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January 18, 2017
~ Article 1: “Shifting research methods with a becoming-child ontology: Co-theorising puppet production with high school students” By Mayes (2016)
1. What are the basic assumptions that inform the reading?
-The ontological status of a child or youth could be understood with a ethnography methodology of collaborative puppet production exploration and play situations. Children can express themselves differently about “the nature of being a child” and “existing in the world” through their experience of puppet production.
2. What are the major organizing ideas?
-Ethnographic research methods to study students’ conceptual understanding of self and becoming. Puppet production serves as a way to engage youth in their abilities to theorize and construct alongside the researchers. Researchers can re-configuring knowledge so it’s co-constituted with their young participant researchers.
Process of theorizing puppet production knowledge —producing knowledge yourselves, guided and scaffolded by the researcher -analyzing and critiquing -> creating knowledge together
3. What serious questions does the reading raise regarding the fields of child and youth study?
-Can puppet production be accessible for all children and youth, and in what contexts would puppets be an appropriate intervention tool? Using a puppet to support a child who wishes to speak comfortably with others is an obvious benefit. What kinds of benefits to puppets have for older children?
4. What serious omissions are left out of the article or reading (if any)?
-The study’s title states that their research is conducted with high school students, the data states participants are in “Year 8 to 11″. This window does not include the students ages, and it seems odd to exclude Grade 12 students. Particulars about the population sample would be helpful.
5. In what ways does this article reinforce, extend, challenge, or oppose your own views on child and youth study/research/practice?
-This article asserts that puppets can serve as a research method to gather data about youths’ experiences of becoming as a child and facilitates the collaborative voice of students. Students work together and individually to “interpret” each others “utterances”, as well as those of their teachers and other adults (118). Providing students with opportunities to express their voices with the interaction with puppets and peers can be provide insight into their lived experiences of childhood.
6. What do you take away from the reading in terms of your own child and youth practice?
-Puppet play has always seemed like a useful communicative support for children to engage with, but it appears to have benefits for youth as well, providing a buffer for “free expression”, as one student said “without showing my face directly”. Using puppets to facilitate conversations about issues; those that are difficult and those that are multi-effectual, gives individuals a space to communicate their thoughts and feelings without inhibitions due to the protection and playful nature of puppets.