Parents are a child's first teachers. They are responsible for building children's social, emotional, physical, and intellectual foundations. The problem investigated through this dissertation case study was the inconsistent knowledge of child development and developmentally appropriate activities among parents of young and primary school aged…

Despite the prevalence of educational apps for children, there is little evidence of their effectiveness for learning. Here, children were asked to learn ten new words in a narrative mobile game that requires children use knowledge of word meanings to advance the game. Study 1 used a lab-based between-subjects design with middle-SES 4-year-olds…

Young children engage in essentialist reasoning about natural kinds, believing that many traits are innately determined. This study investigated whether personal experience with second language acquisition could alter children's essentialist biases. In a switched-at-birth paradigm, 5- and 6-year-old monolingual and simultaneous bilingual…

The Early Learning Guidelines: Nebraska's Birth to Five Learning and Development Standards (hereafter referred to as the Guidelines) is a resource to provide information about young children's learning and development. The Guidelines are intended to assist adults in planning and providing meaningful learning experiences and environments for…

This resource provides parents with widely held expectations for their child's development prior to kindergarten and ways parents can encourage their child's growth. Although a child's growth and development follows a general pattern, all children grow at different rates. Some children will be doing things earlier or later than others. There's no…

Argues that the single greatest resource to share and focus on with young children is language. Provides guidelines and specific titles for selection of books most appropriate for each stage of development: (1) for infants; (2) for toddlers and twos; and (3) for three-year-olds. Includes a buyer's directory guide for children's books. (SD)

Reviews and critiques past research that investigated the effects of various types of day-care provisions on the development of preschool children. Argues that, in view of the diversity of provisions offered in different countries, simple global generalizations about the effects of out-of-home preschool experiences on later development cannot be…

Describes the nature of children's oral language experiences in Head Start and other preschool programs serving low-income families and relates those experiences to broader features of the classrooms' programs. Finds that small class size, teacher education levels, and developmentally appropriate curricula are positively associated with high…

A 5-year longitudinal study, still in progress, was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of prekindergarten programs in Texas. The components of the study include a statewide survey of school districts, a case study of 10 schools' prekindergarten programs, and a longitudinal study of 2,000 students enrolled in prekindergarten during the 1989-90…

Discusses possibilities of the use of microcomputers and developmentally appropriate computer software with young children in the preschool/kindergarten setting. These possibilities include the enhancement of playful socialization, active play, writing processes and language development, shared problem solving, creative expression, and play and…

This report examines how early educational opportunities affect child development and eventually adult productivity. The report also discusses some implications for developing countries. The effectiveness of educational programs for infants to 2.5-year-olds has not yet been demonstrated. However programs that ensure health, nutrition,…

This report describes the background, program implementation, student development evaluation, and recommendations for the SuperStart program of New York City. SuperStart, a comprehensive integrated prekindergarten program, is designed to provide a developmentally appropriate learning environment to enhance the cognitive, social, physical,…

This report describes the background, program implementation, student development evaluation, and recommendations of SuperStart Plus, in New York City. SuperStart Plus, a comprehensive integrated prekindergarten program that serves general education and special education children in the same classroom, is designed to provide a developmentally…

This report summarizes the conference proceedings of the fifth Head Start National Research Conference. The focus of the conference was on the relationship of environment and developmental changes. Keynote topics and speakers were: "How Can We Know Environment Really Matters?" (Michael Rutter); "Creating Developmentally Appropriate…