The Executive Functions (EFs) cognitive ability was studied with a group of gifted children (n=27), children at risk of learning disabilities (LDs) (n=27), and control/average children (n=27). These children were enrolled in Kindergarten 2 and had the mean age of 63 months. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate group differences on EFs…

Do learners of a second language (L2) need frequent contact with native speakers of that language in order to master its phonology? What if they hear audio recordings of native speakers and receive immediate corrective feedback about their perception? We used a randomized controlled experiment with 135 Chinese speakers (with English as their L2)…

Humans possess a tendency to rapidly and consistently make character evaluations from mere facial appearance. Recent work shows that this tendency emerges surprisingly early: children as young as 3-years-old provide adult-like assessments of others on character attributes such as "nice," "strong," and "smart" based…

This study investigated Chinese children's development of sensitivity to positional (orthographic), phonological, and semantic cues of radicals in encoding novel Chinese characters. A newly designed picture-novel character mapping task, along with nonverbal reasoning ability, vocabulary, and Chinese character recognition were administered to 198…

The present study investigates and compares the influence of teaching Realistic Mathematics on the development of mathematical competence in kindergarten. The sample consisted of 231 Greek kindergarten students. For the implementation of the survey, we conducted an intervention, which included one experimental and one control group. Children in…

Recent studies reveal that children can solve proportional reasoning problems presented with continuous amounts that enable intuitive strategies by around 6 years of age but have difficulties with problems presented with discrete units that tend to elicit explicit count-and-match strategies until at least 10 years of age. The current study tests…

This study examined children's trajectories of mathematics and reading achievements from kindergarten to eighth grade along with the gender differences in these trajectories. A total of 8503 participants drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) formed the sample of the study. The results of the latent growth…

Legible penmanship is important. However, young students have difficulty producing legible handwriting (Marr, Windsor, & Cermak, 2001). As legible handwriting is a benefit for both the students and the teachers in the classroom setting, this study examined if pencil size had an impact on preschool and kindergarten students' handwriting. The…

Research has suggested that relatively older children are more likely to be identified as gifted and talented students compared with their younger peers. Such a phenomenon disadvantages the youngest students while at the same time confers additional advantages to the older students as a result of receiving specialized and/or extra instruction. The…

Education has faced unprecedented disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic; evidence about the subsequent effect on children is of crucial importance. We use data from an oral reading fluency (ORF) assessment--a rapid assessment taking only a few minutes that measures a fundamental reading skill--to examine COVID's effects on children's reading…

The current study investigated the role of theory of mind development in school readiness among 120 low-income preschool and kindergarten children. A short-term longitudinal design was used to examine relations among theory of mind, the understanding of teaching, and learning behaviors and their collective role in children's literacy and numeracy…

This poll was conducted between February 12-February 15, 2022 among a sample of 2,200 adults. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race, and region. Among the key findings are: (1) Education issues rank higher when it comes to voting…

The authors examined whether different measures of print exposure assess the same underlying concept and how these different measures relate to vocabulary breadth and depth. One hundred forty-seven students attending the third year of kindergarten in Jining, China, were assessed on nonverbal IQ, vocabulary breadth and depth, and their knowledge of…

Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that encounter the issue of bilingualism due to the spread of private schools that offer programs in different languages. This research is an attempt to investigate the impact of bilingualism on the creative capabilities (Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, Details) of kindergarten children in Riyadh. It aims at…

This study investigated teachers' perceptions of the implantation of a new first grade policy based on the new Turkish education standards during the 2012-2013 academic year. The study was based on a phenomenological case study design utilizing a structured interview protocol. Ten teachers discussed opportunities and challenges of implementing the…