Piezo1 to confer sensitivity to shear stress on otherwise resistant cells. Downstream of this calcium influx there was protease activation and spatial reorganization of endothelial cells to the polarity of the applied force. The data suggest that Piezo1 channels function as pivotal integrators in vascular biology
ECFS best practice guidelines: the 2018 revision
Developments in managing CF continue to drive dramatic improvements in survival. As newborn screening rolls-out across Europe, CF centres are increasingly caring for cohorts of patients who have minimal lung disease on diagnosis. With the introduction of mutation-specific therapies and the prospect of truly personalised medicine, patients have the potential to enjoy good quality of life in adulthood with ever-increasing life expectancy. The landmark Standards of Care published in 2005 set out what high quality CF care is and how it can be delivered throughout Europe. This underwent a fundamental re-write in 2014, resulting in three documents; center framework, quality management and best practice guidelines. This document is a revision of the latter, updating standards for best practice in key aspects of CF care, in the context of a fast-moving and dynamic field.
In continuing to give a broad overview of the standards expected for newborn screening, diagnosis, preventative treatment of lung disease, nutrition, complications, transplant/end of life care and psychological support, this consensus on best practice is expected to prove useful to clinical teams both in countries where CF care is developing and those with established CF centres. The document is an ECFS product and endorsed by the CF Network in ERN LUNG and CF Europe
Increasing frailty is associated with higher prevalence and reduced recognition of delirium in older hospitalised inpatients: results of a multi-centre study
Purpose:
Delirium is a neuropsychiatric disorder delineated by an acute change in cognition, attention, and consciousness. It is common, particularly in older adults, but poorly recognised. Frailty is the accumulation of deficits conferring an increased risk of adverse outcomes. We set out to determine how severity of frailty, as measured using the CFS, affected delirium rates, and recognition in hospitalised older people in the United Kingdom.
Methods:
Adults over 65 years were included in an observational multi-centre audit across UK hospitals, two prospective rounds, and one retrospective note review. Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), delirium status, and 30-day outcomes were recorded.
Results:
The overall prevalence of delirium was 16.3% (483). Patients with delirium were more frail than patients without delirium (median CFS 6 vs 4). The risk of delirium was greater with increasing frailty [OR 2.9 (1.8â4.6) in CFS 4 vs 1â3; OR 12.4 (6.2â24.5) in CFS 8 vs 1â3]. Higher CFS was associated with reduced recognition of delirium (OR of 0.7 (0.3â1.9) in CFS 4 compared to 0.2 (0.1â0.7) in CFS 8). These risks were both independent of age and dementia.
Conclusion:
We have demonstrated an incremental increase in risk of delirium with increasing frailty. This has important clinical implications, suggesting that frailty may provide a more nuanced measure of vulnerability to delirium and poor outcomes. However, the most frail patients are least likely to have their delirium diagnosed and there is a significant lack of research into the underlying pathophysiology of both of these common geriatric syndromes