Purpose: Being "literate" is well established as key to active civic participation, right from the earliest years of life. Young children's natural curiosity and motivation to understand the world and their places within it through playful explorations offers rich opportunities for learning. Reported here are findings from a STEAM…

Background: Beginning with a proposition that physical education (PE) and early childhood education (ECE) build affinities through shared developmental interests, this article works the gaps made possible when PE meets with ECE in unfamiliar ways. Through a shared investment in the normalizing and minoritizing functions of child development, how…

When designing solutions for early learning, part of the process is clearly identifying a problem that impacts the wellbeing of young children that is both well-researched and in need of innovative solutions. However, with such a vast and complex field, identifying an issue to focus on can be difficult. The questions adults ask children have a…

E-learning emphasizes collaborative learning through the use of Web 2.0. The tools of Web 2.0 advocate open collaboration, interactive technology, and personalized learning that promotes expanding the scope of teacher/student/course interaction, as well as advancing the social construction of knowledge, an important component of socio-cultural…

In the educational experience of Reggio Emilia, art education is held to be a central element in children's knowledge building processes and the aesthetic experience is considered an activator of learning process. In the Reggio educational philosophy, the space dedicated to aesthetic education and the exploration of artistic languages and…

Children's inquiry is an approach where tamariki explore and research their own questions and curiosities over sustained periods of time with the support of their kaiako. This article explores findings from research examining how this approach has been interpreted and enacted by early childhood kaiako in Aotearoa New Zealand. The article examines…

This paper addresses a problem that greatly complicates the implementation of dialogic educational approaches in schools: the dilemma between driving children's talk towards normatively accepted conceptions and, at the same time, avoiding the introduction of these normative conceptions into the dialogue by the teacher. I argue that this dilemma is…

This study aims to introduce inquiry-based play activities and to examine their effectiveness on young children's conceptual understanding of the shape of the Earth and the day-night cycle. The inquiry-based play activities for preschool children were designed to support children to learn the concepts of the shape of the Earth and the day-night…

Teaching young students requires more than just learning about child development -- it requires understanding children and their experiences. Teacher educators have seen a lack of such authentic understanding among future and current early childhood educators. The authors set out to change that in a bachelor of education degree program in northern…

Pedagogical documentation within early childhood centres is a key component of pedagogy and teacher accountability. In Singapore, documentation is a requirement specified under legislative policies included in the national Pre-school Accreditation Framework, with parents often perceived as the main audience. This paper reports on a study utilising…

Fredrich Froebel was a scientist, both in instinct and in training, and his life coincided with an important and dynamic period of scientific growth. I take this opportunity to delve both into some history and futurology to examine the heritage and legacy of his work. The usual of interpolation is of reading into data: where there exist some…

Up to 250 children of different ages can be seen when entering Sekolahku-MySchool (SMS) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, integrated and happily engaged, indoors or outdoors, in sustainable activities as part of their everyday learning. With ages ranging from 16 months to 13 years, the children engage in learning typical academic skills and techniques…

Most practitioners and scholars agree that critical and reflective early childhood and elementary teachers are foundational for children's holistic growth and development. Yet current policies focused on elevating testing and performativity are contributing to student and teacher anxiety and alienation. This book offers a counternarrative to…

Children are intrigued by moving objects, even more so when they can engineer the movement. This volume in the STEM for Our Youngest Learners Series uses Ramps and Pathways as a context to provide children ages 3-8 with opportunities to engage in STEM every day. Ramps and Pathways is a meaningful and fun way for children to develop engineering…