As young children encounter animal and plant life, they are eager to figure out where plants and animals come from, which plants are edible, and which animals like to eat different plants. Gardening experiences provide ample opportunities to explore how plants grow, what plants need to grow, how to care for plants, and how to harvest the edible…

The emphasis on social-emotional competence and its importance to positive academic and nonacademic outcomes has led to a focus on identifying and implementing effective practices for supporting young children's social-emotional competence. Our work to identify, validate, and support the fidelity of implementation of evidence-based practices to…

The emphasis on social-emotional competence and its importance to positive academic and nonacademic outcomes has led to a focus on identifying and implementing effective practices for supporting young children's social-emotional competence. Our work to identify, validate, and support the fidelity of implementation of evidence-based practices to…

This article describes some of the extraordinary accomplishments of the second cohort of states to participate in the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Financing Policy Project (IECMH-FPP). The purpose of the IECMHFPP is to support states' advancement of IECMH assessment, diagnosis, and treatment policies that will contribute to the healthy…

A critical issue facing the nation today stems from the fact that many classroom teachers in Early Childhood Education lack adequate training. This deficit in the professional education of teachers impacts outcomes for children every day. This article discusses the establishment of a training system that has impacted Early Childhood education in…

Visual intelligence is a key element in the thought processes of the most capable and creative among individuals, and this intelligence is closely related to analogical thinking, a learner's ability to make connections between prior knowledge and newly presented information. This article describes an approach to teaching scientific inquiry at…

The early childhood faculty at the University of Memphis developed the Early Childhood Education Behaviors & Dispositions Checklist for four main purposes: (1) The faculty needed a way to clearly communicate to students the expectations for their dispositions and the means of assessment; (2) It is a professional obligation in preservice…

The paper describes the Family, Infant and Toddler (FIT) Project, designed to provide educational and supportive services to rural middle Tennessee families with young mentally retarded children. Noted are the project background (including sporadic outreach efforts) and conceptual orientation, and an ecological perspective which stresses the role…

This final report describes the activities and outcomes of Project TIES (Towards Inclusion in Early Education), a federally funded demonstration model training program designed to enhance the abilities of child care providers and trainers to include young children, birth to five, with disabilities in developmentally appropriate child care…