Malka Haas (1920-2021) was a key pioneer in the founding of Israeli kibbutz kindergartens, and she profoundly influenced both the curriculum and practice of early childhood education (ECE) for the entire country. The article reviews Haas's biography, her professional development, and the main principles in her educational approach: "the…

Previous research indicates that young children, as young as preschoolers, spontaneously draw dihedral and cyclic symmetries in their representations of the natural world. This is an intriguing find because at this age children have barely had their first contact with formal geometry and, therefore, one would not expect to find a use of symmetries…

The purpose of this study is to investigate if a mindfulness mandala coloring activity reduces a student's anxiety about reading. Reading is a fundamental skill for all other academic success, making proficient reading skills necessary. This study investigates if a reduction in a third grade student's reading anxiety results in changes to oral…

This article explores how the notion of a serendipitous curriculum relates to young children's artmaking events in an early childhood center in the Midwest. A new materialist theoretical lens is used that not only considers the agency and action of children, but also enables ALL matter within a relation to act. In doing so, it offers a way to…

Visual art activities such as the processing of output in the form of drawing encourage children to use their imagination, expression, and multiple intelligences. Through visual art activities, children can participate actively in a more enjoyable learning environment. Drawing is an essential part of children in the production of various forms…

This paper is located within a larger study of children's voice and storytelling. The focus is on how children use artifacts, such as special objects and photographs, to tell stories about their lives. We studied the collaborative learning of educators, in two schools in Eastern Canada, as they used sharing circles and multimodal pedagogies, and…

This research shares the exploration of fundamental sketch aesthetics in preschool children's educational activities on visual arts skills. The exploration of this study is bound to the involvement of visual arts essential activities to the advancement of children's preschool skills. The knowledge concerns following the advances of curative…

In the current climate of state-mandated education standards and assessment that prioritize math and language arts in U.S. schools, drawing, an accessible and/or pleasurable endeavor for a wide variety of children, is undervalued. Although research in art education over the past four decades has shown children's drawing and drawings to be rich…

Preschool children from Israeli, Jewish-Orthodox families with an average of four children per family drew their families. Three aspects of gender differentiation in children's drawings were assessed in relation to children's gender and number of siblings: size of figures, colour use, and inclusion of gender-associated characteristics. Size of…

Personal and social development is an important area which influences children's learning journey in all levels of education. Examining the impact of the arts on children's development, there are several studies that adopt this focus. However, the majority of them focus on either primary or secondary education or on specific personal and social…

This paper examines the schematic underpinnings in the drawings of a four-year-old girl, Thea. The paper reviews literature on graphic representations, signs and meaning-making before discussing schematic "form" in children's drawings, the theoretical background for the study. The paper discusses ethical issues and methodological…

The transformative agenda of sustainability education constitutes the focus of early-years education. In quality sustainability educational projects, children are supported to draw links between nature and society and relate to the studied phenomena. Is this methodological approach realized in educational programs for the early years? The present…

This paper proposes that the future is uncertain for many children. Both natural and human-made disasters are adversely affecting the lives of millions of children and their families. An example of an environment-related disaster is cited from Sichuan Province, China, where a massive earthquake killed some 70,000 people in 2008. How the teachers…

The studies regarding how the comprehension of geometric shapes evolves in childhood are largely based on the assessment of children's responses during the course of tasks linked to the recognition, classification or explanation of prototypes and models. Little attention has been granted to the issue as to what extent the geometric shape turns out…

This article explores the technology fluency of the preschool "digital native" and how this familiarity with technology influences learning in the classroom. The study involved introducing tablets as a tool for mark making and observing how students engaged with the technology creatively. This study considered the continuously rising…