The topic of play and development has been of immense importance and controversy in early education and child development field throughout the twentieth century and into the present decade. The trend of current early education is to introduce academics sooner for younger students in order for programs to remain competitive and have parents choose…

The article reviews recent classroom research developed in South America related to child and adolescent development. We review work about three themes: ethnicity, school climate and violence, and the learning process. The few studies found on ethnicity and classroom experiences told a story of invisibility, if not exclusion and discrimination.…

A Piagetian analysis of social development focuses on the changes in children's social concepts and the social factors which facilitate these changes. Piaget's early analysis of children's language into a 3-stage transition from egocentrism to fully socialized speech led to more general study of social behavior. Observations of children playing at…

Examined the role of pretend play interactions in stimulating social and emotional competence by comparing the quality of pretend and nonpretend social play. Found that pretend play involved more complex, mutually responsive, and emotionally invested social interaction than nonpretend play. Expression of psychosocial issues within pretense was…