In this paper, we want to present research on children's perspectives in the context of participation. We emphasize that the survey of children's perspectives is a form of participation. We understand participation based on children's rights. We refer to the Lundy model ([2007]. "'Voice' Is Not Enough: Conceptualising Article 12 of the United…

Evolution is the integrative framework of the life sciences. Even though the topic is often not formally introduced before high school, young children already have various ideas about evolutionary principles (variation, inheritance, and selection) and their underlying key concepts (e.g., differential fitness, reproduction, and speciation).…

The psychological mechanisms that subserve inductions about novel social categories in childhood are hotly debated. While research demonstrated that language, and in particular generic statements, plays a major role in how children learn to attribute properties to social categories, developmental theories propose other mechanisms. One theoretical…

We investigate how the ability to respond appropriately to reasons provided in discourse develops in young children. In Study 1 (N = 58, Germany, 26 girls), 4- and 5-, but not 3-year-old children, differentiated good from bad reasons. In Study 2 (N = 131, Germany, 64 girls), 4- and 5-year-old children considered both the strength of evidence for…

Moral self-concept (MSC) is an important aspect of human morality and emerges in early childhood. It indicates how early children view themselves as moral agents. Yet, its structure and developmental patterns are unclear and require more research. This study addresses if the multidimensional structure of MSC is stable during early childhood and if…

This study examines how language ideologies are negotiated and navigated in a linguistically diverse kindergarten group in Germany, focusing on the multilingual language practices of teachers and children. Drawing on data generated during 3months of focused linguistic ethnographic fieldwork, I analyse situations in which children and teachers…

Research on the history of childhood faces fundamental challenges in tracing children's voices. Not yet skilled in forms of written self-documentation, children leave few documents behind. Other forms of expression (i.e. drawings) must thus be recognised as valuable historical sources and appropriate methods must be applied. These research…

In the discourse on children and early childhood education, the concern to 'give children a voice' has become increasingly important in recent years. The starting point for this development is the idea of a 'competent child' whose perspectives, perceptions and ideas are valuable and important. For this reason, ECE has set itself the goal of…