To foster high-quality and inclusive education, students must hold positive attitudes towards all groups, including individuals with disabilities, a goal that can be accomplished through active participation in awareness-raising programmes. This study compares the efficacy of various strategies to modify attitudes towards disability among…

There is a critical need to disrupt the systemic racism that underlies educational inequities and support greater social justice (Croom, Journal of Literacy Research 52:530-552, 2020). One powerful way to do so is to foster racial literacy (i.e., the skill and practice of critically examining race and racism in teaching and in students' learning…

This study explored how a professional development experience changed preschool teachers' perceptions of integrated STEM education. In addition, the research examined what teachers learned about STEM education with this experience. The study employed a qualitative research design, precisely a case study approach. Thirty preschool teachers…

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the educational necessity of physical activity (PA) education in children by examining the perceptional changes of preservice childhood teachers regarding PA education in children. Method: A total of 18 preservice childhood teachers, who participated in PA education classes, were analyzed according to their…

21st century early years practitioners are expected to become agents of change by challenging societal inequalities and embracing anti-oppressive approaches. Yet, research suggests that many practitioners hold negative attitudes about children and families who are ethnically, culturally, linguistically and economically different from those in the…

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of in-service education designed to improve early childhood teachers' environmental awareness, knowledge, attitudes and their skills on integrating environmental issues in their teaching. Thirty early childhood teachers in the treatment group and Thirty in the control group participated the study.…

In the present paper, we focused on toys depicting physical disabilities and their potential role as inclusive educational means in kindergartens. We tested The Mere Exposure Effect and the Contact Theory (previously suggested as explanatory mechanisms underlying more favorable attitudes toward disability) by using toys depicting physical…

This study focused on the effects of an early math online professional learning course offered to preschool teachers. The course was designed to inform participants' knowledge of developmental progressions and promote daily mathematics instruction that encouraged students to view their world through a mathematical lens. A survey of preschool…

In this study, an instructional programme was designed and implemented with preschool teachers to teach them about integrated STEM education. This paper focused on how this instruction changed teachers' perceptions of engineering. The study aimed at exploring what the teachers learned about engineering, one of the STEM disciplines, throughout…

Writing can be a challenging task for students--especially for those who have grown up as second language (L2) learners. In particular, planning and structuring written content can be especially difficult for them. For this reason, the effects of a combined strategy instruction intervention consisting of a graphic organizer and storytelling on the…

The ontological turn in the humanities and social sciences has prompted some scholars of education to shift their focus of inquiry away from questions of epistemology (i.e., knowledge) to metaphysical matters related to being and the nature of existence. In this paper, I turn to ontology and make an argument for integrating and explicitly teaching…

Attitudes towards animals present an important foundation for nature conservation activity. This study investigates the attitude of five- to six-year-old children towards some unpopular animals. We used three types of live animals: earthworms, mealworm beetles, and a toad. In the initial tests, during which the children had the opportunity to…

Providing opportunities for reflection is one way to gain a deeper understanding of teacher candidate's perceptions of diversity and how their perceptions regarding diversity evolve. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of reflections to explore teacher candidates' perceptions regarding instructional material selection. By prompting teacher…

Children's literature is ubiquitous in Australian classrooms with picture books playing a particularly important role in early childhood classrooms. Teachers use children's literature to teach early literacy concepts including vocabulary and to help children learn about the world and their identity. Historically, the majority of children's…

This paper draws on data from an ongoing study on pre-service (PS) teachers' perceptions of early childhood/elementary classrooms, conducted during a university course on arts and creativity in early childhood education (ECE). The study focuses on PS teachers' perspectives on arts and material pedagogies in ECE classrooms via pre- and post-class…