Optimism is linked to persistence and resilience in adults; however, how optimism might relate to children's evaluations of potentially challenging situations and risk-taking behaviors is unknown. This study examined the role of optimism in 4- to 8-year-old children's (N = 121) perceptions of and willingness to engage in physical activities that…

Children's beliefs about the contribution of effort and ability to success and failure shape their decisions to persist or give up on challenging tasks, with consequences for their academic success. But how do children learn about the concept of "challenge"? Prior work has shown that parents' verbal responses to success and failure shape…

The purpose of the study is to examine young children's (4- to 7-year-old) selective trust decisions in two different data sets; one was for selecting from whom to ask information and the other was for interpersonal trust decision where children encountered with two research assistants; one provided precise and the other provided relative…

Research has consistently established the positive impact of sharing books with young children. Evidence suggests several important factors when evaluating book sharing with young children, including the quality of educator practice = and the nature of groupings, as well as the frequency and duration of book sharing sessions and access to books.…

This research investigates positive future expectancies, particularly hope in children, which is comprised of agency thinking, perceiving oneself as capable of achieving goals, and pathways thinking, perceiving oneself as capable of discovering methods toward the desired goals. Two studies (n = 82) were conducted in the United States to examine…

The existence of transgender children is not new. However, for over 100 years, Western culture has worked to restrict the gender expressions and gender identities of children. This forces them into a binary model of gender understanding. This critical content analysis examined the ways that transgender children within picturebooks can both conform…

This article examines children's literature written by African American teachers during the first part of the twentieth century. Drawing on theories of racialization, I analyze children's books written by two African American teachers: Helen Adele Whiting (1885-1959) and Jane Dabney Shackelford (1895-1979). I argue that their books represented…

Animal fears are common, emerging in early childhood and often continuing into adulthood. This study explores the outcomes of positive and negative storybooks about animals on children's attitudes and behaviors. Ninety-six children (ages 4-8 years) were exposed to either negative or positive information about two animals (snakes and frogs) via…

Previous research about refugee students' experiences with online learning has focused on the challenges faced by refugee youth, their families, and schools without addressing what strengths families might bring to this type of learning. Further, while previous research has touched upon refugee youth and their families' substantial digital…

This study describes how 3- to 8-year-olds' justifications for their reality status judgements about people on YouTube relates to their age and previous YouTube watching experience. Using a within-subjects design, children were asked about their beliefs regarding the reality status of a purported YouTube video and provided justifications for their…

Studies on indigenous education have become popular in recent years. In Indonesia, indigenous education studies are carried out to rediscover a distinctive educational identity. This study aims to describe the indigenous education of children in Java during the Dutch colonial period through a study of children's literary novels in Vorstenlanden in…

Children have a robust social preference for people similar to them, like those who share their language, accent, and race. In the present research, we show that this preference can diminish when children consider who they want to learn about. Across three experiments, 4- to 6-year-olds (total N = 160; 74 female, 86 male, from the Waterloo region…

Children are sensitive to their own and others' epistemic states and use these to guide their learning and communication. Here, we systematically examined children's use of epistemic states to make diagnostic social inferences. Specifically, we investigated children's group membership inferences based on what others do and do not know and what…

Purpose: This mixed-method, collaborative study investigated parents' perceptions of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) learning through use of STEM kits specifically designed for in-home use by parents and preschool-age children. Design/methodology/approach: Parents with a child attending a community-based childhood…

Exchanges of help between children are common and often have positive consequences. But not all help is equally beneficial, for example because some help does not provide an opportunity to practice and develop skills. Here I examine whether young children might perpetuate competence-based inequality by providing incompetent peers with less…