Purpose: Being "literate" is well established as key to active civic participation, right from the earliest years of life. Young children's natural curiosity and motivation to understand the world and their places within it through playful explorations offers rich opportunities for learning. Reported here are findings from a STEAM…

When designing solutions for early learning, part of the process is clearly identifying a problem that impacts the wellbeing of young children that is both well-researched and in need of innovative solutions. However, with such a vast and complex field, identifying an issue to focus on can be difficult. The questions adults ask children have a…

In the educational experience of Reggio Emilia, art education is held to be a central element in children's knowledge building processes and the aesthetic experience is considered an activator of learning process. In the Reggio educational philosophy, the space dedicated to aesthetic education and the exploration of artistic languages and…

This article focuses on philosophy with children aiming to address the epistemic injustices that children encounter, in part by cultivating philosophical spaces within which children's voices are dominant. In philosophical dialogues with children, it is the children's ideas and questions that shape the progress of the inquiry, opening up new areas…

This paper addresses a problem that greatly complicates the implementation of dialogic educational approaches in schools: the dilemma between driving children's talk towards normatively accepted conceptions and, at the same time, avoiding the introduction of these normative conceptions into the dialogue by the teacher. I argue that this dilemma is…

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is an educational imperative that requires supporting young learners in developing awareness about--and exploring--concepts, topics and vocabulary of significant importance in environmental education. Chawla (2009, "Journal of Developmental Processes," "4"(1), pp. 6-23) identified two…

This paper argues that the Trump phenomenon is not an anomaly but rather a predictable stage of the waning of US power. The United States has enjoyed military and economic dominance of the world since the early twentieth century when it gained control of the massive Third World colonial regions of the world. We must regard education as the human…

Teachers face a growing call for implementing inquiry-based teaching and learning in a current pedagogical environment that contradicts this through educational practices that silo content, disseminate knowledge, and produce classrooms of passive learners. We address a hot topic in the United States on how a push for more "academics" is…

Pedagogical documentation within early childhood centres is a key component of pedagogy and teacher accountability. In Singapore, documentation is a requirement specified under legislative policies included in the national Pre-school Accreditation Framework, with parents often perceived as the main audience. This paper reports on a study utilising…

Fredrich Froebel was a scientist, both in instinct and in training, and his life coincided with an important and dynamic period of scientific growth. I take this opportunity to delve both into some history and futurology to examine the heritage and legacy of his work. The usual of interpolation is of reading into data: where there exist some…

Curiosity is a vital yet underappreciated trait to learning. Discover practical ways to put curiosity at the center of the classroom and encourage children's natural eagerness to learn.

In this review of research, we offer a meta-analysis of young children's learning and development within and across psychology, education, and linguistics. Engaging with Soja's concept of "Thirdspace," we mapped young children's learning and development transdisciplinarily, seeking to (re)conceptualize early childhood teaching in ways…

Children are intrigued by moving objects, even more so when they can engineer the movement. This volume in the STEM for Our Youngest Learners Series uses Ramps and Pathways as a context to provide children ages 3-8 with opportunities to engage in STEM every day. Ramps and Pathways is a meaningful and fun way for children to develop engineering…

Children's life experiences can position their exploration of global cultural communities within early childhood classrooms. Some early childhood educators, however, are concerned that many young children do not have direct experience of global cultures and thus believe that differences between cultural practices will be confusing to young…

The experiences of children's play have a profound impact on all areas of their growth and development. Memories of play can be vivid and detailed. These memories often have a treasured place in our hearts and minds. Educators and parents have a special opportunity to ask themselves, "What kind of memories of play do I hope for the children…