Play, of varied type and form, provides opportunities for children to acquire a sense of competence and belonging when engaging in classroom life. The purpose of this study was to investigate ways that the inclusion of play as a curricular component eased academic stressors and supported motivation during the transition to kindergarten. In this…

This article reports on a study investigating young children's views about learning. The researchers engaged 200 Australian children from 3 to 8 years of age in conversations about how they liked to learn. In an attempt to privilege children's voices, the direct words of the participating children are used in the reporting of results. The children…

This study reports new evidence for the dimensionality and validity of the Learning Behaviors Scale in samples of Head Start children. A sample of 900 former Head Start children enrolled in public kindergarten and first-grade classrooms was studied using modern techniques to analyze item responses represented as ordered categories. Findings from…