What does the perfect social environment for children look like? Do children and adults see this in the same way? This was investigated by 3,000 students together with scientists Dr. Yara Toenders and Dr. Karlijn Hermans in the Schools United project. Eloise Swets is the project leader from the Science Hub of Erasmus University Rotterdam: “The children are so enthusiastic about doing their own research. It is also very special that they themselves are researchers for a day.”
Happiness in the classroom
“The social environment is the whole of social, cultural, and philosophical factors that influence human behaviour. The school, friends, city, and family are all part of it,” says neuroscientist Yara.
For the research into the perfect social environment, the children interviewed a key person at school, at home, or in the neighborhood. This could be a community police officer or the school principal. The children made a top five aspects that they consider important for their ideal social environment. Examples are listening to others, being nice classmates, or being helpful. The key figure had to rearrange the top five as he saw fit. The big question: do children and adults think alike about children's social environment?
Eloise and Yara visited a Rotterdam school together during the research day. It turned out that the children had a lot of fun with it. “The great thing about this project is that the children are involved in research in an accessible way. It is also special to do research at such a young age. They go through all the steps of a thorough investigation: from collecting data to presenting the conclusion. They were even more enthusiastic than expected and took their role seriously,” said Eloise.
Yara: “They really liked certain little things. They had to welcome the key person to the conversation and, for example, offer something to drink. They never do that and thought that was very special.”
Youth development
As a researcher, Yara is interested in the development of young people: “Especially in the social environment of young people. During childhood and adolescence, a lot changes in the social environment. For example, friends become more important. During corona, the social environment of children is limited by choices made by adults. How children now view their social environment is therefore an appropriate subject.”
"How well are children listened to? Do teachers listen better than directors?"
“The results are sent to us by the schools. We will conduct further research with our team by combining the results of all schools,” says Yara. “How well are children listened to? Do teachers listen better than directors? Is there a difference between urban and rural areas? Those are some of the questions we want answers to.”
This is the third edition of Schools United. Eloise: “Our university was responsible for the project this year. Last time, the quality of ditch water in the Netherlands was investigated by TU Delft.”
Difference between teacher and director
The preparation took a lot of time. That's why Eloise was happy to see the project in real life. “You send so many emails to schools. It only exists on your computer at first. And in class we saw the children who enthusiastically started working with it. It really lived in the classroom.”
At Yara, a number of things immediately stood out in the classroom. “A group of children in a class we visited talked to a director and a PE teacher. There was already so much difference between them. The children's image of their social environment corresponded much more with the image of the PE teacher. This may be because a teacher is closer to the children and therefore knows better what they want. But to draw a conclusion from this, we will first combine the results of all students.”
"The main outcome of a group was that you have to adapt to others."
After the data collection, the children presented their results, just as researchers do. To whom and how they were allowed to know. Creative solutions emerged. “That is so nice to see,” says Eloise. “The main outcome of a group was that you have to adapt to others. They made a rap about that to present it. It shows that children are often so much more creative than adults. And that it is good that we listen to children.”
Schools United
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