A warm and comprehensive child-centered approach to early childhood education "Who Am I in the Lives of Children? An Introduction to Early Childhood Education" reflects a practical, constructivist approach to early childhood education (birth to grade 3) and care programs that is dedicated to the development of the whole child--physical,…

Physical literacy has gained worldwide prominence over the last decade by re-conceptualizing primarily the meaning of physical education. British educator Margaret Whitehead is the most famous proponent of this expression and expositor of its philosophical foundation and value. As such, physical literacy rejects dualism, is buttressed by monism,…

This article investigates the early emergence of reason-giving. Toddlers are sensitive to disagreements, and they can track several kinds of informational access, such as visual perception. We investigated whether young children use these skills (a) when assessing whether providing reasons is needed and (b) when selecting appropriate behaviors to…

This research investigates the effect of production on 4.5- to 6-year-old children's recognition of newly learned words. In Experiment 1, children were taught four novel words in a produced or heard training condition during a brief training phase. In Experiment 2, children were taught eight novel words, and this time training condition was in a…

Two studies are presented to examine whether and why 3-5-year-olds in Pakistan display limited social understanding. Study 1 tested 71 preschoolers on Lillard and Flavell's (1992) test of desires, pretence and beliefs, plus two false belief tasks, and showed very limited understanding across these measures even though almost half were over 5 years…

The provision of Integrated Early Childhood Development (IECD) positively impacts children's futures physically, cognitively, emotionally and socially. The assessment sought to inform intervention programs to improve the status of children's physical, social-emotional, cognitive and educational needs, as well as their health and nutritional needs.…

Chinese kindergartens' over 110 years of adaptation of foreign models is a vivid example of how globalization comes into direct contact with Chinese culture and creates cultural hybridities. Learning Stories as a narrative assessment tool to children's development from New Zealand, has swept China with the endorsement from the professional…

This study examined associations between caregiver talk and language skills in full term (FT) and preterm (PT) children (n = 97). All-day recordings of caregiver-child interactions revealed striking similarities in amount of caregiver talk heard by FT and PT children. Children who heard more caregiver talk at 16 months demonstrated better…

Older interlocutors are more likely than younger ones to make pragmatic inferences, that is, inferences that go beyond the linguistically encoded meaning of a sentence. Here we ask whether pragmatic development is associated with increased activity in brain structures associated with inference-making or in those associated with Theory of Mind. We…

When we consider the ultimate goal of bringing innovation to our education programs, a key consideration is whether or not we are helping our students themselves become innovative, creative thinkers and actors.

In this book, the author challenges reductive views of emergent literacy prevalent in many of today's kindergarten and pre-K classrooms. As an alternative, Lysaker explains how reading wordless books with young children helps them to develop a range of comprehension abilities that are important for understanding narrative texts. Readers will find…

Background: Education outside the classroom (EOtC) is considered beneficial to children's physical and mental health. Especially, stress resilience has been linked to nature experience. Aims: This study experimentally explored the effects of pupils' autonomy support (AUT) and physical activity (PA) on their biological stress responses and brain…

The current study assessed (1) the importance of six caregiver interactions skills (sensitive responsiveness, respect for autonomy, structuring and limit setting, verbal communication, developmental stimulation, and fostering positive peer interactions) as rated by several stakeholders, (2) the quality of caregiver interactive skills, and (3) the…

Research framed by evolving sociocultural theories have been fundamental in advancing the study of early childhood literacies. More recently the field has been enriched by posthumanist theories that have shifted the analytic gaze from children's participation in literacy practices and events, to the fluid relationality of literacies. Concurrently,…

Early intervention programs play an important role in supporting young children with disabilities and developmental disorders in acquiring various life skills before they reach school-going age. The present study aims to examine the current practices of the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) for young children with disabilities in Saudi…