Policymakers' reforms continue to narrow the landscape of early childhood education to a limited set of practices centered on improving children's academic performance. These changes not only influence the training preservice teachers receive but also impact their sensemaking of how to teach the students in their future classrooms. Such challenges…

Play is a developmentally appropriate practice for young children and enhances children's holistic development. However, recent educational policies and pressure to focus on academic goals and high-stakes testing have resulted in an emphasis on teacher-directed instruction, minimizing play-based child directed experiences in kindergarten…

Outdoor play comprises a highly significant play category through which children learn, develop, express themselves, socially and physically interact with their surroundings. Research, however demonstrates outdoor play is not substantially utilized within Greek preschool environments. This study was conducted during the 2019 academic year, aiming…

The authors propose decentering the child as a critical motion in the education of pedagogists who work to refuse developmental pedagogies in early childhood education. Tracing how child-centered developmental practices are obstacles for deeper ethical and intellectual work and reiterate anthropocentric relationalities, they offer two propositions…

Children are naturally inquisitive and want to explore and investigate; in doing so they make sense of the world around them. Piaget (Pound, 2006) suggests children make sense by themselves, by making choices and taking opportunities. Through exploration and investigation they also make sense of themselves through sensory, firsthand experiences.…

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek is the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Temple University and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. She is the past president of the International Society for Infant Studies, served as the Associate Editor of "Child Development" and is on the governing counsel of the…

Rosemarie T. Truglio is the senior vice president of curriculum and content at Sesame Workshop, where she is responsible for the development of the interdisciplinary curriculum on which "Sesame Street" is based, and oversees content development across platforms such as television, publishing, toys, home video, and theme park activities.…

This is a research report of teaching patterns of critical thinking using the competency-based 3CA (an acronym for the educational practices of Concept maps, Critical thinking, Collaboration, and Assessment) model of classroom instruction to change the grammar of schooling. Critical thinking is defined as the "WH questions": "what,…

Part II of this two-part article continues the discussion of what Maria Montessori viewed to be the important components of her educational system. Because she developed the system over her lifetime, we prioritized later accounts when contradictory accounts were found. Whereas Part I focused on the environment, Part II examines the second and…

The dreaded blank stares, looking down at a phone, or the student who falls asleep. University instructors know students who demonstrate these behaviors and have watched them disengage during class. Students might wish to engage, but may not know how. The purpose of this article is to examine the use of contribution strategies with undergraduate…

This study explored the learning experiences of higher education students who suffered childhood trauma (CT). Eleven participants both undergraduate and graduate who attended a Midwestern university self-identified as CT survivors. There was research on the negative impact of CT on learning in children and adolescents, as well as posttraumatic…

This article addresses a question that is of key importance in preparing early childhood personnel, especially those in inclusive environments: "How do we teach in ways that we want our students to teach?" There is an emphasis on developing a "community of practice" where professionals can share their work-related concerns and…

This article reports on the study of differential change trajectories for early childhood approaches to learning. A large sample (N = 2,152) of Head Start children was followed through prekindergarten, kindergarten, and first grade. Classroom learning behaviors were assessed by teachers through the Preschool Learning Behaviors Scale twice in Head…

Documentation of children's projects is advantageous to their learning process and is also a good method for student teachers to observe the process of learning. Documentation panels are a unique way to help student teachers understand how children learn. Completing a panel requires a student teacher to think through a process. Teachers must learn…