Might interacting with relatively wild forms of nature help move our world away from its largely domination-oriented and destructive sensibilities? Toward broaching this question, this study used an Interaction Pattern Approach to model child-nature interaction in a Hong Kong nature program. Observational video data were collected of 54 children…

Improved measurement of the active ingredients that promote children's gains in early childhood education programs is a topic of considerable interest to stakeholders. Accurate and reliable measurement of early childhood education experiences can aid policymakers, school administrators and educators in improving the quality of early education and…

This study focuses on a close examination of how children express themselves at ECEC in play situations, which form an integral and large part of a typical day. The main research question has been: How can children's social and emotional expressions be understood through analyses of communication and interaction during free play? A qualitative…

The "Children's Engagement Behaviour Framework" was developed to describe young children's engagement with science exhibits and how their behaviour is related to learning about the exhibits. The "Framework" was synthesised from frameworks in research literature related to family learning and the nature of play. It describes…

Here the authors explore everyday teaching strategies that work to implement early childhood curriculum frameworks, using published transcripts of video-recorded data of real-life teacher-child interactions in early childhood centres in Australia and New Zealand. The analysis uses a conversation analysis approach to reveal the sequences of action…

Effective early science learning opportunities are critical for young children to build a solid foundation for subsequent development of concepts, as well as positive attitudes towards science (Eshach & Fried, 2005). However, these opportunities are often lacking in typical preschool classrooms (Connor, Morrison, & Slominski, 2006; Early…

Early childhood research has investigated children's use of objects largely focusing on cognitive and motor development. Yet members of a particular culture, such as young children's peer groups, use objects that have cultural relevance as "conversational" items, as a means to interacting with other members of the group. This article…

In a world where children are likely to experience early-life trauma, relationships matter, and trust is a key in forming healthy working relationships. Intentionally teaching adults and teachers how to evoke calmness in ourselves and breathe to handle negative situations, trusted educators can then teach children to do the same. It is important…

The present study investigated whether the bidirectional cross-lagged paths between teacher--child language interactions and receptive vocabulary would be significantly different between English language learner (ELL) and non-ELL children. The FACES 2009 cohort was used to address the research goals. Cross-lagged analysis was conducted with the…

Social relationships and peer interactions play an important role in the healthy development of the child, and opportunities for socialization in early childhood present a good opportunity for children to gain the necessary experience and maturity for development of healthy relationships in the future. This study looks at factors associated with,…

Peer interaction can be challenging in autism spectrum disorder, but naturalistic peer-observation scales for preschoolers are scarce. This study examined psychometric qualities of the newly developed Autism Peer Interaction Observation Scale. We tested the Autism Peer Interaction Observation Scale to (a) characterize peer interactions of…

What factors contribute to children's tendency to view individuals as having different traits and abilities? The present research tested whether young children are influenced by adults' nonverbal behaviors when making inferences about peers. In Study 1, participants (aged 5-6 years) viewed multiple videos of interactions between a…

This article outlines an ecological framework for describing children's social experiences during digital play. It presents evidence from a study that explored how 3- to 5-year-old children negotiated their social experiences as they used technologies in preschool. Utilising a systematic and iterative cycle of data collection and analysis,…

This study describes the social contexts in which four-year-olds undertake practitioner-assigned cognitive/learning tasks within preschools and the different experiences these contexts provide for children. Data was collected in 34 preschool settings in South East England, using a phenomenographic mapping of activities and social groupings during…

This article traces the development of adult Pedagogic Strategies with children aged 0-5 years at the Pen Green Centre for Children and Their Families in England. Pedagogical Strategies are a conceptual framework of effective strategies both practitioners and parents "already" have to support children's learning. The methodology was…