In this technical report, the authors describe the development alternate forms of three types of early literacy measures as part of a comprehensive progress monitoring literacy assessment system developed in 2006 for use with students in Kindergarten through fourth grade. They begin with a brief overview of the two conceptual frameworks underlying…

In this collection, the contributors look at the current spread of universalizing discourses concerning young children across the globe, examining the way these discourses, which purport to describe everyone in a scientific and neutral way, actually create mechanisms through which children are divided and excluded. The contributors to this book…

The paper is focused on recent researches in neuroscience and developmental psychology regarding mathematical abilities of infants. A model that tries to explain these findings is developed. The model underlies the mental operations that could be systematically trained to generate efficient school learning. The model is built from a cognitive…

The authors studied the evolution of interindividual intentionality in children and showed that the sharing of knowledge and beliefs requires more complex operations than those involved in usual false-belief tasks. The authors conducted 3 experiments on 380 children (aged 5 years, 0 months to 9 years, 6 months). They assessed the children's…

Religion, like Superhero discourse, is a contested topic of question and debate in early childhood education. This article draws on data from a small ethnographic study that took place in a long day care centre in Sydney Australia. The study examined how children negotiated their "identity work" in the context of popular culture. In this…

To theorize the "becoming child" this article presents desire rather than identity, following Deleuze and Guattari. For desire to proliferate differently, everything that social, religious and moral identities try to control and police, following Foucault, must be deconstructed, reconceptualized and enabled. To show how this is possible…

This methodology report documents the design, development, and psychometric characteristics of the assessment instruments used in the second wave of the ECLS-B. The assessment instruments discussed measure children's cognitive development (BSF-R), socioemotional functioning (Two Bags Task), security of attachment (TAS-45), and physical development…

Distance education is rapidly becoming the global trend for lifelong learning. This book emphasizes the importance of conceptual understanding of online distance learning and focuses on theoretical and practical challenges of online teaching and learning. It illustrates lifelong learning strategies and how technology can support the course…

This article presents a framework for movement activities upon which physical educators and early childhood teachers can build appropriate learning activities that reinforce the connection between the mind and body for children between the ages of two and seven. The authors discuss Piaget's stages of cognitive development. The authors hope that…

How do we see young children's thinking in science? Is it, as much previous research has led us to believe, that their ideas can be neatly boxed like "brown paper packages tied up with strings"--as the song from "The Sound of Music" goes? Or are their ideas like "wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings" ("Sound of Music"): fluid, complex,…

Because too many children experience the transition to school as a culture shock, during the past decade teachers have implemented so-called transition activities in order to bridge the gap between preschool and school. However, transition to school also calls for a development of higher mental functions, among others the development of children's…

Starting school is an important time for young children, their families and educators. Data gathered from interviews and questionnaire responses from approximately 300 parents, 300 educators and 300 children have been used to describe the most important issues for children, parents and educators as children start school in New South Wales,…

Educational process reflection (EPR) is a professional development model aimed at supporting preschool teachers reflecting on and changing their practice. A particular focus is on interaction between practitioners and children, and between the children themselves. In this article, I first describe the theoretical frameworks that helped shape EPR,…

In democratic societies schools play a large role in helping students learn the values and skills necessary for adult participation in a free and open society. This article is a case study of a group of students who started a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) at a private American school in Mexico City. The students' struggle to form and keep their GSA,…

Four studies examined 3- and 4-year-olds' ability to judge accurately whether they acted intentionally. Children self-initiated action to attain an outcome, or their arm was moved by the experimenter to create an outcome. In Experiment 3, children in both age groups accurately claimed they were agents of self-guided action but not of passive…