The current project examined school readiness outcomes of children participating in a preschool professional development initiative, "Winning Beginnings Learning Circles," which focused on school readiness and teacher professional development. Children were assessed on knowledge and understanding of school readiness concepts in the fall…

This article reports on primary data following an evaluative research project examining an innovative outdoor learning programme in the South East of England with pupils from year six in a primary school. The programme focused on enhancing the skills, experiences and personal attributes of children and young people to cope better with the…

Despite consensus in the developmental literature regarding the role of executive function (EF) skills in supporting the development of language skills during the preschool years, we know relatively little about the associations between EF skills, including all EF components, and vocabulary skills among preschool-aged children. In this paper, we…

This article considers the role of constructions of creativity in the classroom and their consequences for learning and, in particular, for the assessment of creativity. Definitions of creativity are examined to identify key implications for supporting the development of children's creativity within the classroom. The implications of assessing…

The pervasive income-achievement gap has been attributed in part to deficiencies in executive functioning (EF). The development of EF is related to children's planning ability, an aspect of development that has received little attention. Longitudinal data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study of early child…

This study used cross-lagged modeling to examine reciprocal relations between maternal and paternal harsh verbal discipline and adolescents' conduct problems and depressive symptoms. Data were from a sample of 976 two-parent families and their children (51% males; 54% European American, 40% African American). Mothers' and fathers'…

Utilizing a longitudinal sample of Finnish children (ages 6-10), two studies examined how early linguistic (spoken vs. written) and spatial skills predict later development of arithmetic, and whether counting sequence knowledge mediates these associations. In Study 1 (N = 1,880), letter knowledge and spatial visualization, measured in…

This study is the first to test whether receipt of a federal child care subsidy is associated with children of immigrants' school readiness skills. Using nationally representative data (n ˜ 2,900), this study estimates the associations between subsidy receipt at age 4 and kindergarten cognitive and social outcomes, for children of immigrant…

The purpose of this study is to explain the effectiveness of parental attitudes, socio-economic status and gender in determining the predictors of child lifestyles. The study group consists of three hundred and fifty (350) eighth grade students studying in the province of Erzincan during the 2012-2013 academic year; the students are selected by…

This article examines the use of naturalistic observations to explore children's experiences in the early years at school, from their perspectives. It looks at the difficulties encountered in determining the significance of observed behaviours in relation to (a) experiences and (b) impact of those experiences. Often the children were not satisfied…

The research study was conducted for the purpose of examining the influence of mild bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (MBSNHL) on developmental abilities of younger school-age children. The sample encompassed 144 children with MBSNHL, aged 7.5-11 (M = 8.85). MBSNHL (20-40 dB HL) was identified by pure tone audiometry. The control group…

Maternal self-efficacy (MSE) has been shown to be important, yet little is known about how it develops over time and whether increasing knowledge about child development and parenting results in feeling more efficacious, especially for first-time mothers. Furthermore, research is lacking about whether increased maternal self-efficacy results in…

Research Findings: This study examined how characteristics of parents, providers, and children contribute to the quality of parent--provider relationships in infant and toddler classrooms. Parents (n = 192) and providers (n = 95) from 14 child care centers in a large metropolitan area participated by completing questionnaires about the nature of…

The researcher in this study utilized the Montessori concepts and materials that emphasize the use of hands-on manipulatives in the classroom with 10 adult English language learners ranging from ages 18-60. The purpose was to investigate whether or not hands-on manipulatives were effective in aiding adult English language learners to acquire…

A systematic review was carried out to examine the use of robots in early childhood and lower level education. The paper synthesizes the findings of research studies carried out in the last ten years and looks at the influence of robots on children and education. Four major factors are examined--the type of studies conducted, the influence of…