The purpose of this study is to explore a theoretical idea in relation to a body of empirical material from a reading activity involving a picturebook on shadow. The theoretical idea, sprung from variation theory, entails children's discernment through synchronic simultaneity as a key to their ability to imagine. To explore this idea, an analysis…

Previous research has indicated that young children's executive functions (EFs) can be bolstered through role-play [e.g. the 'Batman™ effect'; White et al.]. However, what is not clear is whether it is the role-playing of another's perspective, or something about the role played, which is responsible for the Batman™ effect. The current experiment…

Emotion regulation--as a vital part of children's development, school readiness, and academic success--begins to develop in infancy and toddler time. Much of the research on toddler emotion regulation are correlational studies in laboratory settings. Little attention has been directed to toddlers' emotion regulation in everyday naturalistic…

As societies become more aware of the importance of early socio-emotional skills for children's later success, teachers report that they are ill-equipped to support and enhance these skills within their 'traditional' teacher role. This paper turns to the contributions that Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky and his adherents have made to our…

In this article, the authors problematize the dichotomization of play and learning that often shapes the agenda of early childhood education research and practice. This dichotomization is driven in part by the tendency to define learning in terms of formal learning (i.e. learning as an outcome of direct instruction and school-based approaches that…

According to Lev S. Vygotsky (1896-1934), the highest levels of abstract thinking and self-regulation in preschool development are established in "pretend play using object substitutions." An extensive research literature supports Vygotsky's empirical model of the internalization of self-guiding speech (social speech > private speech…

This paper aims to discuss the relevance that the concept of "perezhivanie" had for Soviet psychology and its implication for the development of topics that have been largely neglected both in Soviet psychology and in the Western Vygotskian tradition. According to the position defended in this paper, "perezhivanie" is not just…

Many American preschool children enter kindergarten without the emergent literacy skills needed to learn to read. To address this problem, this multicase qualitative study investigated the emergent literacy practices at Steiner Waldorf-inspired and Reggio Emilia-inspired schools. The research questions focused on how alternative preschool…

The "Vygotsky on Education Primer" serves as an introduction to the life and work of the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky. Even though he died almost eighty years ago, his life's work remains both relevant and significant to the field of education today. This book examines Vygotsky's emphasis on the role of cultural and historical context in…

"Early Learning and Development" provides a unique synthesis of cultural-historical theory from Vygotsky, Elkonin and Leontiev in the 20th century to the ground-breaking research of scholars such as Siraj-Blatchford, Kratsova and Hedegaard today. It demonstrates how development and learning are culturally embedded and institutionally defined, and…

The article focuses on the Vygotskian approach to high quality early childhood education in light of the challenges facing early childhood educators in Russia and in the West. One of these challenges is the constant pressure to start teaching academic skills at a progressively younger age at the expense of traditional early childhood activities.…

Theorizes that dramatic play involves and can potentially develop the three conditions that promote and characterize creativity--interaction, transformation, and imagination. Notes that children involved in dramatic play are enhancing their creativity and potential for creative work. (TM)

Interviews with fourth graders who had not yet received systematic instruction in U.S. history revealed that these students are interested in the past, concerned about human intentionality and cause-effect relationships, and able to construct coherent narrative accounts of historical events as they understand them. However, they lack an…

Education, as a rational business, has largely ignored children's fantasies. Rather than dismissing fantasy, as both traditional and progressive educators have, the educational task is to begin the process of linking to the real world those basic concepts which make fantasy so engaging and meaningful to children. (IS)

This book is an effort to introduce early childhood educators to Vygotsky's perspective, research on young children that has been stimulated by this perspective, and current educational practices emanating from it. The discussion is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of Vygotsky's life, the social conditions in which his…