Young children engage in essentialist reasoning about natural kinds, believing that many traits are innately determined. This study investigated whether personal experience with second language acquisition could alter children's essentialist biases. In a switched-at-birth paradigm, 5- and 6-year-old monolingual and simultaneous bilingual…

The continuum of beliefs reported by Greek pre-service kindergarten teachers and how those beliefs relate to classroom practices are explored in this article. Considering the potentially important influence of teachers' beliefs on their practices, the level of early childhood teachers' beliefs about developmentally appropriate practices (DAPs) and…

In using developmentally appropriate practices, teachers should intentionally address all aspects of a child's being, the spiritual along with the physical and the cognitive. Because spirituality is a vital part of human nature, a whole-child teaching approach must include the part of the child some call spirituality. Many have attempted to…

The objective of this study was to examine the beliefs of Jordanian kindergarten teachers toward developmentally appropriate practices (DAP). The sample consists of 285 (14.9%) randomly selected teachers working in public and private kindergartens. A questionnaire with two parts, (1) general information and (2) teachers' beliefs regarding DAP, was…

This study examines early childhood preservice teachers' beliefs about developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) and how they define DAP and interpret principles and characteristics of DAP. The study shows that early childhood preservice teachers possess relatively strong beliefs about DAP. Preservice teachers who were further along in the…

A qualitative study examining teachers' beliefs regarding developmentally appropriate practices was conducted in the city of Mumbai, India. Twelve kindergarten teacher's were interviewed for this study, and a constant comparative method was used to analyze the interviews. Six themes were identified within this study. The themes highlighted…

Learning to read is one of the most critical and powerful achievements in life. Ensuring that all young children reach their potential in literacy development is the shared responsibility of many, though as emphasis is placed on establishing literacy leaders in many schools, literacy coaches and classroom teachers are being looked upon as having…

These four newsletter issues provide information on current research and practice to early childhood professionals teaching in the primary grades in Colorado, focusing on education reform and developmentally appropriate practice. The first issue notes research supporting developmentally appropriate practice, describes Kentucky's primary school…