This study aimed to determine the primary school students' readiness for school and analyze it according to some socio-demographic characteristics. Readiness can be defined as having the necessary precondition behaviors and reaching the desired maturity level for the child to be able to learn and develop. The level of readiness of the child is…

An overview of evaluation research on the effects of center-based Head Start, home-based intervention programs for infants and toddlers, and Follow Through is presented. (JD)

Assesses Vertical Home Start, a program which provided children with readiness enrichment over a period of three years while the children were from two to five years of age. Results indicate that there is little durability to short-term verbal gains. However, longitudinal assessment is advised since some scores do vacillate. (HMV)

Reviews the ValueTale series of books which are designed to demonstrate how positive values influenced the lives of famous people. Concludes that they fall short of their goal. Points out that the series attempts to teach concepts beyond the understanding of the intended learners. (KO)

Problems of integrating children from early education programs (3-to-5-year-olds) into the structure and curriculum of kindergarten are discussed in relation to the changing roles of both kindergarten and early education teachers. (BRT)

Reports the results of a study of five-year-olds, which indicate that social relationships are a facilitator of cognitive learning of reading readiness concepts and imaginativeness. Girls in the experimental treatments significantly outperformed the boys. (JD)

Suggested are a few topics or techniques which should not be presented in planetarium astronomy until appropriate levels of potential comprehension are reached. (EB)

Field trips are a regular part of many programs for young children. Field trips can serve a variety of purposes, such as exposing children to new things or helping children to see familiar things in new ways. The purpose of this study was to learn the meaning children gave to a field trip. Cameras were made available to each of the children in a…

This article describes how the author's infant son enthusiastically played with buttons from the age of 5 months to his first birthday. The article details his play routines and how they changed over time. It draws on recent neurological research about how the brain grows to argue that this play provided the foundation for her son's cognitive and…

Unproven beliefs about the process of reading and its instruction and about the effects of maturation and social structure on learning have obscured the question of what children know about how to read. An alternate conceptualization proposes that to learn to read children must obtain experience in three reading contexts: the use of print and its…

Studies confirm the educational advantages and cost-effectiveness of high-quality early childhood programs and have made more persuasive the argument for developing such programs. The most important determinants of such programs are: group size, qualifications and training of staff, stability of care, and adult-child ratio. (MD)

Assessing readiness among young children today implies undertaking a broad range of observations and activities in an atmosphere where children can feel comfortable and interested. Until recently, readiness meant readiness for reading. A mental age of six and a half was accepted as the prerequisite for beginning reading instruction. There has…

Head Start preschoolers on a Papago reservation in Arizona were subjects of two studies of the effects of televised instruction and directed participation on teaching enumeration and conservation skills. Television instruction was most effective when used with active directed participation and corrective feedback. (Author/JEG)

Young children think and learn differently, yet early childhood education is now subject to new pressures. Many believe that early exposure to technology accelerates mental development and improves sensory and mental capacity. There is no factual support for this idea. Children who grow up with technology are not necessarily more proficient with…