Expectations for increased conceptual outcomes in the early childhood education sector have foregrounded a need for more evidenced-based practice in support of children's play. One such avenue for researching models of play practices that support cognitive outcomes is to study the implementation of Playworlds. Grounded in cultural-historical…

As increasing numbers of families migrate from a range of countries into communities where Western science is viewed as valued curriculum content, a need for understanding the cultural nature of teaching Western science has become more urgent. The study reported in this paper sought to investigate pedagogical responses to everyday and scientific…

Contemporary educational policies both at international and national levels acknowledge the educational rights of all children and their inclusion in mainstream educational practices. Like other children at risk, children with disabilities have opportunities to access mainstream education but their participation is not always realised in practice.…

Vygotsky (in: Rieber, Carton (eds) The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky, vol 1, Pleneum Press, Newyork, pp 167-241, Retrieved from http://images.lib.monash.edu.au/edf5411/04118997.pdf, 1987) stated that academic or scientific concepts require a level of conscious awareness on the part of the child within everyday situations. Academic concepts can…

Technology education as a key learning area can be viewed as the designing, making, and appraising of systems, materials, and information. This study examined young Australian children's technological experiences prior to beginning school in order to build on their learning base in curriculum planning. The purposes of the research were to: (1)…

This booklet discusses techniques and activities intended to help early childhood educators to explain the structure and function of the human body to preschool children. It reviews typical questions that preschoolers have about what goes on inside their bodies, observations that children make about the human body, how children draw the human…