The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of musical play on the social skill development of third-grade students and to investigate the opinions of classroom teachers on the effect of musical play on the social skill development of their students. The study sample consists of 60 students: 30 in the experimental group, and 30 in the…

Primary school (i.e., Kindergarten to Grade 3) educators typically support students' social and emotional learning (SEL) through targeted lessons delivered in the classroom; however, integrating SEL strategies into other subject areas both within and outside the classroom context can expand their ability to support students' SEL. Research suggests…

The present article aims to systematically summarize the effects of free-play (FP) on preschool-aged children's physical activity (PA) level, and motor (MC), cognitive (CC), and socioemotional competence evaluated through randomized controlled trial (RCT) design. A systematic review of relevant articles was carried out using two electronic…

Considerable interest is directed to promoting children's success as they transition to kindergarten. It is generally proposed that children who experience lower levels of transition difficulties at kindergarten entry achieve higher academic and social-emotional gains, although this premise has seldom been explicitly evaluated in tandem with…

This research explored if a social robot would play a role in facilitating the development of friendship between young children while they engage in playful learning. Grounded in child-robot interaction and child development literature, we instantiated four sessions of triadic interaction activities among two children and a robot, where the robot…

Racial/ethnic and economic school segregation represent pervasive instantiations and perpetuators of educational inequity in the United States. Although the U.S. is becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse, schools are racially/ethnically isolated. Rising income and wealth inequity are also exacerbating economic school segregation.…

This research aims to examine the effect of birth month on student achievement as well as social and spiritual development in the classroom. We designed this research as a mixed embedded experimental design, one of the mixed research designs. For the experimental group, first-grade students in a primary school in Aziziye District of Erzurum…

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic impacted educational systems throughout the world. School closures, virtual schooling, and strict safety protocols for in-person learning changed instructional approaches to teaching. These changes were particularly disruptive in early childhood education which relies on play-based learning to support…

We extended research on social skills training to determine if the activities first-grade students were engaged in while Tootling would influence their performance of two recently trained social skills: complimenting and encouraging peers. After receiving social skills training, students engaged in two experimental small-group activities, a…

Research Findings: Kindergarten is the gateway to education and a point of great variability in children's knowledge and skills. As a result, there is keen interest in kindergarten entry assessments (KEAs) to understand and address gaps in early skills. This study rigorously investigated the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Kindergarten Entry…

To determine the impact of an administrator's decision on student placement in kindergarten classrooms, teachers were asked to share their perceptions on how that decision impacted their ability to deliver instruction and follow the district scope and sequence, as well as how that decision impacts student academic achievement and social and…

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Social-Emotional Assessment Measure (SEAM) (33-66 months), which is designed to assess social-emotional difficulties and behavior disorders in young children. In this case, the SEAM was translated and back-translated. The sample included 2477 preschoolers (1256 boys;…

Many studies have established that there are important life-long benefits of attending pre-K. At the same time, recent research suggests that pre-K attenders may enter and exit kindergarten exhibiting less optimal social and learning behaviours than their non-attending peers, and little attention has been paid to what factors may contribute to…

Although academic benefits of pre-K are well established, the associations between pre-K attendance and social and learning behaviours are less clear. Some research suggests that pre-K attenders may enter and exit kindergarten exhibiting less optimal social and learning behaviours than their non-attending peers, and little attention has been paid…

Significant socioeconomic disparities exist across the neighborhoods where children grow up today, which may exacerbate inequities in children's educational opportunities (Leventhal et al., 2015; Leventhal & Dupere, 2019; Mijs & Roe, 2021; Reardon et al., 2018). Prior research documents associations between neighborhood socioeconomic…