This exploratory study in a classroom setting investigates first graders' (age 7-8 years, N = 25) ability to perform analogical reasoning and create their own analogies for two irreversible natural phenomena: mixing and heat transfer. We found that the children who contributed actively to a full-class discussion were consistently successful at…

This paper utilises a Vygotskian framework to examine the ways in which teachers shape the creation of children's artwork in educational contexts. Reflexive ethnography and a bottom up approach to discourse analysis are used to analyse a range of qualitative data including photographs, observational notes and audio recordings collected from a Year…

A first-grade teacher describes how she taught her students to weave using real yarn. (RM)

Outlines three methods of introducing original paintings to young children: narratives, finding a consensus, and building on a shared experience. Analyzes the childrens' verbal and artistic responses. (KM)

Imagination is central to our ability to understand reality. Parents and teachers should foster creative processes which facilitate the development of imagination in children. Expensive equipment or artistic expertise is not necessary to help children develop their imaginations. Instead, it is more important for teachers to allow children the time…

Designed to expand children's artistic and reading/writing abilities while developing their ability to draw, tell, and write stories, this paper describes a "story-picture" program for first grade Blackfoot Indian children. General cognitive, perceptual and psychomotor, and affective skills are listed as the course's intended learning…

Using examples from children drawing in a year one classroom, this article examines firstly, how drawing operates as a unique mental tool, and secondly, the role of drawing in the construction and development of knowledge. Young children utilize prior knowledge and experience to negotiate and construct meaning through their interactions with…

This book describes the special way one teacher, Jeanette Amidon, approaches children's thinking, with a particular focus on reading and writing instruction. The root value of her first-grade classroom in Massachusetts is respect for children's ideas, with the children's art and writing as visible signs of the teacher's respect for their thinking.…