In an age when play is often seen as frivolous or unproductive, this book explains the importance of play in early childhood education. Each chapter focuses on a specific type of play, includes suggestions for putting theory into practice, and offers recommendations for language and information educators can use to help parents understand that…

The construct of Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) has become a hallmark for educational practice in the United States. From DAP's initial publication in 1986 to the most recent revision published in 2022, DAP serves as a reference point for teacher education to support effective teachers' development and practice. However, DAP is a…

This paper employs critical discourse analysis to examine the conceptualisation of disability within Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) and to investigate how DAP addresses the role of early childhood educators working with children with disabilities in inclusive classrooms. The research questions guiding this study are: 1) How is…

As Annie Jonas witnesses college students experiencing stress, anxiety, and depression at alarming rates, she seeks a more active role as a faculty member to support their well-being; a central role off the sidelines that integrates an investment in her students' well-being in the years they are on campus and beyond. Counseling centers on college…

This study focused on the importance of developmental assessment in early childhood and the approaches used by teachers in this process. This study examined how teachers conduct assessment processes based on individual differences and child-centered approaches. This study used a mixed-method design and was conducted with 181 preschool teachers in…

Sexual health education among adolescents with intellectual disabilities is an area of concern among parents and educators. Special educators play a vital role in teaching sexual health and safety to their students with disabilities. The present study explores special educators' concerns in teaching sexual health among adolescents with…

Play-based classroom learning environments have an immediate and long-term impact on children's optimal growth and development. With the continuing efforts of state and federal government agencies to fund early childhood programs with the intention of assuring that all children enter school ready to learn, enrollment into these programs continues…

Through an instrumental case study from a critical feminist lens, we explored college student gender and leadership identity development in a gender and leadership focused course. We examined FemCrit perspectives on knowing (exploration of socialization), being (reflection on identity development), and doing (recognition of gender performance and…

Throughout the process of child development, emotions evidence a vital role. This conceptual analysis focuses on the significant position of emotional intelligence and children with disabilities and other special needs. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a concept that describes the ability to recognize personal emotions and how emotions trigger…

Human development theories identify child-initiated play as the primary source of early learning. Accordingly, the role of early childhood educators is to utilise the natural medium of play as a context for learning; an educational approach known as play-based learning. Recently, Western Australia (WA) has experienced an erosion of play-based…

This action research primarily aims to remediate the low level of basic writing skills (writing in cursive, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and paragraphing) of Grade 7 learners in Filipino class/subject in a government high school. The researcher conducted: (1) assessment of learners' writing competency through pre and post-tests; (2)…

The term "active learning" is used in a variety of educational contexts. As described in this guide, however, it refers to an instructional approach developed by Lilli Nielsen--a Danish psychologist--for promoting the learning and development of children who have significant support needs. Nielsen's Active Learning involves a range of…

Family engagement in middle school is essential to ensure optimal learning. Middle-level educators (typically Grades 5 or 6 through Grade 8 in the U.S.) play a pivotal role in helping to guide parents' understanding of their evolving roles in supporting their adolescents' academic success. Students particularly benefit from (a) parental support…

An individual is born with millions of neurons and the quality of the experiences he/she will have at the early years can potentially determine the future life of that person. This makes quality early childhood education pivotal. However, the perception people have about this influence how they prepare themselves to provide that quality early…

Research Findings: Computational thinking (CT), which is defined as the systematic analysis, exploration, and testing of solutions to open-ended and often complex problems, is an important skill to foster in early childhood. However, little is known about teachers' role in fostering CT in early childhood classrooms. To address this gap, we…