Learning takes time: Performance usually starts poorly and improves with practice. Do children intuit this basic phenomenon of skill learning? In preregistered Experiment 1 (n = 125; 54% female; 48% White; collected 2022-2023), US 7- to 8-year-old children predicted improved performance, 5- to 6-year-old children predicted flat performance, and…

This article attempts to address the challenge that preschool teachers face, when integrating a specific content area, science, with play. The study builds on the theoretical framework of Play-Responsive Early Childhood Education and Care (PRECEC), in which teaching, and play are understood as a mutual activity. In this mutual activity, teachers…

Bilingual environments present an important context for word learning. One feature of bilingual environments is the existence of translation equivalents (TEs)--words in different languages that share similar meanings. Documenting TE learning over development may give us insight into the mechanisms underlying word learning in young bilingual…

This article bewilders dominant discourses about child-animal relations by acknowledging and challenging the work of Gail Melson who positions animals as providing emotional, social and pedagogical support for children. Melson's psychological approach rests upon implicit assumptions that shape and support anthropocentrism whilst also critiquing a…

Cross-case study research was used to explore the school readiness of four 5-year-old children entering kindergarten during the 2020-2021 school year after three or more years of play-based early childhood education at a Reggio Emilia-inspired early childhood education center. Data included a series of three 1-h individual interviews with four…

Despite the importance of centering autistic perspectives in educational decision-making for autistic children, few studies have directly assessed autistic perspectives on the social acceptability of early childhood practices. We conducted an online survey to recruit perspectives of autistic adults on a current, comprehensive range of educational…

Digitalization can potentially benefit the creative and cognitive development of children. This study aims to analyze this impact on a sample of preschool children. A total of 80 preschoolers were divided into four groups based on their age and program variables: there were two groups (control and training) of children aged 3 to 4 years and two…

This study investigated whether transitory and persistent poverty spells were associated with children's learning (literacy and numeracy scores) and executive function outcomes in Ghana. Children resided in the Greater Accra region (N = 2,154; 49% female; M[subscript age] = 5.2 years at wave-1) and were followed at four-time points over three…

It has been proposed that an implicit learning deficit explains the difficulties with grammar commonly observed in children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). The present study further investigates this link in two ways. Firstly, we investigate whether kindergartners with DLD have more difficulties with preposition understanding and…

The goal of this study is to use creative learning to establish a learning management model for primary teachers in the Roi Et Province. Early childhood educators and students from Roi Et Province's Department of Early Childhood Education comprise the sample group. This was acquired using a basic random sampling technique (simple random sampling)…

Cross-situational word learning, the ability to decipher word-referent links over multiple ambiguous learning events, has been documented across development and proposed to be key to vocabulary acquisition. However, this work has largely focused on learning from one-to-one structure, where each referent is consistently linked with a single label.…

Background: Recent research showed that cross-notation magnitude knowledge of fractions and decimals was related to better performance in fraction arithmetic, but it remains unclear whether it made an independent contribution to fraction arithmetic longitudinally when other cognitive variables are considered. Aims: To examine the extent to which…

Recent developments in technology have introduced new tools, such as virtual reality, into the learning process. Although virtual reality appears to be a promising technology for education and has been adopted by a few schools worldwide, we still do not know students' and educators' opinions, preferences, and challenges with it, particularly in…

The early elementary school years are widely understood to be critical to a child developing a strong foundation for future academic success. Children arrive at kindergarten from diverse settings and experiences, and not all of them are "kindergarten ready." Kindergarten readiness refers to the skills and abilities needed to succeed in…

Purpose: To align with the artificial intelligence and robotics (AIR) research and policy agenda, this paper puts forth an adapted five big ideas framework specifically tailored to teaching young children about artificial intelligence (AI) via robotics. Design/Approach/Methods: Grounded in early childhood education research, the proposed framework…