There are a growing number of studies that have examined science learning for preschool children. Some research has looked into children's home experiences and some has focused on transition, practices, routines, and traditions in preschool contexts. However, little attention has been directed to the relationship between children's learning…

This paper engages with the medically established view that individuals with autism are not capable of play or being imaginative. This paper resists this idea by reflecting on psychobiographical research conducted on the life of Temple Grandin. By re-witnessing creative experiences in her life, dialogue surrounding the imaginative capacities of…

This empirical study aims to find if and how preschool teachers communicate values they consider important for children to learn in preschool. The study is a part of a Nordic research project on values education in Nordic preschools. Values are understood as desirable principles that guide human actions. Theoretically, the study draws on a…

In this paper, we argue for a view of analysis as an embodied practice and review others' testimonies of carrying out multimodal ethnography. This review suggests that metaphors are key for communicating what happens to "us" in the course of the research and our subsequent sense-making practices. We identify four metaphors for…

The current study explored the effects of child-centered group play therapy (CCGPT) on anxiety symptoms and problematic classroom behaviors of preschool children. Using a single case design, 4 preschool children with clinical levels of anxiety problems as rated by parents or teachers on the Child Behavior Checklist/Caregiver-Teacher Report Form,…

This study examined the associations between maternal scaffolding and toddlers' active joint engagement during play and whether toddlers' temperamental activity moderates those associations. Korean mother-toddler dyads (N = 106) participated in semistructured free play. Maternal scaffolding, toddlers' joint engagement, and physical activity level…

Emergent language learners develop literacy through social interactions in multiple, overlapping communities: home, school, peer groups, and popular culture. The author focuses on how classrooms can be spaces that cultivate authentic literacy engagements while incorporating and valuing students' existing language resources.

This paper aims to improve the design methods for serious games (games for learning) by identifying a set of well-established pedagogical misconceptions and presenting design guidelines to avoid these. It analyses the pedagogical principles and models that are commonly used in serious game design, and contrasts these with evidence and advances in…

In looking back to childhood, and what constituted daily life, a case is made for unique ways of knowing that unfold through play, place, and tradition. A closer look at the relationship between childhood memory and the particularities of place, suggests that adult creativity, a sense of psychological stability, and an attitude of wonder, even…

A qualitative case study sought to investigate the impact of a recently opened Play Library in Istanbul, Turkey upon the acquisition and development of literacy and creative reading culture for attending children and their families. The research was carried out among pre-schoolers from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds attending the Sisli…

Drawing on the work of Vygotsky on scaffolding play and research on teacher intervention and mature forms of play, we have developed a teacher guide about play which frames children's role and scenario development and provides a teacher play intervention schema. The research question explored in this study is "How does a teacher guide,…

This paper investigates adult-child interaction in the early years of education. The intention is to understand how children's initiatives and practitioners' responses support and/or hinder children's agency. Our ethnographic data include 150 h of video data supplemented by observational field notes from a Finnish Early Childhood Education (ECE)…

This article follows a story played out by children at a Sámi early childhood centre in north Sweden. It does so by reflecting on the children's story as a form of Critical Indigenous Philosophy. In particular it explores what it could mean for a child to be a philosopher in a Sámi context by developing the concept of "jurddavázzi," or…

The author argues for a functionalist understanding of autism. Instead of explaining autism as an inborn or otherwise neurological deficit, autism may be understood as a functional disturbance: the impairment of the abstract attitude. The abstract attitude is a concept developed by German neuropsychiatrist Kurt Goldstein (1987-1965) to describe…

Arts programs have much value to offer children and educators alike, and so it is important to seek avenues for providing these enriching opportunities. Emerging from the collective and personal traumas experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, arts programming may play an especially important role in welcoming students back to schools,…