Recognizing the growth of technology use in early learning settings, the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services collaborated in the development of the "Early Learning and Educational Technology Policy Brief" to promote developmentally appropriate use of technology in homes and early learning…

Targeted or universal pre-K? Direct instruction or learning through play? These and other debates are heating up as more and more young children across the country gain access to pre-K programs. Now there's a single volume that spotlights today's most urgent pre-K debates, explores each one from all sides, and paves the way for sound, educated…

Contrasts effects of three modes of mother/child interaction on children's subsequent compliance with maternal directives. Subjects were 39 children from lower-middle-class families, ranging in age from approximately three to four-and-a-half. Responsive play and noninteractive conditions produced higher levels of compliance than the untrained free…

Type A behaviors were observed in a group of 48 preschool children in different free-play and competitive situations. Results are consistent with other findings on type A behavior in preschool children and suggest that the behavioral dimensions of type A (competitiveness and impatience-aggression) may emerge as early as the preschool years,…

Investigates processes that might influence the degree of association between preschoolers' sex-role stereotyped toy choices and their choice of same-sex versus opposite-sex playmates. A total of 51 children in preschool classes for four-year-olds were observed during free play over nine weeks. (Author/RH)

Questions concerning the ontogeny of the planning process and its role in the regulation of behavior have been markedly absent from the literature. The present study examines the planning done during solitary play by middle-class children from four public nursery schools in Athens, Greece. One hundred preschool children in five age groups (42, 48,…

The primary purpose of this study was to compare, from a social/cognitive perspective, computer free play with more traditional preschool free play. Secondary objectives were to find out whether there were gender differences in the duration and type of computer play and whether receptive language differences or sociometric status affected the use…

Evaluation of maternal responsiveness of 109 preschoolers with disabilities (Down Syndrome, neurological impairment, and developmental delay) in free play situations found that parental age, mother's support, and child responsiveness contributed to maternal responsiveness. (Author/DB)

Describes factor analysis of preschool children's play behavior, as measured by the Smilansky-Parten play matrix. Varimax rotation solution suggests three factors: Dramatic-Constructive Play, Solitary Behavior, and Functional-Constructive Play. Study suggests that these factors represent constructs of preschoolers' play. (Author/RWB)

Examined sequential dependencies in solitary and interactive states of social organization as a function of age, sex, and type of toy in 12 triads of 3 1/2- and 5-year-old children. Each triad was observed during two 30-minute sessions, one in which objects with highly specific functions were available and one in which objects with relatively…

Participant observation was used to examine the social-communicative interactions of six preschool students with mild to severe handicaps, during free play and semistructured activities. Results revealed that each child displayed a consistent set of initiations; each child used augmentative strategies to continue interactions; and initiation…

The sex-typed and sex-neutral activities of 54 preschoolers and their peers' negative and positive responses were recorded during free-play periods in three mixed-age day care classrooms. Each child was observed for a total of 100 minutes of peer interaction. (Author/RH)

Conversational samples of 10 dyads of 4-year-old children during play were analyzed. All dyads evidenced some lengthy topics (13-91 utterances), characterized by 3 text-level functions: enacting scenarios, describing, and problem solving. Three-fourths of all dialogues were considered relatively short. (Author/JDD)

Social participation behavior of 33 2- and 3-year-old children was observed during free-play in order to identify differences between age groups as well as differences between contemporary outcomes and Parten's 1932 findings. Trained observers recorded the frequencies of play behaviors, utilizing a time sampling procedure and Parten's categories…

A novel paradigm was developed and two studies conducted to test the contribution of six conversational skills to children's friendship formation. In study 1, 4- and 5-year-olds individually played for 30 minutes with a 2-foot-tall talking doll. The doll contained a wireless hidden receiver/speaker enabling a concealed female assistant to converse…