Prevalence and Factors Associated with Iron Deficiency Anemia among School-Age Children in Primary Schools in Burao City, Somaliland, 2020

Background: Anemia is a global public health problem affecting the majority of the population of the world in both developed and developing countries with major consequences on human health as well as social and economic development. It is the world’s second leading cause of disability of the whole global disease burden. It affects 1.62 billion (24.8%) of the population, among them, it is affecting 305 million (25.4%) school-age children (SAC). Objectives: The main objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and factors associated with anemia among school-age children in primary schools in Burao city, Somaliland, 2020. Materials & Methods: A school-based cross-sectional study design was done in four primary schools in Burao, Somaliland. About 285 school-age children in the age group between 6 - 14 years were selected with a respondent rate of 93.4%. Random sampling was used to select schools and systemic random sampling was used to identify children from the selected schools. Socio-demographic data was collected by using a questionnaire & interviews of respondents in addition to anthropometric measurements, hemoglobin measurement, and stool examination. Complete Blood Counting (CBC) was used to determine the mean corpuscular (kor-PUS-kyu-lar) volume (MCV) and hematocrit (HMC) levels to detect hemoglobin status of the children. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS statistical software for Windows version 21. Anthropometric data was analyzed using ANTHRO Plus. Bivariate logistic regression and multivariable logistic regression were used to identify independent predictors of anemia in school adolescent girls. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: A total of 285 school-age children were included in this study. The overall prevalence of anemia was (23.1%) (CI: 18.1%, 28.1%) with the mean and standard deviation of (12.7 ± 1.59). Out of the anemic children, 20.4% were mild and 2.3% and 0.4% of them were moderate and severe, respectively. Children’s from illiterate mothers (AOR = 2.37;95% CI: 1.14, 4.94. P-value = 0.020), consuming organ meat less than once a week (AOR = 2.19;95% CI: 1.05, 4.43. P-value = 0.036) and having parasites in stool (AOR = 5.21;95% CI: 1.10, 24.6. P-value = 0.037) were identified as statistically independent associated factors with prevalence of anemia in school-age children’s from Burao, Somaliland. Conclusion: Prevalence of anemia in Burao city, Somaliland primary schools was a moderate public health problem in the current study area. Nutrition education, iron folic acid supplementation program, deworming, good hygiene, and sanitation are playing an important role in the prevalence of anemia and we recommend to give them more attention from ministry of education and ministry of health in Somaliland.

Iron, Zinc, and Copper Malnutrition among Primary School Children in Lagos, Niagara

This study assessed the iron, zinc and copper status of primary school-attending children in Lagos. A sample of 200 primary School-attending children was randomly selected using a stratified 2 – stage sampling technique. Data was collected in the 2 major seasons in Nigeria;Dry and Rainy seasons using dietary intake (24 hr dietary recall protocol) venipuncture blood samples, and a self-administered questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Among ages 5 - 8 years, the main dietary intake for iron was 10.66 ± 12.44 mg/d (106% of DRI), for zinc, 7.30 ± 7.39 mg/d (92% of DRI) and for copper, 1.55 ± 1.31 mg/d (390% of DRI). For ages 9 - 13 yrs, the mean intake of micronutrients showed that iron was 11.03 ± 12.72 mg/d (138% of DRI), 3inc was 8.44 ± 7.7 mg/d (105% of DRI) and copper was 3.75 ± 15.17 mg/d (536% of DRI). Biochemical results indicated that 19.8% of the subjects had inadequate serum iron, 21% and 32.1% were zinc and copper deficient respectively prevalence of anemia was 38.1% while iron deficiency anemia was 13.06% and iron deficiency was 34.6%. Dietary intakes did not provide right amounts of micronutrients to meet body requirements. There is the need to formulate and implement nutrition education programs to correct micronutrient deficiency among primary school-attending children in Lagos, Nigeria.

Childhood Obesity in Primary School Children of Middle and Upper-Middle Income Group in the Capital City of Bangladesh

Background: No published information is available on the status of childhood obesity in Bangladeshi primary school children of urban middle and upper-middle income group. The aim of the study was to explore the proportion of childhood obesity in the primary school children of middle and upper-middle income group in capital city and to gather information on their dietary pattern and physical activity. Methods: One hundred and fifty children (age 9 ± 1 years, height (ht) 118 ± 20 cm, weight (wt) 36 ± 8 kg, wt/ht% 126 ± 24, mean ± SD) were selected purposively from the primary schools of Dhaka city. On the basis of predefined scoring, subjects were classified as underweight, normal, overweight and obese if their weight-for-height values were 120% of median values for Bangladeshi children respectively. Dietary intake and energy expenditure of the study subjects were calculated by standard techniques. Results: The proportion of childhood overweight and obesity was 52% and 20%. The proportion of overweight and obesity was higher (78%) among girls compared to boys (54%). Similarly, height, weight and other anthropometrics indices were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in girls compared to boys. The daily intake of carbohydrate and protein was significantly (p < 0.05) higher among obese group. Total energy balance was significantly correlated with weight-for-height% (r = 0.541, p = 0.0001). Conclusions: A higher proportion of overweight and obesity had been found in girls’ children than their counter parts in this study. Positive energy balance with higher energy intake from carbohydrate and fast/processed food culture habit were found among primary school children of middle and upper-middle income group in the capital city of Bangladesh.

Sexist Prejudice of Primary School Children in Different Urban and Rural Contexts of Spain

At present,a great deal of historical gender prejudice is still visible in society.It is essential to eliminate these invisible barriers that impede achieving real equality between men and women.This article seeks to provide a vision of the perception of primary school girls and boys regarding the masculine and feminine genders.A questionnaire was given to groups of schoolchildren in different locations,including rural areas and large cities such as Madrid,the capital of Spain.In addition to detect prejudice toward one of the two genders,some of the most often repeated answers were taken into account.On several occasions,one of the two sexes,or the two,was linked to intelligence or to the ideal of beauty.However,differences were not observed in all cases.Comments are made on the most relevant data regarding the predisposition among children to link girls with more passive attitudes than boys.For many years,society has fought to achieve real equality between the two sexes.However,there is still a great deal to be done,and the younger generations have the responsibility of succeeding in having the two sexes live together in a more egalitarian society.The role of education is to encourage this process.

Impropriateness of English Teaching in China’s Kindergarten and Primary School

Learning a second language is extremely complicated and does not mean learning new labels for existing cognitive models. English as the foreign language in China is impropriate to be learned and taught in kindergarten and primary school. Learning and teaching English in China's kindergarten and primary school should be seriously taken into consideration and made up a relevant prescription.

Dual Burden of Malnutrition among Primary School Children in Myanmar

Background: The distribution of childhood nutritional diseases is shifting from a predominance of under nutrition to a dual burden of under-and over nutrition in low and middle income countries. Rapid economic development and urbanization lead to an increase in overweight and obesity and diet-related chronic diseases. The co-existence of under-and over nutrition is double burden and this is a public health challenge for community. Objective: To find out the nutritional status of primary school children. Method: The study was school based descriptive study and conducted during November 2014 to February 2015 in basic primary schools, basic middle schools and basic high schools in urban and rural area of Yangon, Mandalay, Taungyi and Mawlamyaing. A total of (2937) Grade IV and Grade V students were measured for weight, height and 592 students were measured for haemoglobin by standard equipment and standard procedure. Results: The overall prevalences of stunting, wasting, overweight, obesity and anaemia were 8.8%, 15%, 4.6% and 3.1% and 36.1% respectively. The prevalences of stunting, over weight and obesity were more prevalent in boys and wasting and anaemia were more prevalent in girls. The result showed that the stunting was more prevalent in rural than in urban (7.5% in urban and 12.0% in rural). The prevalences of overweight and obesity were higher in urban than rural area (overweight 5.3% in urban and 2.8% in rural, obesity 3.8% in urban and 0.9% in rural). Children residing in urban area had higher anthropometric parameter than rural children. Conclusion: The present study observed the coexistence of obesity, overweight and undernourishment (wasting and stunting) among Myanmar School children.The findings highlighted the need for continued health promotion efforts to improve nutritional status of primary school children.

Electronic Database about Children with Special Needs ~t Primary School

In Slovenia, children with special needs have been included to primary schools since 1998. Since then, teachers have had a lot of work to be done. Every year they have to prepare an individualized programme for each child with special needs. They have to set goals that each child with special needs has to achieve at a particular subject. Pupils have different teachers every year and to make their work easier, the author is considering making a website database with basic information about them. This database would state the goals that the pupil achieved in the past year, which strategy of teaching proved to be the best for him or her and what the areas he or she needs help with are. Teachers would be collecting this data during the primary education, after the final evaluation this database would also be made available to the secondary school of the pupil in concern. This database should be located on the website of Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports. It would be available to primary schools, but protected by a password which would grant the school access to the data of their students only. In secondary schools, teachers could also access to the information, so they would not have to be discovering appropriate teaching strategies that worked for a pupil in the past all over again. This would enable better conditions and a successful education for pupils with special needs.

Prevalence of developmental dyslexia in primary school children:a protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Developmental dyslexia(DD)is a specific impairment during the acquisition of reading skills and may have a lifelong negative impact on individuals.Reliable estimates of the prevalence of DD serve as the basis for evidence-based health resource allocation and policy making.However,the prevalence of DD in primary school children varies largely across studies.Moreover,it is unclear whether there are differences in prevalence in different genders and writing systems.Hence,the present study aims to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the global prevalence of DD and to explore related factors.Methods We will undertake a comprehensive literature search in 14 databases,including EMBASE,PubMed,Web of Science,China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Cochrane,from their inception to June 2021.Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies that describe the prevalence of DD will be eligible.The quality of the included observational studies will be assessed using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology statement.The risk of bias will be determined by sensitivity analysis to identify publication bias.Results One meta-analysis will be conducted to estimate the prevalence of DD in primary school children.Heterogeneity will be assessed in terms of the properties of subjects(e.g.,gender,grade and writing system)and method of diagnosis in the included primary studies.Subgroup analyses will also be performed for population and secondary outcomes.Conclusion The results will synthesize the prevalence of DD and provide information for policy-makers and public health specialists.

Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases demonstration project:aerosol pollution and its seasonal peculiarities in primary schools of Vilnius

Background:The growing public health concern caused by non-communicable diseases in urban surroundings cannot be solved by health care alone;therefore a multidisciplinary approach is mandatory.This study aimed to evaluate the airborne aerosol pollution level in primary schools as possible factor influencing origin and course of the diseases in children.Methods:Seasonal aerosol particle number concentration(PNC)and mass concentration(PMC)were studied in the randomly selected eleven primary schools in the Lithuanian capital,Vilnius,as model of a middle-size Eastern European city.Total PNC in the size range from 0.01 to>1.0μm in diameter was measured using a condensation particle counter.Using an optical particle sizer,PNC was measured and PMC estimated for particles from 0.3 to 10.0μm.A descriptive statistics was used to estimate the aerosol pollution levels.Results:During all seasons,local cafeterias in the absence of ventilation were the main sources of the elevated levels of indoor PMC and PNC(up to 97,500 particles/cm3).The other sources of airborne particulates were the children’s activity during the lesson breaks with PMC up to 586μg/m3.Soft furniture,carpets in the classrooms and corridors were responsible for PMC up to 200μg/m3.Outdoor aerosol pollution(up to 18,170 particles/cm3)was higher for schools in city center.Elevated air pollution in classrooms also resulted from intermittent sources,such as construction work during classes(200-1000μg/m3)and petrol-powered lawn trimmers(up to 66,400 particles/cm3).Conclusion:The results of our survey show that even in a relatively low polluted region of Eastern Europe there are big differences in aerosol pollution within middle-sized city.Additional efforts are needed to improve air quality in schools:more frequent wet cleaning,monitoring the operation of ventilation systems,a ban on construction works during school year,on a use of sandblasting mechanisms in the neighborhood of schools.

新时代高质量小学教师教育体系重建:为了儿童的全面发展

新时代高质量小学教师教育体系是实现小学教师教育供给侧与需求侧趋于平衡的高质量,并最终指向为儿童的全面发展。它将小学教育作为一门科学与专业的教育,是一种整体上思考小学教师教育活动运行规律的方法论,是“体”与“系”及其相互关系的有机统一。新时代我国小学教师教育体系存在的问题包括当前小学教师教育体系无法满足我国新时代教育战略需求,无法满足中国特色教师教育体系建设需求。基于此,研究提出中国新时代高质量小学教师教育体系重建的路径:因地制宜构建多元化多类型多层次的专门小学教师培养机构体系;提高师范生的招生质量,确保新时代小学教师教育体系的生源质量;加强小学教师教育者队伍建设,为新时代小学教师教育体系提供师资保障;加强学科建设,重塑以高等知识为基础的小学教师教育课程建设;重构“理论-实践”相互激活的新时代小学教师教育教学模式;通过协同提质,重构新时代小学教师教育体系的组织保障机制。

体育课程一体化背景下幼小体育衔接的学理依据及推进策略

一体化是新时代学校体育课程与教学改革的总体方向,而幼小衔接是幼儿园领域教学向小学学科教学转换的特殊阶段,在课程一体化背景下探索幼小体育衔接问题有利于推进两个学段的准备、过渡与适应,减缓体育学习的坡度。通过梳理幼小衔接历史,分析当前存在的问题,同时借鉴国外经验,阐述一体化推进幼小体育衔接的学理依据,提出一体化的推进策略,包括课程目标一体化体现总目标的统一性与分目标的阶段性;课程内容一体化突出动作发展的序列性与技能的递进性;师训与教研一体化促使教师探究多学段儿童的教学策略;学习生活时空一体化打造幼儿环境变化的衔接工作;评估体系一体化保障幼小体育衔接质量。

新时代中小学幼儿园名师“后培养”模式探究

高素质的教师队伍建设离不开高水平名师的引领。从新手教师、骨干教师成长为名师,在专业成长的过程中难以避免地会出现专业发展的高原期。名师的二次成长,是成为名师之后朝着更高的目标迈进,从而实现自身发展的过程,是名师专业发展不可或缺的重要阶段。依据教师专业发展理论、成人学习理论和人力资源理论,深刻反思区域中小学幼儿园名师培养的实践经验,探索并构建区域中小学幼儿园名师“后培养”模式,破解名师再成长的停滞问题,能够帮助更多的名师实现二次成长。

小学教学楼庭院空间构成要素对儿童热舒适的影响

为探究儿童热舒适度与户外空间构成要素之间的相关性,对苏州姑苏区与工业园区内的95个小学教学楼庭院空间进行微气候数据采集、空间构成要素量化测量以及对儿童进行问卷调查,结果表明:1)苏州夏季、春季、冬季小学教学楼庭院的儿童热舒适度范围分别为26.5~34.2℃、18.5~26.3℃、23.1~28.2℃;2)与儿童热舒适度PET值显著相关的空间构成要素有5个,即绿地配置形式(“贴边+中央”型最佳)、朝向(东西朝向最佳)、围合度(4面围合最佳)、植物种植类型(乔灌草复合搭配最佳)、绿地率(30%~50%最佳)。基于研究结果,建议通过综合考虑景观特征、优化植物品种、完善辅助设施等手段提升小学教学楼庭院空间的热舒适度。

基于整本书阅读的小学儿童文学教学实施路径探索

儿童文学作品是小学阶段重要的教学内容,基于其教育性、娱乐性和文学性特征,儿童文学能促进学生语言运用能力、审美创造能力的发展,提升其文学素养,发展学生核心素养。然而聚焦教学一线,儿童文学作品在小学语文课堂中未能充分发挥其作用。整本书阅读可为儿童文学教学提供思路及实施路径。基于整本书阅读,从“阅读—交流—反思”进行纵向设计、从“选书—预热—通读—研读—展示”开展横向实施,能够打破单篇章阅读界限,丰富学生阅读体验与精神世界,全面提升儿童文学教学质量,具体的教学实施路径可为儿童文学教学提供有效指导。

幼儿园教师幼小衔接教育观调查研究——以安徽省合肥市为例

采用教师幼小衔接教育观调查量表,以合肥市232名幼儿园教师为被试进行调查研究,从教育观念出发分析幼儿园教师的幼小衔接教育观及其影响因素。研究发现:幼儿园教师幼小衔接教育观总体水平较高,但对教育期望和师生关系两个维度的认识水平相对偏低,各维度在岗位、年龄、婚育情况、教龄、带大班的次数、职称6个人口学变量上存在不同程度的显著差异;其次,人类发展生态四大系统与幼儿园教师幼小衔接教育观呈现显著正相关,宏观系统和微观系统能够正向预测幼儿园教师的幼小衔接教育观,外层系统能够负向预测幼儿园教师的幼小衔接教育观。

基于儿童经验的连续性发展探析幼小衔接路径

幼小衔接是一个长期的、循序渐进的过程。幼小衔接工作的关键是遵循儿童身心发展规律,围绕儿童核心经验展开。当前幼小衔接工作中各方主体衔接方式表浅,工作实效低;幼儿教师衔接素养欠佳以及家长在衔接过程中关注视角的断层均影响了幼小衔接工作的效率和质量。立足儿童经验的连续性发展,从小班开始着手长程幼小衔接,需要做好以下工作:一是强化多主体协同机制,做好幼小双向衔接;二是加强教师衔接素养,关注儿童连续性经验获得;三是完善家园共育机制,注重“协商”意识。

幼小衔接视角下的桥梁书阅读教学——以《青蛙和蟾蜍》为例

小学低段阅读的目标是激发学生的阅读兴趣。对于幼小衔接阶段的低年级学生来说,单纯有趣的桥梁书是阅读文本的首选。文章以《青蛙和蟾蜍》为例展开桥梁书的阅读教学探索,从课前引导自主阅读与激趣,到课中戏剧化演绎地促进多元智能的激发与探索,再到课后的多维延伸与评价反馈,这一系列阅读策略实践表明:幼小衔接阶段儿童阅读优秀的桥梁书有助于其阅读能力和阅读素养的养成与习得。

乡村小学附设幼儿园幼小衔接课程方案的构建——以贵州省为例

乡村小学附设幼儿园是我国农村学前教育的重要组成部分,其幼小衔接课程影响着我国学前教育质量的整体提升。本研究以贵州省乡村小学附设幼儿园为例,基于贵州乡村小学附设幼儿园绝大部分“混龄编班”的实际,结合贵州乡村小学附设幼儿园拥有的自然资源,基于系统论,从目标的制定、内容的选择、课程的实施及评价等方面对幼小衔接课程进行了初步探讨,以期在一定程度上引发人们对乡村小学附设幼儿园幼小衔接课程的思考。

基于实践的幼小衔接目标设置合理性反思

对幼小衔接目标设置的合理性进行理论反思,发现当下幼小衔接目标设置的问题主要有身心准备目标的设置对幼儿心理维度的重视不够,生活准备目标的设置超出幼儿的一般发展水平,社会准备目标的设定没有充分重视幼儿人际交往能力的培养,学习准备目标的设定对幼儿园和小学的区别不够清晰。为此,需要重视幼儿从幼儿园到小学心理状态上的柔和过渡,以幼儿的一般发展水平为标准设定生活准备目标,重视培养幼儿正确处理同伴关系的能力,创设多种途径了解和体验小学生活。