In this ethnographic study, the musical behaviours of 28 primary school children in Singapore were examined for their meaning and diversity as they engaged in the school day. A large part of these children's musical behaviours stemmed from their exposure to the mass media. Children's musical inventions emerged in the context of play, occasionally…

Although much has been written about the role of therapists in children's recovery from child sexual abuse, relatively little attention has been paid to the role of nonoffending parents. This study investigated the work of a team of therapists who sometimes included such parents in therapy sessions with children. The study sought to understand…

The author presents findings from an Australian study examining the behavioral correlates and stability of social status among preschool-aged children. Using sociometric assessment, the author determined the social status of an initial sample of 187 preschool-aged children (94 boys, 93 girls; M age = 62.4 months, SD age = 4.22 months). The author…

Children's toys provide a rich arena for investigating conceptual flexibility, because they often can be understood as possessing an individual identity at multiple levels of abstraction. For example, many dolls (e.g., Winnie-the-Pooh) and action figures (e.g., Batman) can be construed either as characters from a fictional world or as physical…

This study investigated the hypothesis that background television affects interactions between parents and very young children. Fifty-one 12-, 24-, and 36-month-old children, each accompanied by 1 parent, were observed for 1 hr of free play in a laboratory space resembling a family room. For half of the hour, an adult-directed television program…

Information overload is so five years ago, but the problem it describes is all too real. Fortunately, there's hope yet for the savvy librarian: Twitter and FriendFeed turn information dissemination on its head, using friends and subscribers as a filter for the best, most credible, and most engaging information out there. Like other social media…

Engaging students to learn through play is not a new idea, and, based on how many animals learn that way, the connection is probably instinctual. For some educators, however, this concept is a radical notion that threatens to topple the wall that they have carefully constructed to separate work and play. Just as some media specialists, teachers,…

This paper is based on data generated from a qualitative study of gender and sexuality in a kindergarten classroom. Post-developmental perspectives of sex, gender, and sexuality are used to show how young children are constructing gender and heterosexual discourses in the early childhood classroom. Drawing from feminist post-structuralism and…

An elementary reading specialist examined how drama can help young readers to become actively engaged with comprehending stories. The article explores how two first-grade students involved in a reading support program build representative yet unique understandings through process drama in connection with literacy activities. Through such…

This study assessed the effectiveness of a Teaching Interaction procedure for four social skills across three participants diagnosed with autism. All social skills fell into four broad domains (i.e., social-communication, play, emotion skills, and choice/selection skills). In addition, a teaching package was used to increase communication between…

Breakthrough, a global human rights organization, produced "America 2049," an alternate-reality game set in a dystopian future in which the United States is on the verge of breaking apart because of an inability to tolerate diversity and promote human rights. During the 12-week game launch, players uncovered artifacts related to the…

This study describes national school district policy and practice regarding elementary school children's outdoor learning and play. District representatives from 173 randomly selected school districts completed questionnaires describing policy and practice related to recess, outdoor play, outdoor curricular studies, playground materials, ADA…

This study examined event memory and suggestibility in 3- to 16-year-olds involved in forensic investigations of child maltreatment. A total of 322 children were interviewed about a play activity with an unfamiliar adult. Comprehensive measures of individual differences in trauma-related psychopathology and cognitive functioning were administered.…

Early childhood programs strive to provide good-quality care and education as young children develop their physical, emotional, social, and intellectual skills. In order to provide children with positive, developmentally appropriate learning opportunities, educators ensure the safety and security of children, indoors and outdoors. The outdoor…

The article examines parent-teacher conferences in Finnish and Swedish preschools. Previous research has shown that the conferences are mostly about the evaluation of the child. Based on qualitative data, the article studies how this evaluation is done. It asks how the institutional order regarding children is constructed in parent-teacher…