This study examines how teachers can structure and use pretend play for teaching science, as well as the impact it has on students' agency, engagement, and discussion. Using interaction analysis, I examine two teachers in two classrooms (n=52) of first and second grade students (6-8 years) at a progressive elementary school. To shed light on how…

Despite growth in the elementary classroom, the level of technology adoption by some teachers falls short of levels sought by educational stakeholders. To address this disparity, the purpose of this correlational study was to identify if, and to what extent, a correlation exists between elementary teachers' adult playfulness factor levels and…

In this study, the authors examined the impact of a vocabulary intervention designed to support vocabulary depth, or the building of semantic networks, in preschool children (n = 30). The authors further investigated the effect of specific instructional strategies on growth in vocabulary depth. The intervention employed shared book reading and…

In this study, pretest-posttest control group design thesis in experimental models was investigated by meta-analysis for pre-school, primary and secondary school mathematics classes based on creative drama method, between years 2000-2020 which are accepted by universities in Turkey. 3 doctoral theses and 20 master's theses that are suitable for…

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek is the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Temple University and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. She is the past president of the International Society for Infant Studies, served as the Associate Editor of "Child Development" and is on the governing counsel of the…

Few studies have sought to understand the childhood play experiences of Black boys in early childhood education (ECE), and a majority of those that investigate them often socially construct Black boys' play as criminal, dangerous, and monstrous. Considering the dangers of hegemonic masculinity and femininity or the racial and gendered power and…

Background: Educational Entertainment (EE) is a promising delivery method for Social and Emotional Learning interventions focused on mental illness stigma reduction. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the changes in students' self-reported empathy and mental illness stigma after participating in an EE intervention about coping with…

The communicative potential of young children's drawings was explored through case studies of 14 children aged four - six (eight girls, six boys) at a rural English school. Informed by socio-cultural theories, the research queried "what" and "how" the children communicated through drawing, as well as "influences" on…

Currently, kindergarten education is shaped by two priorities: (1) the recognition that early learning must maintain a developmental orientation and support socio-personal growth; and (2) a growing emphasis on standards-based curriculum and the use of assessment to support children's learning. While some researchers have argued these two…

The aim of the present study is to assess the relationship between the young child's attention in a word learning interactive context with the educators in nurseries during shared-book reading and child's subsequent vocabulary growth. The participants in the study were 24 infants from eight nurseries. Each infant was first observed during five…

Playtimes in English primary schools are a perennial and mainly enjoyable event. They are, however, largely overlooked in educational reform and have experienced 'benign neglect'. The paper presents the findings from a research project which investigated the playtimes of primary school children. Questionnaire data gathered by pre-service teachers…

Existing data describe the positive relationships across children's play/physical activity, mental wellness, physical health, and intellectual success (Carter, 2016; Crnic & Kondo, 2019; English 2019; Tomporowski, Davis, Miller, & Naglieri, 2007). This current mixed-method study identifies ways in which classroom teachers describe…

Increasing demands of accountability and academic readiness across U.S. preschools are often accompanied by decreased play and time outdoors during the school day. The nature preschool movement, grounded in a desire to foster connection to the natural world while also supporting important developmental processes and school readiness, counteracts…

Family engagement is considered to be a cornerstone of successful universal prekindergarten (PreK) implementation. Using data from interviews with mothers, this study investigates the different ways families are engaged in their child's PreK experience. Multiple themes emerged from the interviews, including: family engagement, parents' knowledge…

Supported playgroups are a common form of intervention offered in Australian early childhood education. This study used interviews and quantitative measures to examine whether attending supported playgroups benefits culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) parents' or carers' social support, connectedness, and parental self-efficacy (PSE).…