In the summer of 1899, [John] Dewey gave two series of talks at Honolulu High School on Tuesday and Friday evenings from 8:00 to 10:00. The first set of five lectures was entitled "The Life of the Child;" the second set, "Movements in Nineteenth Century Thought." The first talk of the lecture series was delivered on the evening…

Children's interests are a common foundation for early childhood curricula. Yet, little research is available about the fundamental nature of children's interests and analytical ways to recognize and engage with these. Early work on children's interests adopted a psychological perspective and associated interests with activity choices. Recent work…

Technology, digital media and popular culture form an important aspect of young children's life-worlds in contemporary post-industrial societies. A problem for early childhood educators is how to most effectively integrate these aspects of children's life-worlds into the provision of play-based learning. Traditionally, research has considered…

Alternative instructional and curricular models are regarded as more comprehensive and suitable approaches to providing quality physical education (Kulinna 2008; Lund and Tannehill 2010; McKenzie and Kahan 2008; Metzler 2011; Quay and Peters 2008). The purpose of this study was to describe the impact of the Early Steps Physical Education…

Children's interests and thinking emanate from their daily lived experiences in their families, communities and cultures. This paper substantiates the view that the construct of "funds of knowledge", understood through the lens of "cultural repertoires of practice", provides an analytical tool for early years teachers to…

This project/report partnered researchers with teachers from two centres to explore and theorise understandings of children's inquiries and working theories. This project investigated the following questions: (1) What is the nature and content of infants', toddlers' and young children's inquiries and working theories in relation to their everyday…

This article reports on the evaluation of one topic in an enrichment program designed for children in their early years of learning. The program is responsive to an increased understanding of the benefits for very young children of programs that not only take advantage of the sensitive periods for learning but that also assist parents to a take a…

This article troubles the established discourse of free choice and free play in early childhood education, and develops post-structural approaches to theorising children's agency in the context of institutional and relational power structures. It is widely accepted that planning a curriculum based on children's needs, interests and patterns of…

Teaching practices in natural settings such as activity-based intervention (ABI) are suggested as alternatives to be used in effective early childhood education. As a multidisciplinary model, ABI consists of four components, which are choosing activities according to the child's interests; teaching generalizable goals embedded in routines and…

Can teachers of young children create stimulating and enriching outdoor environments that are also safe? This article highlights early childhood outdoor safety standards and presents a framework for creating quality and SAFE™ outdoor environments in early childhood programs that support children's interest and best practice. The outdoor…

The spontaneous nature of much early childhood teaching makes it vital to understand the range of knowledge that teachers draw on in their curricular and pedagogical decision-making. Hammersley argued that teaching practice cannot be based directly on research evidence because it needs to be filtered through teachers' experiences and…

The impact of social class backgrounds on young children's educational experiences has attracted increasing attention in early childhood research. However, few longitudinal studies related to social class and parental involvement in young children's education are available, especially in East Asian contexts. In this longitudinal qualitative study,…

This article presents essential ideas from various people on how to cultivate healthy childhood. Amelia Gambetti says that in terms of young children, the element of complexity offers to them the possibility to have an opportunity to learn how to think and to generate ideas. Diane Levin shares how a three-year-old kid taught her that children do…

The influences of child participation in interest-based learning activities on the development of 17 preschoolers with autism was the focus of this brief report. The children's mothers identified their children's interests and the everyday family and community activities that provided opportunities for interest-based learning. Parents then…

Research Findings: The aim of this study was to shed light on how children perceive the differences between their early childhood setting and primary school and what they felt they learned when they started primary school. The children's playschool teachers were co-researchers, participating in the data generation, as well as participants in the…