The impulse to investigate the natural world is deeply rooted in our earliest childhood experiences. This notion has long guided researchers to uncover the cognitive mechanisms underlying the development of scientific reasoning in children. Until recently, however, research in cognitive development and education followed largely independent…

Language is a child's major tool for learning about the world. This book presents a naturalistic case study of one child's use of language from two-and-a-half to five years, drawing on systemic functional theory to argue that cognitive development is essentially a linguistic process and offering a new description and interpretation of linguistic…

The second edition of this best-selling textbook provides students and practitioners with a broad introduction to, and critical analysis of, the main theories and issues within the field of early childhood studies. The book adopts a multi-disciplinary approach and pulls together all the key themes involved in the study of young children and…

Uncover critical information about children's emotional, social, physical, communicative, and cognitive development by observing their nonverbal expressions. "The Dancing Dialogue" shows how to assess the behavior and movement of children with a wide range of issues and to use what is learned interventions. Equally effective for those with…

Moral development theory, based on the work of Kohlberg and others, offers an approach to growth and stage change which may be applied to the everyday schooling process. Although there are now four general ways in which theory of developmental change is currently being applied, this paper proposes an alternative application of the stage transition…

This booklet contains 43 "workjobs," (experiences in manipulating common objects) adapted from classroom activities, that are appropriate and easy for parents to make and use with children in the home. These manipulative activities are designed to help children develop language and number skills and hand-eye coordination, and give children…

As our knowledge of young children grows, so does our awareness of the importance of the first few years of life. This book is written for students of child care at the college level, for those who work with children in the first three years of their lives, and for anyone who wants to understand more about what researchers and theorists have to…

This book describes an ethnographic study of cultural routines involved in enculturating children into Kpelle society in West Africa. The study focused on: (1) playforms such as pretend play; and (2) adult-guided activities such as apprenticeship. Chapter 1 of the book, "Studying Child Development in Kpelle Society," introduces the…