This article explores the impact of an augmented reality iPad-based mobile game, called The Great STEM Caper, on students' interaction at a science center. An open-source, location-based game platform called ARIS (i.e. Augmented Reality and Interactive Storytelling) was used to create an iPad-based mobile game. The game used QR scan codes and a…

This paper presents results from an ethnographic study of language policy as it is enacted in everyday interaction in two language profile preschools in Sweden with explicit monolingual language policies: English and Finnish, respectively. However, in both preschools, children are free to choose language or code alternate. The study shows how…

This article explores dilemmatic aspects of language policies in a preschool group in which three languages (Swedish, Romani and Arabic) are spoken on an everyday basis. The article highlights the interplay between policy decisions on the societal level, the teachers' interpretations of these policies, as well as language practices on the micro…

Higher education in Australia attracts many international students. Universities are challenged to prepare them with the necessary understandings, knowledge and skills to effectively participate in their study. For international students, understanding Early Childhood contexts in Australia is a new way of viewing teaching and learning from their…

In order to reflect international reform movements in a system- and culture-comparative perspective, the following article investigates the early childhood education systems in Germany and in Hong Kong, with reference to the respective social and educational roots, pedagogical development lines, and basic educational approaches. In addition,…

This study examined the effects of an inclusive, community-based playgroup intervention on parent and child outcomes. The role of occupational therapy as part of a team of providers in early childhood was also explored. Caregiver-child dyads (n = 36) were enrolled in one of three playgroup conditions (control, occupational therapy support, and…

This study investigated perceptions that children aged 6-10 years (n = 83) have of what it means to be physically active. Ideographic research was conducted utilising drawings and interviews to understand values that are placed on participating in physical activity (PA). The article questions the idea that whilst it may be commonly accepted by…

This paper is a self-study that uses the lens of Vygotsky's four phases of sign acquisition to examine one student writer's development of voice through writing produced from 5th grade through her second year of graduate school (17 years). Growing up as a twin--and as a visually impaired individual--the author learned how to use the written word…

Background: We describe the development of sustainability via active garden education (SAGE), an early care and education (ECE) garden-based curriculum developed from a 5-year community partnership to link national health policy guidelines with ECE accreditation standards. Methods: National health guidelines and ECE accreditation standards were…

The purpose of this study is to gather information about caregivers' views of the value of a digital music toy, its musical features, as well as their comments about children's responses to the toy. Instead of asking parents to provide their opinions about a broad category of interactive music toys, the authors selected one of the many toys…

In this article, the author discusses some of the photographs and videos that her students produced, and shares how their artwork serves as one way that, when given freedom and choice, children will incorporate violent play into their artmaking activities. The author argues that these images are not evidence of inherently violent, dangerous, or…

The Easy-Play Model offers a defined framework to organize games that promote an inclusive and enjoyable sport experience. The model can be implemented by participants playing sports in educational, recreational or social contexts with the goal of achieving an active lifestyle in an inclusive, cooperative and enjoyable environment. The Easy-Play…

The present study explored relations among language skills, private speech, and self-regulation in three- to five-year-old children. Language skills were assessed with a standardised measure of language ability and by teacher reports of adaptive use of language in the classroom. Private speech was measured by observing children during a…

This book takes on current perspectives on children's relationships to literacy, media, childhood, markets and transtionalism in converging global worlds. It introduces the idea of multi-sited imaginaries to explain how children's media and literacy performances shape and are shaped by shared visions of communities that we collectively imagine,…

This article presents findings of a pilot project for a study investigating the language of preschool-aged peers, with particular attention to differences in genre that were evident in the dyadic play of children who self-identified as being "very best friends" as opposed to "just a little bit" friends. Participants were three…