This article discusses the role of play and imagination in three urban settings: an ELA classroom, a community organization grounded in civic participation, and a digital learning lab in a library setting. We draw on sociocultural theories of imagination to show that all of the affordances and constraints of the settings contribute to what could…

Children with Down syndrome (DS) often exhibit delays in cognitive and linguistic development. In response to the increasing number of culturally and linguistically diverse populations with disabilities in the United States and need for evidence-based interventions with cultural adaptations, this study examined the effects of enhanced milieu…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of email-delivered performance feedback to teachers working in inclusive early childhood classrooms. A concurrent multiple probe across-participants design was used to examine the relation between performance feedback delivered via email and teachers' use of play expansions. Results…

Although existing literature has established that technologies are utilized in play and can be supportive of learning, utilization of technologies in play-based classrooms is not commonplace. This study is an holistic examination of a successful 2-year process of integrating an iPad into a play-based preschool setting. Each year the use of the…

The dual aims of this essay are to consider some ways in which school music reproduces neoliberal rationalities and to suggest possibilities whereby playful aspects of music education can open spaces for disruption and resistance. After defining key terms (capital, neoliberalism, rationality, social reproduction, and alienation), patterns of…

ADHD is one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders, and the numbers only continue to rise. Ontario has implemented play-based FDK in the last decade, thus it is imperative that the perceived effectiveness of the program for children with ADHD is studied. In conducting this study, the researchers present and interprets educators'…

Values education is central to early childhood education. However, it rarely provides real-life opportunities to engage students. This study investigates the effect of creative drama in acquisition of values by preschoolers. Experimental design with a pre-post-test control group was used. The study group consisted of 44 children aged 5 to 5 ½…

In a world in which individuals are judged on the basis of performance, parents can be lured into believing that their worth is measured by their child's achievements. Parenting is not a competition. This outdated mechanistic model fails to appreciate the unrepeatable, precious uniqueness of every child and every parent. Nothing is more important…

School closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have disrupted the education of 91% of students worldwide. As a critical process in supporting young children's resilience, play is increasingly recognised as a valuable pedagogical strategy within a shifting educational landscape during the pandemic. This study reports on findings from a survey on play…

The COVID-19 pandemic poses multiple challenges for young children in the modern world. Listening to, and capturing, the experiences and perspectives of young children on the pandemic are congruent with our sense of an inclusive, democratic society which values solidarity and the right to be heard, yet too often the voices of young children are…

Early literacy is a key predictor of grade-level reading and school success. Too often, however, young children do not have equitable access to literacy-rich environments that foster the skills needed to attain reading proficiency by the end of third grade. While high-quality preschool and early elementary programs are necessary early literacy…

This issue of the Bank Street "Occasional Paper Series" is a labor of love. It testifies love for Jonathan Silin, who for 17 years served as Editor-in-Chief. This issue has been designed to exemplify two commitments that have shaped the decades of Jonathan's career and that will resonate with readers of the "Occasional Paper…

Parental pressure to include formalised school-type literacy lessons has been reported as a factor influencing the types of phonics instruction young children encounter in the prior-to-school years. Parents and early childhood teachers support effective phonics instruction through guided play-based learning in the prior-to-school years. Few…

This study investigated whether parents and kindergarten children show concurrent and time-lagged physiological synchrony during dyadic interaction. Further, we tested whether parent-child behavioral co-regulation was associated with concurrent and time-lagged synchrony, and whether synchrony varied by the type of interaction task. Participants…

Students used inquiry to invest folklore in their community. As part of the C3 inquiry arc students defined questions, connected folklore to a discipline, gathered data from their community and communicated information. Students' agency drove each of the projects as the students determined how much they would investigate each topic. Students…