This article deals with teaching tools in the context of museum display, their role in organized educational programs, and their impact on educational aspects of non-organized museum visits. Using practical examples from the Olomouc Museum of Art in the Czech Republic, this work demonstrates the use of interactive tools based on play (blocks,…

Young children spend a large portion of their time pretending about non-real situations. Why? We answer this question by using the framework of Bayesian causal models to argue that pretending and counterfactual reasoning engage the same component cognitive abilities: disengaging with current reality, making inferences about an alternative…

In this article, I propose that research which focuses on young children's experiences with the interactivity of new media not only furthers findings about young children's digital lives but also enriches the conclusion that children's engagement with artmaking--in general and in traditional ways--is richly complex, affective, and…

We examined mothers' resolution of their children's diagnosis of Intellectual Disability (ID) and its link to maternal sensitivity, and we hypnotized that mothers' who are "resolved" will show more sensitivity during their interactions with their children than "unresolved" mothers. We assessed maternal resolution using the Reaction to Diagnosis…

This study documented the consistency of child engagement across two settings, toddler child care classrooms and mother-child dyadic play. One hundred twelve children, aged 14-36 months (M = 25.17, SD = 6.06), randomly selected from 30 toddler child care classrooms from the district of Porto, Portugal, participated. Levels of engagement were…

What is the motivation to fill each waking minute of the day with activities and events and to excel at everything? Are we trying to create the "superkid," defined as "a child pressured by parents and by society to do too much too soon?" Are parents overcompensating because they feel guilty about the time they spend working or away from home?…

Game-Based Learning (GBL) is a promising and engaging tool for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) learning. How GBL promotes content learning and mastery is unknown, however. For GBL to be more than an engaging tool for delivery of basic knowledge, it must be designed to achieve the goals of Project-Based Learning (PBL). PBL…

University-school collaboration can extend past the notion of simple shared resources in order to connect ideas, share talents, and solve problems mutually. It also provides fertile ground for counseling researchers to obtain, analyze and disseminate data. University-school collaborations signify a connective relationship between two vital and…

This article describes how early childhood teachers engaged in a public preK professional development program. We examine how developing teacher identities mediated engagement with the discourses of developmentally appropriate practice, early mathematics, and funds of knowledge and how they connected present practice to an imagined future. We…

This study examined the relationship between microanalytic coding and global rating systems when coding maternal parenting behaviour in two contexts. Observational data from 55 mother--child interactions with two- to four-year-old children, in either a mealtime (clinic; N?=?20 or control; N?=?20) or a playtime context (community; N?=?15), were…

This qualitative case study explored how early childhood teachers' beliefs and practices influence the function of preschool outdoor play. Teachers believed that supervision was paramount. They perceived that the physical design of the outdoor environment posed limitations for planning, preparation, and implementation. Teachers' recollections of…

This article examines the prosociality of four-year-old girls and boys in childcare centres. More specifically, it aims to measure gender differences in prosociality among children, based on three sources and methods of evaluation: (1) the early childhood educator's (ECE) perception (perceived prosociality), (2) the children's own responses to…

The focus of this study is to investigate early childhood students' discourses of play-based curriculum. In this paper we focus on how students made implicit and explicit links to the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF). Twenty-six early childhood students had volunteered their de-identified play and pedagogy…

The authors conducted a meta-analysis and systematic review that examined 23 studies evaluating the effectiveness of child centered play therapy (CCPT) conducted in elementary schools. Meta-analysis results were explored using a random effects model for mean difference and mean gain effect size estimates. Results revealed statistically significant…

Rough and tumble play has been found to be positive for physical, social and cognitive development; it is often erroneously misinterpreted as aggression and generally stopped by preschool teachers. The current study sought to examine the relationship between teacher training and education and judgements about aggression in children. Ninety-four…