Access to playful experiences outdoors is critical for children's learning and development. With a significant amount of young children attending early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings (OECD, OECD Publishing, 2023), these programs have an important role in furthering children's equitable access to outdoor play. As part of a larger…

Understanding the nature of scientific inquiry is considered a critical component of scientific literacy [Michaels, S., Shouse, A. W., & Schweingruber, H. A. (2008). "Ready, set, science!: Putting research to work in K-8 classrooms." National Academies Press]. What do elementary students already know about scientific inquiry? Using…

This article attempts to address the challenge that preschool teachers face, when integrating a specific content area, science, with play. The study builds on the theoretical framework of Play-Responsive Early Childhood Education and Care (PRECEC), in which teaching, and play are understood as a mutual activity. In this mutual activity, teachers…

In recent years, the concept of "deeper learning" has generated great interest in the field of preschool education in China. However, deep learning in the preschool stage is different from that in school education, as it requires explaining content characteristics, developing observational tools to identify deep learning, and exploring…

Despite the growing influence of the "material" turn within childhood studies and education, scholarship related to teaching and learning within the early childhood classroom remains a largely humanistic endeavour. By applying relational and multispecies onto-epistomologies to both children's classroom relations "and" our own…

Knowledge Building principles such as real ideas, authentic problems; epistemic agency; and collective responsibility for advancement of community knowledge convey ways in which Knowledge Building mirrors work in knowledge-creating communities. Previous studies suggest Metadiscourse--discourse about discourse--helps sustain and improve community…

Understanding how young learners come to construct viable mathematical arguments about general claims is a critical objective in early algebra research. The qualitative study reported here characterizes empirically developed progressions in Grades K-1 students' thinking about parity arguments for sums of evens and odds, as well as underlying…

The aim of the study is to examine pre-school teacher candidates' self-regulated learning practices in a flipped learning environment and to explore the educational factors in flipped learning influencing pre-school teacher candidates' self-regulation skills development process. This study examines how pre-school teacher candidates use…

The purpose of this article is to describe and illustrate learning trajectories (LTs) and introduce a new, comprehensive set of resources that support teaching meaningfully and joyfully. An LT for a topic has three parts: (1) a mathematical goal; (2) a developmental progression of levels of thinking; and (3) teaching practices (environments,…

This case study discusses responsive walking methods from a yearlong river-child-walking project situated in early childhood education. Grounded by feminist anti-colonialism, this project reconfigured children's relations with a local river and challenged dominant, extractive methods of discovery. A behind-the-scenes approach is taken in this case…

The exploration of children's drawings as mathematical representations is a current focus in early years mathematics education research. This paper presents a qualitative analysis of 72 kindergarten to Grade 3 (5 to 8 years old) children's drawings produced during problem-solving tasks centred on multiplicative strategies. Existing frameworks for…

Thirty-seven third graders and thirty-two first graders engaged in solving a tangram puzzle in the shape of a fox. They had five minutes to solve the puzzle, and after this time, they received guidance on the particular piece they had difficulties with. Through the lenses of navigating flexible abstraction, reinterpretation, combinations, and…

The present study compared Japanese and U.S. preschool children's knowledge of geometric shapes. The main goal was to explore if differences in shape-naming conventions in Japanese and English could explain differences in children's understanding of geometric shapes. In ancient Chinese-based languages (e.g., Japanese), all standard 2D shapes…

Cross-case study research was used to explore the school readiness of four 5-year-old children entering kindergarten during the 2020-2021 school year after three or more years of play-based early childhood education at a Reggio Emilia-inspired early childhood education center. Data included a series of three 1-h individual interviews with four…

The complexity of gear concepts, often misunderstood by young children, highlights the need for educational frameworks beyond simple play. To examine the effects of using the prediction, observation, and explanation (POE) model in building block activities, a true experimental design was implemented. A total of 49 preschoolers were randomly…