Social and economic changes affect children indirectly, through the modifications they engender in parental behavior. No-fault divorce laws, for example, made divorce easier and led to a substantial increase in the number of separated families. In contrast to social and economic change, technological change can impact children directly without…

Although under attack from some goal-oriented politicians and parents and ofen considered superfluous by school administrators and teachers, free play remains vital to human health and creativity. Contrary to the notion that play should serve utilitarian ends or consist primarily of organized sports, the author makes a case for self-initiated…

The phrase "school readiness" was, until recently, most often used in connection with a child's preparedness to meet the demands of a first grade classroom. With the contemporary push down of the curriculum, readiness is now taken to mean the child's preparedness to meet the demands of kindergarten. Whether in regard to first grade or…

Describes work and theories of Swiss educator, Jean Piaget. (DS)

In this article, the author discusses the changing world of toys and toy play. Children learn about themselves and their world from their play with toys. Over the past half century there has been a remarkable transformation of the toy world of children. Toys have changed in quantity, quality, and level of technology. Mass production has made…

Discusses the relationship between child development and early childhood education. Focuses specifically on the issue of socialization and current research on mediated learning experience. (Author/CM)

Discusses some of the problems involved in social science teaching at the elementary school level, including general lack of knowledge among subject matter specialists about children, ignorance of child development specialists regarding social science disciplines, and the failure of educators to observe children's behavior before they develop and…

Article gives a practical guide to the implications of Piaget's writing for the practice of teaching. (Author/GB)

Outlines three constructs, the assumptive reality of childhood and the imaginary audience and personal fable of adolescence, which help explain normal and problem behavior. Counselors are asked to accept the young person's view of reality as valid and help him/her distinguish between personal and social reality. (Author)

Addresses the concept of "play as a child's work," from the viewpoints of Montessori, Freud, and Piaget. Contends that children's play: (1) like adult play, may be individual or social; (2) has immediate value for the child as a way of expressing feelings; and (3) is a healthy counterpoise to work. (SD)

Author stresses the importance of art, music, and literature experiences in the perceptual development of a child. (GB)

Today's children are being forced to achieve more and at an earlier age than ever before in society. Previously "natural" rites of passage into adulthood come too early for children, and they often do not get the chance to appreciate and experience the highly important period of life called childhood. (CJ)

Social philosophers and educators of the past are compared with clockmakers. In the metaphoric sense, the biological clock is the child, the child's behavior is the action, and the maturity of the child is the "Swiss movement". With the biological clock, it is the teacher, not the child, who must learn to tell time. (JN)

Reviews some of the major cognitive, social, and emotional achievements of young children and discusses some of their limitations. Divides description of development into intellectual, language, social, and emotional development. Notes that this division represents adult categories of thought and does not represent young children's actual modes of…