This study sheds light on sibling mediation of young children's media use, focusing on older brothers and sisters as significant mediators in imparting preferences, skills, and norms of media use in early childhood. The sample included 20 families with two or three children, one of whom was four to seven years of age and had at least one older…

The 'schoolification' of early childhood education and care programs, seen as readying children for formalised schooling, has had an impact on the education of younger and younger age groups. While the focus of past research has mainly focused on 4-5-year-old children, this study shifts the focus to 2-3-year-old children and the literacy focus of…

Video games have become a mainstream form of entertainment that are played regularly by many around the world, including a large number of youth with disabilities (YwD). Video games' popular presence in our society has created exciting new opportunities for student learning that educators who work with YwD can leverage for both skill acquisition…

Identifying preservice teachers' perspectives about play and their role as a teacher in play is critical because their perspectives are related to how they organise and involve play in early childhood education. However, very few empirical studies have been conducted to examine how preservice teachers view play. In the present study, 46 preservice…

This qualitative case study explores the affordances of home-based multimodal literacy activities through the case of Mason's (pseudonym) home writing experiences, a six-year-old bilingual kindergartener. Utilizing a play-based family literacy framework, the study examines 15 handmade mini-books created by Mason, revealing three key themes: (1)…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a content validity analysis of the Teacher Impression Scale (TIS), which is an observer rating scale designed to assess preschool children peer social competence. The TIS was originally developed in the 1980s and used in research in the 1990s-2010s. The was the first step in an instrument development…

The increasing screen time and digital distractions in modern education have underscored the need for innovative approaches to early childhood learning that reconnect children with the natural world. This study investigates the integration of cooperative learning methods in nature within the "Mathematics and Environmental Exploration"…

This paper presents the development of a participatory digital platform designed to promote nature-based experiences for children aged 0 to 3 years. The project responds to the growing reduction of young children's opportunities to engage with nature in their daily lives, despite the critical role such experiences play in early development.…

Research on school recess has highlighted the need for more integrated and situated knowledge of students' recess experiences as a function of school and recess context. This study assessed differences in recess-specific negative affect; enjoyment and opportunities (indoors and outdoors), and physical activity and moderate-to-vigorous physical…

Background/Context: In early childhood, using play as a pedagogical tool can be a way to ensure children have access to an education that involves worthwhile opportunities to learn that are ripe with joy and aim toward fostering depth of knowledges. There are numerous possibilities for the types of play a classroom can offer children, so when a…

A long history of misinformation has led to anti-vaccine sentiment, risking everyone's health. Despite public health campaigns, vaccine hesitancy rates have not declined. In response, we created an educational board game to address the fundamental science of vaccine development. The cooperative game guides players through identifying a novel…

This paper presents findings from our project entitled 'Diversity in Unity: Developing an anti-racist framework within Froebelian pedagogy'. We apply an ethnography by proxy approach informed by the work of Jones and Okun on colonial and decolonial habits. Drawing from two nursery settings in England and Scotland, we engage with the methodological…

The family unit exerts a crucial influence on early childhood development across all domains: physical, cognitive, and emotional and social. Prior research consistently underscores the significant role of parental involvement in shaping early childhood developmental trajectories. However, in numerous countries, particularly within developing…

In this paper we make practical and theoretical contributions to feminist adult education. Practically, we provide an overview of a three-hour arts- and play-based research workshop with research activities/tools that readers can further research to adapt to their own contexts. Theoretically, we explore how these creative practices can contribute…

While much is known about transgender students' experiences of high school, less research has explored their experiences in primary/pre-schooling settings. This paper presents an analysis of parents' (N = 15) recounts of their transgender children's (N = 12) experiences in Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC) and primary schools.…