In this essay, Susan Engel argues that curiosity is both intrinsic to children's development and unfolds through social interactions. Thus, it should be cultivated in schools, even though it is often almost completely absent from classrooms. Calling on well-established research and more recent studies, Engel argues that interactions between…

Learning occurs through various processes. Among these processes, conceptual change has a pivotal part. This article discusses briefly conceptual change in physics. Anchoring on Kuhn's original explanation of theory change in science, this article elaborates especially on the influence of children's science concepts in general, and pre-conceptions…

This paper reports on an ethnographic study conducted with two Year 1 classes in two different Norwegian schools. In total, 35 five- and six-year-old children were involved in the study and were observed over a two-month period as they engaged in learning activities that involved drawing. Building on Kress and Van Leeuwen's (1996) theory of a…

Aging covers and those that miss their mark and lead to sluggish sales are often targeted for makeovers, many times with good results. Up to 75 percent of Viking's books get redesigned, says Assistant Art Director Jim Hoover, because the publisher sees it as a chance to reintroduce a book to the market. Makeovers are considered the fountain of…

The early twenty-first century is characterised by rapid change. Commentators note how permeating digital technologies engage increasing numbers of children, young people and adults as consumers and also producers. In the shifting technological landscape, childhood and youth are changing. Connectivity around the clock, with a parallel existence in…

This study investigated the home literacy environments (HLEs) of 4-year-old children attending an early childhood program prior to school entry and the association between the HLE and children's interests in and attitudes to literacy. One hundred and thirty-eight parents and 140 children participated in the study. Parents completed a questionnaire…

There have been an increasing number of research studies using participatory, visual methods with young children. This article will explore the possibilities and challenges of extending these methods as tools for listening to early childhood practitioners as well as to young children. This research is based on a longitudinal study carried out…

This question came from Eula Donaldson of Guilford Child Development in Greensboro, North Carolina. Eula is a lead teacher in a Head Start classroom which also receives More at Four funding. More at Four is a state funded program that helps support teacher salaries and makes it feasible for licensed teachers to work in non-public school settings.…

Educators and learning theorists suggest that play is one of the most important venues for learning, and games a useful educational tool. This study considers game activity preferences of middle school-aged children, so that educational games might be made more appealing to them. Based on children's activity modes identified in our prior research,…

In this article we document observations of our own young children's usage of technology in their "out-of-school" worlds. How might these technologies and practices be changing the understandings and usage of texts and literacies of the children who enter into classroom spaces? What transformative possibilities might these home technology…

Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska is the Executive Director of the Center for Gifted Education at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA. She is the current president of the National Association for Gifted Children. Prior to coming to William & Mary, Dr. VanTassel-Baska founded and directed the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern…

Meeting the needs of children with disabilities requires strategies for engaging each and every child as an individual and facilitating their participation as a member of a group. The use of the project approach meets the needs of individual children by building on an awareness of children's interests and high expectations. All early childhood…

Infants and toddlers encounter numerous spoken story experiences early in their lives: conversations, oral stories, and language games such as songs and rhymes. Many adults are even surprised to learn that children this young need these kinds of natural language experiences at all. Adults help very young children take a step along the path toward…

The early childhood education (ECE) sector in Australia is marked by a habitus where "professionalism" is confined to objective, technical practices. The authors suggest that this is a diminished view of professionalism, and one that compromises high-quality ECE. This article is concerned with how teacher professionalism can be…

This article examines mothers' support for children's interests and, specifically, emotional processes in mothers that may explain why they display different levels of support with children of different temperaments. We observed 114 mothers and their 14-27 month-old children during a laboratory interaction. Mothers rated children on three…