The need for valid and reliable ways to assess developmental outcomes of preschool children becomes continually more acute as public investments in preschool education grow, with corresponding pressure for programs to demonstrate their ability to influence child outcomes. The authors conducted studies of one assessment widely used in Head Start…

Motor skills during early childhood play a significant role in child development. We used the bioecological model to determine the bioecological factors associated with preschool children's gross motor skills (GMS). The GMS of randomly sampled 280 children were tested using a standardized checklist. The background variables theoretically framed in…

Children start to gain basic literacy skills during preschool that they will constantly be depended on for their academic activities in primary school. Through learning shoulder girdle strength, fine motor skills, and eye-hand coordination, the foundation of motor skills is developed. Examining the effects of motor skills on emergent literacy…

In our research on the quality of ECEC settings in France, we were inspired by the 'Mosaic approach' developed by Clark and Moss to take into account the viewpoint of the children aged 2-3 years, who are welcomed in this study through the 'voice' of photography. The aim of this article is to analyse the results of the children's practices of…

Going down a slide, dancing to music, and pushing someone on a tire swing are more than simply "play activities" or a means to staying physically fit. Engagement in motor play provides important opportunities for preschoolers to develop a variety of skills, including gross motor, social, communication, and cognitive skills. However,…

Background and Aim: Physical activity is an important means to promote the comprehensive and healthy development of children's bodies and minds. The national health strategy and population policy adjustment, the development of kindergartens, and the deterioration of children's physical health have all worked together to bring unprecedented…

The construct of this inquiry had been drawn from the lensing of developmental progression of children in the College of Human Ecology Nursery Development Center. This work sought at presenting an index showing how children perform the basic tasks expected of them in terms of motor, self-care, and play skills using the development checklist.…

The Integrated Therapy Model is a practice framework designed to promote multi-disciplinary collaboration to accommodate the holistic needs of children with special education needs. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the model adopted in a pilot preschool in China on children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A single-case, ABAB reversal…

Active bodily involvement in music is a key component of musical understanding. Rudolf von Laban developed a movement framework introducing the "effort elements" of time, space, weight, and flow. He proposed that by experiencing combinations of these elements, individuals internalize a movement vocabulary that fosters expressive music…

Background/Context: The COVID-19 pandemic challenged the way we conduct research. For some modes of data collection, such as interviews, there was a ready (if not perfect) analog: face-to-face became phone-based; paper and pen surveys moved online. Others, such as direct assessments of child development, proved more challenging. Despite the…

We investigated the impact of a subsidized, needs-based preschool program (Study 1; N = 1,894) and California's universal but age-restricted transitional kindergarten (TK) program (Study 2; N = 1,093) on school readiness. We applied Mahalanobis matching--a quasi-experimental data analysis method used to create equivalent groups--to data from three…

Cognitive abilities are essential to children's overall growth; thus, the implementation of early and effective training interventions is a major challenge for developmental psychologists and teachers. This study explores whether an intervention simultaneously operating on fluid reasoning (FR), visuospatial, narrative, and motor abilities could…

To be able to support young children in learning to learn--an ability that requires adapting often-unprecedented changes in society--teachers need to be aware of the ways in which children understand learning. In this qualitative study, 177 micro-interviews conducted with 41 Finnish children were analysed using an abductive method to understand…

Physical education is the only school subject that provides access to psychomotor learning opportunity for all students, and, thus, should be the primary content identified in physical education standards. Half of the recently released 2024 SHAPE America National Physical Education Standards now focus specifically on social and personal…

Writing is an important part of learning across all content areas of school (Graham & Harris, 2011). Even very young children experience the symbols of written language all around them. Soon they begin to notice that written symbols stand for people, ideas, things, or events, and attempt their own marks (Aram & Levin, 2011). However,…