This study compared the cooperation, aggression, and wandering behavior of 12 first-grade children with severe to profound hearing losses with that of 12 hearing children. No significant differences were found in amounts cooperation, aggression, or wandering behavior displayed by the two groups. However, children with hearing loss changed…

Verb forms used by 14 4-year-olds in their pretend play were investigated in a study of the use of past verb forms to express "unreality." Results suggest that different past verb forms co-occur with different play activities; e.g., present perfect occurring when children implement their plans and communicate within an already…

Notes that a developmentally designed classroom environment supports children's individual and social development; encourages exploration, focused play, and cooperation; provides choices for children that support self-directed learning; and supports the caregiver-child relationship. Offers guidelines for a developmentally designed environment for…

This observational study examined 60 mothers' comments during play with their 4- to 8-month-old infants who had been either full-term, preterm well, or preterm sick. Mothers of sick preterm babies engaged in the most overall talking, mothers of full-term babies made the most negative remarks, and mothers of healthy preterm babies made the fewest…

Uses a cognitive approach to examine whether children's explicit and implicit knowledge about gender, influences the development and maintenance of gender segregation. Addresses the issue of variations in levels of gender segregation. (BAC)

Presents a "development-in-action" study, in which children's development is approached as a situated accomplishment, the product of adults' and children's interaction in everyday settings. Suggests that analysis of the play's cultural work helps to understand how everyday social activity reproduces the social order that conditions it…

Critiques the ideas espoused by Packer (PS 522 550) in this issue. Observes that Packer fails to indicate the vast and important differences that exist between adults' and children's abilities. Suggests that reliance on play as a source for self-fashioning lessens with development, as children's autonomy is limited to a few social roles spread…

Discusses Vygotsky's theory and the research stimulated by it. Notes that the vast literature on children's play reveals that its contributions to child development can be looked at from diverse vantage points. Suggests that Vygotsky's theory has much to say to teachers about the importance of promoting make-believe in preschool and child care…

Examines the role of children's play as part of developmentally appropriate practices for young children. Suggests that schoolchildren's play is creative, and more complex than that of younger children. As work and play intertwine throughout the layers of the classroom, the combination helps them learn to manage time responsibly. (AA)

Using qualitative methods of participant observation and in-depth interviewing, this research explored kindergarten, first-, and second-grade children's perceptions of classroom activities. Young children perceived classroom activities in terms of what they considered to be work and what they considered to be play. A work-play continuum is…

Notes that jump rope rhymes and street chants are part of an oral tradition that links communication and play. Although rarely incorporated into the elementary curriculum, they expose children to rhyme, rhythm, humor, and poetry. Discusses opportunities for student involvement and integration of rhymes and chants across the curriculum, and…

Examined individual differences in 50 preschool children's pretend play with their mothers and siblings. Results indicated individual differences in the amount and sophistication of preschoolers' social pretend play and suggested that these individual differences are related to experiences in preschoolers' relationships with their mothers and…

Examined the effects of activity period duration on preschoolers' play with playdough and blocks. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests showed significantly more constructive and dramatic play, and less functional play, at the end of the play period. Differences between the quality of play in block and playdough centers were found. (Author/BB)

This paper describes two alternative strategies for fostering communication skills in preschool children with disabilities: one that teaches normally developing peers to use specific communication strategies when interacting with their less skilled classmates and one that teaches both normal and disabled preschoolers to enact sociodramatic play…

Describes a study that measured preschoolers' use of microcomputers in the following areas: (1) efficiency of use of input devices, including the keyboard, the joystick, and the mouse; (2) use during free-play activities, including interaction with the microcomputer and with each other; and (3) gender differences. (40 references) (LRW)