This study explored early childhood teachers' views relating to culture and play by collecting information from them on cultural differences and parental perceptions of play, culturally appropriate play (CAP) practices and barriers in its implementation. The participants of the study were 14 early childhood educators working in long day care (LDC)…

Background: Phonological awareness is known to be an excellent predictor of later reading acquisition. It remains unclear, however, whether phoneme manipulation alone best explains this association or whether an additional direct contribution of onset-rime awareness is predictive. This issue is explored here. Method: A longitudinal study is…

Relations among patterns of conceptual and procedural knowledge and grade were examined in 90 six- to eight-year-olds in order to explore addition and subtraction development. Conceptual knowledge was assessed by examining children's responses to pairs of problems reflecting various part-whole relations. Children solved related problems as part of…

The authors, directors of the Chicago-based Pritzker Early Childhood Foundation, advocate "replication," the adaptation of a successful model program or practice to new locations or to new populations. Studies have shown that successful replications of early childhood programs that help at-risk children and their families can have long-term,…

In this article, we present CTRL_SPACE: a design for a software environment with companion hardware, developed to introduce preliterate children to basic computational concepts by means of an animatronic face, whose individual features serve as an analogy for a programmable object. In addition to presenting the environment, this article briefly…

Transgender kids and kids from trans families attend preschool and kindergarten. For the safety, comfort, and optimum learning of these students, trans-positive early childhood education environments are necessary. Through simple changes to existing curricula and equipment, teachers, parents, and administrators can create a trans-positive setting…

This article presents an outline history of early childhood programs for indigenous children through a comparative study of initiatives in three countries--Canada, Australia and New Zealand--with the aim being to identify common and distinct developments in the three nations. Formal early childhood education programs for indigenous children based…

This study investigates young children's humourous activity as a form of play and considers the implications on their cognitive development and learning. The study was conducted in an infant room of a university based group child care center and multiple qualitative data collection methods were used. The findings of this study suggest that during…

After providing a brief background on emergent literacy, the author describes interactive storybooks-software programs that allow children to interact with stories in a variety of ways. Children can listen to a story being read, following the words on the screen or in a book, and also activate animations of characters or other objects on the…

Previous research on early intensive intervention in autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) has largely focused on outcomes of treatment for children. Although some account has been taken of parental viewpoints, the potential impact of intervention on families has not achieved the same kind of research prominence. This contrasts with the considerable…

This study investigates prospective relationships between phonemic awareness and reading performance during the first year of Finnish primary school. Pedagogical interest lay in finding out whether systematic use of phonics in reading instruction supported children's reading performance even if children can already decode. A total of 85 children…

Documentation lets teachers visibly assess children's interests and abilities and serves as a tool for recording, reflecting, and supporting children. It also provides parents, children, and others a window into what is happening in the classroom. In The Children's School, the laboratory school at Mills College, teachers are always in search of…

We conducted an observational study of parent-child interaction in home activity settings (routines) of families raising young children with developmental disabilities and problem behavior. Our aim was to empirically investigate the construct validity of coercion in typical but unsuccessful family routines. The long-term goal was to develop an…

While a growing body of research reveals the beneficial effects of music on education performance the value of music in educating the young child is not being recognized. If research of students in the school system indicates that learning through the arts can benefit the "whole" child, that math achievement scores are significantly…

This practice/policy brief focuses on early childhood home visiting as a place-based family strengthening strategy that supports parent/caregivers as a key influence on the lives of young children. ("Place-based family strengthening" means that "children do better when their families are strong, and families do better when they live in communities…