Given the help they want and need, families do spend time with their young children in developmentally appropriate learning activities. Following a successful experience with Family Connections 1, the Rural Excel Program at the Appalachia Educational Laboratory (AEL) developed a second volume of 22 colorful, four-page guides to learning, designed…

A practicum designed to strengthen and expand day care staff members' knowledge about working with preschool children from crisis families had the following goals: (1) to provide staff with information about children in stressful situations; (2) to help staff recognize child behaviors that call for special attention; (3) to help staff implement…

Based in the belief that many preschool programs have an orientation toward a developmental philosophy yet are not developmentally appropriate in program practices, this discussion contrasts developmentally and psychometrically oriented approaches, reviews literature on program design and children's needs, and provides guidelines in the areas of…

Lectures often emphasize rote learning rather than critical thinking. Topics are discussed sequentially, not critically. The teacher does the talking and most of the thinking. The student memorizes material and is placed in a passive role. But many teachers who use the lecture should also be concerned that their students learn to think critically.…

This conference proceedings compiles papers presented at the Institute of Early Childhood in July 2000, the fifth in a series examining the challenges which the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy present the early childhood profession in Australia. The conference focused on time and play in preschool education. Paper topics related to the history of…

This book aims to provide a series of starting points which will help readers to understand more about many key topics in early childhood education and care. In the rapidly changing field of early childhood education and care, it is becoming increasingly important for students and practitioners to have an awareness of the many topics that relate…

The INDAP (Individualizing Developmentally Appropriate Practices) program provides teachers with ideas on how to design classroom environments and materials, activities and routines, and instructional groups and transitions while providing high quality programs to children with different strengths and needs. These guidelines provide information…

Explored responses to interactive multimedia by 3- to 5-year-olds through examination of verbal and facial expressions, use of mouse, body movement, attitudes toward multimedia, and teacher comments. Found great interest in using the technology and little difficulty in adjusting to developmentally appropriate materials, which has implications for…

Reviews research on the relationship among young children, their developing skills, and art. Maintains that children's development, like art itself, grows out of the individual child artist and his or her place in life and culture. Presents examples of developmentally appropriate art activities and instruction. (CFR)

Maintains that public libraries provide a variety of information services, materials, and developmentally appropriate programs for young children and for adults, especially parents and child caregivers. (BB)

Discusses the use of time and space in primary classrooms, referring to what is known about how young children learn best. Discusses four steps to organizing the classroom. (BB)

Examined public school preschool programs for disadvantaged children and their developmental appropriateness by studying the programs' effects on children's language and memory skills and on classroom environment. Results showed that teachers could not distinguish their uninvolvement from overly and inappropriate academic involvement. Teachers did…

Presents six myths about early childhood education and care. Myths concern day care quality, the impact of day care on families and communities, academically oriented curricula, the importance of caregiver training, and parent involvement. Emphasizes that professionals need to dispel these myths, recognize the complexity of good child care, and be…

Dean of International University Learning Center (Kyoto, Japan) argues that traditional educational systems disregard developmental needs of children and prevent change by perpetuating societal values. The idea that children need to develop as an integral part of their natural and social systems is discussed in relation to alternative education…

Tested psychometric properties of a new measure of developmentally appropriate practices in kindergarten through third grade and the predictive value of classroom and teacher characteristics. Found that grade, class size, number of children with disabilities, teacher educational level, teacher experience, and teacher beliefs accounted for 42…