Children’s working theories about Covid-19 in Aotearoa New Zealand

Distance Learning in Cameroon: Case Study of Private Nursery School Children's Experiences and Challenges Amidst COVID-19 Lockdown

“…According to Bland ( 2012 ), drawings provide rich data and strengthen the data obtained through discussion with participants. Children's drawings were used effectively to stimulate conversations and interpretation of ideas about their understandings of COVID-19 lockdown experiences in a New Zealand study by Kahuroa et al ( 2021 ). Findings from this current study reveal children's knowledge of COVID-19, an understanding of how to keep safe and a sense of personal control in expressing their everyday experiences at home and around their communities.…”

Early childhood education in Aotearoa in a post-Covid world

“…Another spinoff for some children was the extra time they were able to spend at home with parents and other family members. In the small case study at Pakuranga Baptist Kindergarten, children told stories and drew pictures about their time at home (Kahuroa et al, 2021). A common theme was activities that children enjoyed doing with parents, family members and pets: "baking with my dad," baking "muffins with my mum and my sister and I put chocolate in them -they were so yummy we ate them all," playing with family pets, and with family, going for a walk or on a bike ride.…”

“…They used play-based methods and story-telling to help children to communicate with others about their experiences and extend their understandings. The authors argued that children's working theories about the virus, knowledge of the virus and sense of personal control over keeping themselves safe developed over time (Kahuroa et al, 2021). Some families were facing hardship, and many ECE managers (76 percent) played a role in organising support where it was needed.…”

“…Two further New Zealand studies were included in the 2021 special issue of the European Early Childhood Education Research Journal (EECERJ) entitled Plural narratives about Covid-19 and early childhood. The study by Kahuroa, Mitchell, Ng, and Johns (2021) of children's working theories about Covid-19 gives insight into how teachers used storytelling, drawing and making images with 'loose parts' to enable young children to communicate their experiences, ideas and emotions in different ways, using different senses. The study researched pedagogical work undertaken from May to August 2020 (after the first national lockdown) and again in September 2020 (after the Auckland Alert Level 3 lockdown) during the Alert Level 2, in Pakuranga Baptist Kindergarten.…”

“…Most of the children at this kindergarten had come back to the kindergarten in both time periods. Information about the kindergarten, the research design and methodology is provided in the article (Kahuroa et al, 2021). A main argument emerging from findings was that artsbased approaches of drawing and story-telling became a powerful sense-making tool for children, enabling both the exploration of children's emotions, and also children's developing understanding of Covid-19 as both of these evolved over time.…”