This research focuses on exploring teacher motivational scaffolding and preschoolers motivational triggers in a playful learning project conducted in a Finnish preschool context. The aim of playful learning was to promote preschoolers' multiliteracy and digital skills in a news-making project. The participants were 17 preschoolers and their…

From the authors of "Powerful Literacy in the Montessori Classroom", this new book focuses on the practical implementation of Montessori teaching and assessment methods in pre-K-6th grade classrooms. The authors describe how reading research and Montessori's scientific pedagogy and language curriculum play out in actual classrooms…

Background: Teachers are responsible for developing and enhancing communication skills amongst young learners. Unfortunately, the overly structured pedagogy which many teachers adopt inhibits the optimal development of oral communication skills. Hence, the researchers investigated ways of strengthening group-work play-based pedagogy to stimulate…

Introduction: This paper presents the results of research focused on identification of preschool teachers' progress in relation to the use of children's preconceptions in formal pre-elementary education. It represents the theoretical concepts that are applied in the work with children's preconceptions in schools. It analyses them and creates a…

Research Findings: This study investigated teachers' Concept development (CD) strategy use in whole-group math teaching and its associations with children's higher-order thinking processes in 25 Chinese preschool math lessons. We utilized the CD dimension within the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) to guide our exploration. CD…

Teaching reading successfully requires deep knowledge of the reading process and development, as well as the implementation of impactful reading instruction and differentiation. This book aligns Montessori didactic materials and pedagogy, developed over a century ago, with current research on reading development. Readers will gain a solid overview…

Cognitive activation is one of the central quality characteristics of teaching. Studies which analyzed cognitive activation in science instruction and its influence on the achievement and the interest of students, took most of the times place in higher grades. Since scientific thinking can be taught at a very early stage and, in particular,…

Starting in early childhood, children are capable of learning sophisticated science and engineering concepts and engage in disciplinary practices. They are deeply curious about the world around them and eager to investigate the many questions they have about their environment. Educators can develop learning environments that support the…

Executive function (EF) predicts children's academic achievement; however, less is known about the relation between EF and the actual learning process. Furthermore, more research is needed to better understand how different aspects of the learning environment interact with EF to influence learning. The current dissertation includes two studies to…

This study looked at activities at early childhood education centers in Ghana in the areas of; nature and use of curriculum, environmental conditions, pedagogical practices, and the nature and use of assessment. Using the quantitative research approach, 136 final year early childhood teacher-trainees engaged in teacher-internship practice in the…

This paper reports results from two studies conducted to examine word learning among preschool children in group book reading while we developed a scalable method of teaching words during book reading. We sought to identify factors that fostered both depth and breadth of learning by varying the type of information children heard about words while…

This article reports on a collaborative action research project, conducted in a pre-primary school in South Central Uganda, which explores the opportunities for children to draw upon and integrate their home and community-based knowledge and experiences through mother tongue (MT) instruction and resources. We use the funds of knowledge (Moll,…

Early childhood teachers promote literacy learning through intentional instructional practices and the establishment of classroom environments that encourage and support the work, interest, and curiosity of young learners. They provide opportunities for children to engage with their teacher and peers and consider this an important component of…

Developing problem solving skills is often accepted as a desirable goal in many educational settings. However, there is little evidence to support that students are better problem solvers after graduating. The students can solve routine problems but they confronted difficulties when adapting their prior knowledge for the solution of new problems.…

Children's dreams have the potential to awaken feelings, question attitudes and inspire new learning experiences to deepen awareness of spiritual development. Both guidance and spiritual environments created by nurturing educators and parents foster dreams that captivate and motivate children to increase their spiritual self-awareness, leading…