This qualitative case study explored the perceptions and practices of three teachers who teach social justice concepts in kindergarten and 2nd grade classrooms in an urban school district in the Northwest region of the United States. The research sought to answer the following central questions: (a) What do teachers perceive about how instruction…

This article elucidates the unfolding of 3 phases of cognitive development through which typical children move during the first 2 years of life to illuminate the interrelationships among early cognition, communicative intention, and word-learning strategies. The resulting theoretical framework makes clear the developmental prerequisites for social…

As more children are growing up in cities than ever before, cities are investigating new ways to become more child-friendly, and to measure their progress towards this goal. Data dashboards are one tool that can help a city set policy priorities, monitor progress, encourage collaboration, inform decisions, increase accountability, and strengthen…

Skills developed through qualitative research and community partnerships can be essential for developing education students' cultural competency and understandings about diverse student populations. Toward this end, we developed a qualitative "service-research" project in a teacher education course focused on child development, whereby…

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in pedagogical documentation and the way in which it can be applied to advance pedagogical practices in early childhood education. This study is a case analysis which focuses on the transition phase from home to kindergarten of a toddler, Leo, and his family. Documentation was performed by the…

To do research that really makes a difference--the authors of this book argue--social scientists need questions and methods that reflect the complexity of the world. Bringing together a consortium of voices across a variety of fields, "Methods that Matter" offers compelling and successful examples of mixed methods research that do just…