Depending upon a cultural-historical perspective, where play is defined as the creation of an imaginary situation, this study seeks to examine whether and how family joint creation of imaginary situations can provide the conditions for a child's science learning in early childhood. The paper reported here forms part of a broader study, and the…

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to explore how Chinese preschool children categorize plants into either living or nonliving things. The research was framed within the interpretive paradigm and was designed as a descriptive, cross-sectional study. Participants were children 4 to 6 years of age from 3 kindergartens in Jiangsu…

The purpose of this study was to pilot test the effects of a culturally adapted early intervention influenced by the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) on reduction of autism symptoms and severity categorization for young children with autism spectrum disorders in China. Participants were randomly assigned to either the control or intervention…

This article presents a large project on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The project was organised by OMEP, the World Organisation for Early Childhood Education, where the authors were the appointed as project coordinators. The purpose of ESD is to reorient education towards sustainability. The aims of the project were to gather…

Building foundational skills in the early years for the later development of self-determination in adulthood for individuals with disabilities is important in the United States, but little research has been conducted to examine whether these skills are as important in other countries. In this phenomenological study, seven family interviews were…

By far, literature regarding Chinese early childhood education and care (ECEC) has primarily focused on Youeryuan in urban settings. Youeryuan is the everyday Chinese term used for ECEC programs serving children ages three to six, which does include the U.S. version of the kindergarten year. This paper will refer to Youeryuan rather than the…

The purpose of this research was to explore the long-term outcomes of either participating or not participating in early childhood science education on grade 6 students' conceptual understanding of science. The research is situated in a conceptual framework that evokes Piagetian developmental levels as both potential curriculum constraints and…

Children have formal science instruction from kindergarten in Australia and from Year 3 in China. The purpose of this research was to explore the impact that different approaches to primary science curricula in China and Australia have on children's conceptual understanding of science. Participants were Year 3 children from three schools of high,…

The researchers studied humour among Chinese and Greek preschool children in relation to cognitive development. The sample included 55 Chinese children and 50 Greek children ages 4½ to 5½ years. Results showed that both Chinese and Greek children's humour recognition were significantly and positively correlated to their cognitive development, but…

This study examined Taiwanese-Canadian mothers' conceptions of personal freedom in everyday situations for their children and the influence of acculturation on their beliefs. Forty mothers of six- to eight-year-old children participated in a semistructured interview and sorting task. Interview responses revealed that, regardless of acculturation,…