This paper reports young (3-5 year-olds') children's cognitive and affective understanding of actual moral (harm to others) and prudential (harm to self) transgressions in the family, as reported by the parent, but in a way that provides the child the opportunity to reflect on and reason about the actual events. A total of 38 parent-child dyads…

To address the lack of research in early science learning and young children's informal science experiences, this exploratory case study investigated a 7-year-old girl's (Abigail) emergent science competencies and how they are related to her science experiences in everyday family contexts. Data sources included observations, interviews, parent…

The curricula for young children rarely provide specific teaching about how to conserve earth's resources. Yet, adults need to help children early in life become aware of and actively involved in ecologically sensitive and sound practices. Interviews were conducted individually with 41 children (4- to 6-year-olds; 7- to 9-year-olds and 10- to…

The teaching beliefs and classroom practices of 54 kindergarten teachers were assessed using a Q-sort measure. Cluster analysis of the Q-sort responses revealed four instructional approaches that differed in their focus on literacy skills, social development and self-esteem. In addition, measures of emergent literacy skills, classroom behaviour…

Nearly half a million children in the United States are currently being served by the foster care system. Infants and toddlers represent the largest single group entering foster care. While these very young children are at the greatest peril for physical, mental health, and developmental issues and tend to spend the longest time in the foster care…

This study examined whether or not preschool teachers attended to instances requiring inference-making in story books. Thirty-one preschool teachers were asked to read three fictional story books and to identify parts of the story that would be difficult for young children to interpret. Additionally, they were asked to construct questions that…

The goal of this research is to seek information from the Cleveland (Ohio) and Buffalo (New York) area kindergarten teachers about their experience in development of caring dispositions in children. Two hundred questionnaires were sent, one hundred to each city. There was a low response rate of less than 10% from both cities. A qualitative method…

Interviews with 15 mothers were analyzed to investigate how these mothers, who chose to delay their child's kindergarten entry, organized their children's environments during the hold-out year. Previous analyses of the interviews identified two categories of mothers, who were substantially different in their decision-making. In the current paper…