Three thousand, three hundred and ninety-five families, whose child attended one of 80 different day or resident summer camps for at least one week, completed customized questionnaires that measured growth from precamp to postcamp in four domains: Positive Identity, Social Skills, Physical & Thinking Skills, and Positive Values & Spirituality.…

Presents two perspectives bearing on the concept of social competence, the motivational and the socio-cultural; the author was a member of a panel of black experts convened to review, from a black perspective, the lists of outcomes and measures which Rand plans to use to evaluate Head Start. (JM)

The author of this book takes up all the main issues confronting those who work with young children in a wide variety of settings. The explanations, case studies and suggestions provide an invaluable resource for all of those who aim to build solid foundations right from the start. This book is organized into the following chapters: (1) Confident…

A study examined features of camps and camp staff that might affect the personal and social benefits of organized camping for children. Questionnaires were completed by 29 camp directors and 270 campers aged 8-14 from 33 residential camps across the United States. Results indicate that higher personal and social outcomes were associated with…

This paper considers the question "What are good child outcomes?" from the perspectives of developmental psychology, economics, and sociology. Section 1 of the paper examines good child outcomes as characteristics of stage-salient tasks of development. Section 2 emphasizes the acquisition of "human capital," the development of productive traits…

Based on intense observations of one child's development from 1 to 3 years of age, this book describes how children acquire the knowledge they need to become persons. The book has 13 chapters, divided chronologically. Topics covered include: (1) personhood and social identity, and methodological issues; (2) 15-16 months, doing a lot with a little,…

Three studies examined three-, five-, and seven-year-old children's understandng of verbal terms ("easy" and "hard") concerning personal competence. Studies focused on developmental change in understanding the terms and were designed to provide information about the order in which understanding of the terms was acquired. (HOD)

There has been a resurgence of interest in boys' relationships and boys' development which seems to respond, at least in part, to findings about the centrality and protective power of relationships in girls' development. However, few empirical studies have sought to learn from boys about their experiences, and, in particular, the ways in which…

A life-span human development model of learning in early childhood is presented. Learning is viewed as a human enterprise which spans the entire lifetime and involves interaction among people. The bounds of interaction are derived from philosophy and from the biological and social behavioral sciences. (JN)

The relationship of time spent in either Montessori or traditional preschool programs to the preschooler's development in five parameters was studied. The five parameters were: (1) personal skills; (2) relationship with teachers; (3) peer relations; (4) behavioral control; and (5) cognitive skills. A review of the literature on Montessori and…

This book provides research in the area of educational play for early childhood teachers and teacher educators. Following an introduction by the editors, the chapters of the book are: (1) "A Historical Overview of Theories of Play" (Olivia Saracho and Bernard Spodek); (2) "Playing with a Theory of Mind" (Angeline Lillard); (3)…

Examined contributions of different risk factors to predicting children's psychological and academic outcomes at end of first grade. Found that each analysis level contributed to prediction of most outcomes; 18 to 29% of outcome variance was predicted; a common set of predictors predicted numerous outcomes; ethnicity showed little unique…

The first in a series of related reports (see TM 000 775), this paper attempts to define a concept of psychosocial maturity which would be appropriate as a comprehensive educational goal. Biological, sociological, psychological and temporal formulations of maturity are discussed and compared. Am interdisciplinary model of maturity is evolved which…

Using observation and analysis of children's interactions with their environments, this study evaluated the quality of parent-run day care centers. Observation reduces the degree of subjectivism, respects the integrity of the child-care situation, and allows one to witness the actual effects of the environment and to observe the combined effect of…

The concept of emotional competence entails resilience, self-efficacy, and acting in accord with one's sense of moral character. This suggests argues that emotional competence is demonstrated by the self-efficacy in emotion-eliciting encounters and identifies eight key emotional skills that support its acquisition in interpersonal contexts. The…