This paper discusses the use of computers to modify the learning processes of preschool children. Focusing on children from non-francophone, lower-class, immigrant families in a suburb of Paris, France, the paper discusses the development of specialized computer software to allow children to type the names of animals, objects, and people on the…

This research compared two methods used to investigate the knowledge of internal body parts by children ages 4 to 9 years. Subjects were 50 Italian children: 18 preschoolers, 21 first graders, and 11 second or third graders. Children performed two tasks, a Drawing Task in which they drew on the outline of a human figure all the body parts they…

Using the tools of systematic grammar, this case study examined 3- and 4-year-old children's experiences with storytelling and the potential effects of those experiences on the children's future success in learning to read. Subjects were students attending one of two nursery school classes held at a large primary school on the south coast of…

This monograph consists of seven papers that discuss issues related to the teaching approach used in the preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. The papers are: (1) "Images from the World: Study Seminar on the Experience of the Municipal Infant-Toddler Centers and the Preprimary Schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy" (Lilian G. Katz), which…

This booklet presents a reading and writing intervention program for French Canadian preschool children with developmental delays, to be implemented by parents or collaboratively by parents and teachers. The program calls for children to have frequent contacts with written language, in order to facilitate the development of a positive attitude…

Personal narratives of 20 middle-class Japanese preschoolers, half of them 4 years old and half 5 years old, and their mothers were analyzed using stanza analysis and high point analysis. The patterning in stanzas yielded the following: (1) with regard to the proportion of three-verse stanzas, there were no differences between the groups of…

Drawing from the personal visits of an early childhood specialist to centers for infants and toddlers in Britain and the United States, this paper focuses on issues of teacher education, deregistration, and professionalism. Introductory material describes the child care situation in Aotearoa, New Zealand, highlighting the increasing demand for…

The first of two introductory essays in this handbook presents a historical perspective on international early childhood education; the second provides a cross-national analysis of themes in late 20th century child care and early education. The bulk of the document consists of essays that review early childhood, preschool, primary, or elementary…

This paper describes the development of Turkish Children and Mothers, a project designed to help 5-year-old preschoolers in the Ruhr Valley of Germany develop linguistic, motor, cognitive, and social abilities. The paper also describes various aspects of the project, including those that relate to maternal involvement, educational facilities, the…

This longitudinal study evaluated the effects of a preschool project designed to serve children between 3 and 5 years of age in a disadvantaged inner-city area in Dublin, Ireland. The preschool, established in 1969, emphasized the development of children's cognitive skills and established structures to increase parents' involvement in their…

This longitudinal study examined the relationship of care quality in children's homes and external day care settings to children's emotional expressions and to problem and competence behaviors. Subjects were 123 children (63 males, 60 females) mostly from middle-class Swedish families. When children were 29 months old, data about quality of care…

A British ethnolinguistic study described the language behavior of 12 preschool children during their first experience in a formal educational setting where they constituted a linguistic minority. All were third-generation, British-born children of Moslem parents of ethnic Pakistani background; their home language was a vernacular Panjabi. Data…

This collection of essays and interviews documents the unique approach to early childhood education taken by schools in the Reggio Emilia region of Italy. Howard Gardner and David Hawkins provide reflections in chapters that begin the book. The book is then divided into four major parts. Part I includes an introduction by Carolyn Edwards and…

This paper examines the prevailing theoretical orientation of the "free play" curriculum in New Zealand child care centers. It also introduces an alternative way of understanding how children learn and discusses a literacy-centered curriculum that uses aspects of the free play and alternative curricula. Child care centers in New Zealand…

Mobile preschool units were developed in New Zealand in the 1970s in response to concerns about adequate provision of early childhood education in isolated areas. There are currently nine such units operating under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education. Each unit is comprised of two kindergarten teachers who travel with equipment to…