Although attention to the effects of child-animal interactions on children's development has increased in the last three decades, developmental psychology has not attended to the importance of the effects of animals on children's development. There is a need to consider the possible impacts of animals as significant social partners for children's…

This dissertation explores how children (ages five-twelve) engage with the past through performance. Three case studies treating nineteenth-century western US history yield information about a spectrum of performance activities ranging from living history to community theatre to doll play. Reflecting on Richard Schechner's concept of…

This article presents results from two studies that included ethnically and socioeconomically diverse samples totaling 4,462 children in kindergarten through third grade. Each study examined the psychometric properties of a web-based, self-administered battery of assessments of socialemotional comprehension called "SELweb." Assessment…

This qualitative research presents an expanded perspective of literacy practices in which young students engage in multiple literacies while exploring personal inquiries about Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, LA. An extended classroom example and analysis taken from a broader research project focusing on early multiliteracies, illustrates the…

The "new sociology of childhood" emphasizes listening to the voices of children when conducting research about their lives. In keeping with this framework, the following case study highlights the use of inclusive strategies and the importance of the researcher's orientation in exploring the perspectives of a child who does not use speech to…

Childhood research has long shared a bio-political terrain with state agencies in which children figure primarily as "human futures". In the 20th century bio-social dualism helped to make that terrain navigable by researchers, but, as life processes increasingly become key sites of bio-political action, bio-social dualism is becoming…

In our complex, interdependent world, it is critical that educators prepare students for global citizenship. One way to develop students' awareness and understanding of the world is through global literature. Through exposure to this type of literature, students gain multiple perspectives and learn about the social, political, and moral conditions…

That our writing can be misunderstood by our readers is a conceptual difficulty for developing writers. This paper outlines a perspective-taking process that assists elementary students in composing referentially detailed descriptions. Through a procedural sequence that includes drafting, feedback, readers' perspective task, revision and drafting…

In this study we take up challenges regarding researcher positionality, representation, and the construction of difference as a launching point to reflexively analyze our own practices within a research project exploring multilingualism, multiliteracies, and teacher development. Our data were drawn from a teacher study group we facilitated during…

This paper reports on the use of a reflective technique that incorporated video-stimulated recall to encourage reflection on practice. The author videotaped a series of mathematics lessons conducted by an experienced teacher, which were then collaboratively viewed and discussed, with the aim being to bring about changes in the teacher's practice.…

Some children, for all manner of reasons, struggle to make friends and fit in socially. "What's the Buzz?" is a unique sixteen-lesson social skills enrichment programme designed to explicitly teach children how to think and relate to others in social situations. This lively, highly practical role-play and play-based programme targets everyday…

Background/Context: Within the context of four locally funded research projects, the researcher was asked to disseminate the findings of her narrative inquiries not to the research community, which had previously been the case, but to the practice and philanthropic communities. This, in turn, created a representational crisis because practitioners…

Philosophy for Children has been offering schoolchildren the opportunity to engage with philosophical ideas since the 1970s. It is a simple idea, already used in schools in Britain and around the world. Children share some reading--or other stimulus--with their teacher. They then devise their own questions, choose one that interests them, and,…

This article discusses the practice "Welcome to My Neighborhood," an exchange program for students attending primary schools. The practice targets younger students in providing positive experiences of learning and playing together with children from different backgrounds. Children interact with children outside their own school,…

A developmental model of children's understanding of nationality (Nationality Perspective-Taking Ability or NPTA) was proposed and evaluated in this study. The NPTA model expands extant definitions and provides a theoretical foundation for the developmental progression of national identity. Children (Mean age = 9.33 years) from Latin American and…