Do girls have more competition anxiety and exogenous cognitive load than equally able boys during the playing of stressful competitive on-line games? This question led to the adoption of a technology acceptance model to compare the influence factors of competitors in sequential and synchronous games. Confirmatory factor analysis of the data on 220…

Research into virtual role-based learning has progressed over the past decade. Modern issues include gauging the difficulty of designing a goal system capable of meeting the requirements of students with different knowledge levels, and the reasonability and possibility of taking advantage of the well-designed formula and techniques served in other…

This case study examines the role of playful talk in negotiating the "how" of collaborative group work in a 6th-grade science classroom. Here we develop and test a Vygotsky-derived hypothesis that postulates playful talk as a mechanism for identity exploration and group status negotiation. Our findings indicate that students utilized the…

There is a dearth of research regarding young children with high intellectual abilities, particularly research involving the direct observation of children in naturalistic settings. The current study examines 2 years of observations of young children (aged 37-71 months; n = 34) at an early childhood facility. The children were observed during the…

Inclusive education provides learning opportunities for children with disabilities in regular settings with other children. Despite the prevalence of inclusive education, few qualitative studies have adequately explored young children's perspectives on inclusion. This paper reviews the findings of a preliminary qualitative study where play-based…

Some educational researchers claim that videogames can energize learning in both traditional and non-traditional contexts; cultivate skills more useful to a changing economy; and present information in ways more appealing to students. The notion of "serious games" dates back as early as the 1950s, but so far has failed to make a significant…

Effective design of training-related games (games for training and/or assessment) requires synergy between the mechanisms for delivering instructional content and the mechanisms for learning game play and game functionality (Becker, 2006). The learning domain must be embedded as a core game mechanic: that is, the game cannot be advanced or won…

Research approaches in the field of transpersonal psychology can be transformative for researchers, participants, and the audience of a project. This book offers these transformative approaches to those conducting research across the human sciences and the humanities. Rosemarie Anderson and William Braud first described such methods in…

Seeking to understand play as part of a more general theory of human relationships, the author defines play as one of four fundamental categories of behavior, the others being work, ritual, and communitas. He discusses how each of these behaviors is organized as a "pathway" that offers distinctive opportunities for experiencing life and for…

Kids aged five and under learn best through play. Instead of buying just any toy, look for toys or activities with things to teach: like the alphabet or names of different animals, and more. Children will play with their new toy and not even realize they are learning while they play. This article focuses on gift ideas for the holiday season, with…

This paper reports on an analysis of teachers' talk of play-based learning and intentional teaching of mathematics. The participants in the study were two early childhood teachers in a pre-Prep program (the year before school). Teachers' talk of how they engaged in the interplay between children's play and the use of intentional teaching practices…

Children learn through play. Talk to early childhood educators and they will say this is the core of what they know about how children learn best. Talk to many parents and they say that allowing children to simply play all day is not teaching kids anything. This is the signature argument that has defined the early childhood field. The author…

This autobiography is an attempt to write and share the author's personal story, first as a learner, then as a teacher. It also attempts to share the educational gifts initially bestowed and then passed on from one generation to the next. The writer will talk about how games and simulations were first inherited and learned, then employed in…

Drawn from Merleau-Ponty's embodiment theory and Vygotsky's sociocultural learning theory as conceptual framework, this research investigated how Singapore adolescent students accrued and embodied meaning with school art. Combining the methods of microethnographic observations and phenomenological interviews to document the process of artistic…

Establishing friendships is an important developmental goal of early childhood, but little research has addressed ways in which parents support the friendship development of their young children with disabilities. The purpose of this survey study was to explore the support strategies that parents use to facilitate their children's friendships.…