Spatial ability is a significant component of mathematical ability and a foundation for children to master mathematical knowledge. Although many studies have confirmed that technology can enhance children's learning, few have explored the use of technology in the area of children's spatial learning. In this study, we adopted a paradigm for…

According to the US Census data (2023), since the COVID-19 pandemic, more families are choosing to homeschool their children, the rate of white homeschooled children increased from 5.7% in the spring of 2020 to 9.7% in the fall of 2020. For Asian children, homeschooling rates increased from 4.9% to 8.8% during this same time. There was an overall…

This paper highlights the use of a participatory, trauma-informed approach in the creation of "Ahlan Simsim," a Sesame Street television program for the Middle East, and asserts the importance of using a participatory approach to designing culturally relevant SEL content. "Ahlan Simsim" is a component of a larger initiative of…

The authors propose and discuss their Playshop curricular model, which they developed with teachers. Their studies suggest a playful approach supports even more rigor than the Common Core State Standards require for preschool and early grade children. Children keep their attention longer when learning comes in the form of something they can play…

The goal of prompting a child is to prevent him or her from making errors while learning a new skill, and to decrease the amount of time it takes to learn the new skill. As a child shows improvement in performing the skill, adults can fade the amount of assistance provided until the child reaches his or her level of independence. Several prompting…

We examined children's development of strategic and conceptual knowledge for linear measurement. We conducted teaching experiments with eight students in grades 2 and 3, based on our hypothetical learning trajectory for length to check its coherence and to strengthen the domain-specific model for learning and teaching. We checked the hierarchical…

For a child to learn through Problem-Solving in Serious games, the game scaffolding mechanism has to be effective. Scaffolding is based on the Vygotzkian Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) concept which refers to the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as…

Over the past three decades, more than a quarter of a million children have become citizens of the United States through international adoption. Kindergarten teacher Jane Katch recently found herself with three such children in her class: Katya, born in Russia, Jasper, from Cambodia, and Caleb, from Romania. Each child had spent early years in an…

Development in any domain is often characterized by increasingly abstract representations. Recent evidence in the domain of shape recognition provides one example; between 18 and 24 months children appear to build increasingly abstract representations of object shape [Smith, L. B. (2003). Learning to recognize objects. "Psychological…

Premature academic instruction may undermine a child's learning tendencies or dispositions. Informal small-group interaction can strengthen dispositions and set the context for acquisition of knowledge, skills, and feelings. Teachers should focus on learning goals rather than performance goals. (SH)

Explores the nature, importance, and development of child metacognition, arguing for the assisted development of metacognitive awareness in young children. Identifies factors that enhance metacognitive development and thus assist the transfer of learning. Suggests that metateaching strategies can help mediate the metacognitive strategies of…

Discusses the need to understand the interplay between children's developing mathematical conceptions and mathematical structures in order to understand what it means to teach differently and create opportunities for children to learn a different mathematics, focusing on reform in mathematics education, social situations and shared meanings,…

This Spanish-language ERIC Digest addresses the question of what young children should be learning that will best serve their development and learning in the long term. Two major dimensions of development--normative and dynamic--are explored, and four categories of learning goals are discussed: (1) knowledge; (2) skills; (3) dispositions; and (4)…

This Korean-language digest addresses the question of what young children should be learning that will best serve their development and learning in the long term. Two major dimensions of development--normative and dynamic--are explored, and four categories of learning goals are discussed: (1) knowledge; (2) skills; (3) dispositions; and (4)…

This paper discusses the relationship between Lev Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and cooperative learning. Vygotsky (1896-1934), a Russian psychologist, formulated a theory that children first develop lower mental functions such as simple perceptions, associative learning, and involuntary attention; then, through social interactions with…