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This paper sets out to examine the place of theory inpreschooleducation, considering the theories to which practitioners and providers have access and which provide a rationale for everyday practices and shape the experiences of young children. The paper reflects the circumstances ofpreschool provision, practices and thinking in the UK in general and in Scotland in particular. The central argument is that while there may be little obvious recourse to theorising and limited exposure to explicit (...) theory about children’s development, learning andeducation, practitioners and those responsible for provision have tacit understandings or implicit theories which can be seen to shape their practices. The paper begins by considering the explicit theory which practitioners are exposed to through the development of practice guidance and professionaleducation. This is followed by an examination of the explicit theories adopted from psychology and more recent theoretical developments which have their roots in other disciplines and perspectives. Some influences on practitioners’ implicit theories are discussed before considering two key aspects of the dominate consensus about good practice: that play is the medium through which children learn and that practice should be child-centred. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ‘identity’ ofpreschooleducation theory and the benefits of articulating the implicit theory and folk beliefs on which local practices are based. (shrink)

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The relevance ofpreschool children's understanding of nature, its elements, how it affects the behavior of human beings and how human being influences it, it helps to the identification of the necessary elements for the design of programs that have a significant impact in the development of environmental identity and the implementation of environmentaleducation in the school curriculum in Mexico, in order to achieve the derivation of attitudes to preserve the environment from an early age. Under this (...) logic, the objective of the present study was to identify the components of the concept Nature, from drawings made bypreschool children in a desert environment, this through a visual discursive analysis. It was made by 118preschool students, whose ages range between 5 and 6 years; enrolled in four different schools in Hermosillo, Mexico, three located in the urban area and one on the coast of the State of Sonora. Participants were asked to draw the first thought that came to their minds when they heard the word nature. As a result, it was obtained with the representations of the images, that all the drawings present categories such as plants, animals, water bodies, celestial bodies, abiotic factors, natural locations, locations made by man and others. Finally, it was discovered that the analyzes showed a generalized idea of what nature represents by including elements of known flora and fauna, however, they did not capture elements of the desert region in which they live. (shrink)

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The article highlights certain aspects of the obscured structure of the number, which occur irregularly in the teaching of numeracy inPreschoolEducation. Its absence, as an effect, leads to the child's misunderstanding of the concept of number. In the presymbolic stage, the number is taught through the word. Structural particularities are found in the semantics and phonetics of the number word and are substantial in the processes of speech and listening. The objectives are to make known the (...) obscured structure of the number and its elements and to analyze the nature of the name of the number. It is justified that the basis of the word "ONE" are the first sound manifestations of the infant. It states that there is the same and equal relationship between the acquisition of knowledge of language and speech with the acquisition of knowledge of number through the development of tonal auditory balance. Methodology: the theoretical analysis of the structural parts (semantics and phonosemantics) of the number and the identification of reciprocal correlation between the constructions of the knowledge of spoken numeral word inPreschoolEducation through the implemented technology. Contribution: the development of the method for learning the concept of number. (shrink)

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Publication date: 29 September 2016 Source: Author: Aida Cornelia Stoian This study highlights the results of an empirical research, whose purpose was to study the teachers` option of primary andpreschooleducation to use learning situations for training pupils’ skills in relation to seniority in teaching and learning environment and to identify of the level of conceptual representation of the learning situations term in the opinion of teachers in primary andpreschooleducation.We made a questionnaire in (...) order to identify the frequency teachers can organize learning situations and the teachers` conceptual representations of learning situation.The results have confirmed the conclusions to get teachers` adhesion to organize learning situations for pupils’ skills training, to develop teachers’ skills in harmonizing all the methods, means and teaching strategies with the objective and subjective factors determining the interaction between teachers and pupils. (shrink)

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The evolution in the quality of teaching forpreschooleducation is worth studying. In this article, we solved the qualitative problems in the comprehensive quality evaluation by suggesting a method of quantitative combination and establishing a set of indicators suitable for the comprehensive quality evaluation of students in the kindergarten. According to the experience summed up by previous scholars, the weight of each index is obtained by an analytic hierarchy process. This study analyzed the defects and causes of (...) fuzzy comprehensive evaluation and the neural network model in the construction of early childhood andpreschooleducation's comprehensive quality evaluation model and propose a Feedforward Neural Network model. FNN combined with neural network and fuzzy logic characteristics introduces fuzzy concepts and fuzzy inference rules into neural networks of neurons, the connection power, and network learning. It improves the learning ability of NN and fuzzy evaluation of the power of expression and effectively exerts the advantages of fuzzy logic and neural network to make up for their shortcomings. However, the convergence speed is very slow. To solve this problem, the similarity measure was used to improve the number of hidden layer nodes of the network. The effectiveness and feasibility of the FNN improved hidden layer nodes are verified by an example so as to realize the automation of comprehensive quality evaluation. (shrink)

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There is growing interest in teaching computational thinking topreschool children given evidence that they are able to understand and use CT concepts. One of the concepts that is central in CT definitions, is the concept of control structures, but it is not clear which tools and activities are successful in teaching it to young learners. This work aims at providing a comprehensive overview of tools that enablepreschool children to build programs that include control structures, and analyzing (...) empirical evidence of the usage of these tools to teach control structures to children between 3 and 6. It consists of three parts: systematic literature review to identify tools to teach CT to young children, analysis of tools characteristics and the possibilities that they offer to express control structures, and SLR to identify empirical evidence of successful teaching of control structures to young children using relevant tools. This work provides an understanding of the current state of the art and identifies areas that require future exploration. (shrink)

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This study examined the associations of family income and parentaleducation with Chinesepreschool children’s cognitive school readiness and the sequential mediating role of parenting style and parental involvement in these relations. A total of 307 5–6 years old kindergarten children from Shanghai, China and their parents participated in the study. Using structural equation modeling method, the results indicated that parentaleducation was directly related to children’s cognitive school readiness, while no direct relationship was found for family (...) income. The link of parents’education with children’s cognitive school readiness was sequentially mediated by authoritative parenting and home-based parental involvement. Authoritative parenting and parental involvement at home can be targeted by government administrators to effectively improve children’s cognitive school readiness skills. The theoretical and practical implications were discussed. (shrink)

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This study intended to explore the current status of psychological problems ofpreschool teachers in Southwest China 1 year after the COVID-19 pandemic and to assess the association between mental healtheducation and psychological problems and symptoms of psychopathology. A total of 614preschool teachers from Southwest China were enrolled to complete the questionnaires of the Chinese Symptom Checklist. Notably, 60% of the respondents reported psychological distress with GSI T-scores ≥ 63, especially the high score was reported (...) on obsessive-compulsive disorder, interpersonal sensitivity, and phobic anxiety. Although less than half of the respondents have received mental healtheducation last year, the teachers who received the mental healtheducation reported lower GSI T-scores. The results demonstrated the significance of constructing theeducation of promoting mental health ofpreschool teachers, and enlightening government or managers of kindergartens to relieve the psychological problems ofpreschool teachers through mental healtheducation, especially for those with the pressure of overtime. It is recommended that local governments or kindergartens should organize more mental healtheducation for kindergarten teachers to improve their mental health as well as their teaching professionalism. (shrink)

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In this handbook, I put into practice my philosophical views on children's mathematics. The handbook contains brief instructions and examples of mathematical activities. In the INSTRUCTIONS section, instructions are given on how, and in part why that way, to helppreschool children in their mathematical development. In the ACTIVITIES section, there are examples of activities through which the child develops her mathematical abilities.

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This paper explores how preschools can be purposefully designed to aid cultural learning through guided play practices. In recent literature, there has been a renowned interest in the role of the exogenous environment in psychological processes, including learning. The idea that the design of preschools can meaningfully be seen as cultural niche construction and that guided play practices in these environments can aid the preparation for cultural action is promoted, and a theoretical framework is presented. The empirical data draw from (...) a synthesis from three ethnographic research sites in multilingual communities, and data are used to explore how cultural affordances are used in designed environments as part of guided play practices. The results indicate how niche construction of affordances aid cultural learning and is achieved through both direct guided play interaction between teachers and children and also in the way of the indirect design of environments that is incorporated in children’s peer play. It is discussed what this means for play research as well as for guided play practices that aim to promote cultural learning. (shrink)

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The purpose of this study was to examine parent-child relationship as a moderator of the association between family educational involvement and the social skills of preschoolers. A total of 4,938 children were sampled from 18 preschools in Hebei province, China, and their parents completed a survey packet to collect demographic information, as well as ratings of parental involvement, relationships with their children, and child social skill development. The results of multivariate regression analysis suggested that: both home-based involvement and home-school conferencing (...) could significantly predict preschoolers’ social skills, there was stronger evidence for a relationship of home-based involvement and preschoolers’ social skills, closeness in parent-child relationship moderated the path from home-based involvement to preschoolers’ social skills, and there was no interactive effect between family educational involvement and parent-child conflict. These findings highlight the significance of the joint influences of family educational involvement and parent-child relationship in shaping children’s social skills. The impact of home-based involvement was boosted in the context of a close parent-child relationship. (shrink)

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This article focuses on how biblical content and spiritualities can be communicated, probably more effectively, to (late)preschool children by using information technology, which has already been implemented successfully for years in secular and religious environments. Because children enjoy listening to stories, watching cartoons and playing every day, the approach in this research will be to propose a particular construct to communicate biblical content topreschool children. This construct comprises interactive storytelling, cartoon animation and educational gaming, which constitute (...) a trilogy for teaching biblical content and principles topreschool children. This should be done interactively. These three approaches have become fundamental designs and presentations in childeducation. Churches, Christian nurseries and other Christian educators, in general, are encouraged to develop computer programs according to the construct and strategy proposed in this article for the teaching of the Gospel to latepreschool children. The approach in this article will be, firstly, to examine and explore the religious orientation ofpreschool children and, secondly, to validate and propose how computer technology can be implemented to communicate the biblical content topreschool children via the trilogy of interactive storytelling, cartoon animation and educational gaming in an uninterrupted experience. Contribution: This article argues that the use of interactive storytelling, cartoon animation and educational gaming should be used consecutively and uninterruptedly to communicate the biblical message topreschool children. This is probably the most effective way to keep the attention of these children and to affect their conduct. (shrink)

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This study aims to explore the relationship and mechanism between thepreschool inclusiveeducation teachers’ organizational support, teacher self-efficacy, and work engagement. This study adopted the organizational support scale, inclusiveeducation efficacy scale, and work engagement scale, measured for 600preschool inclusiveeducation teachers, eventually obtained 568 effective questionnaires, established research model, and analyzed the data using the structural equation model. There are significantly more men than women, and the majority were public kindergarten. Organizational support (...) significantly positively affects teachers’ self-efficacy and work engagement inpreschool inclusiveeducation.Preschool teachers’ self-efficacy has a significant positive impact on work engagement.Preschool teachers’ self-efficacy plays a partial mediating role between organizational support and work engagement. Organizational support not only directly affects teachers’ self-efficacy and work engagement inpreschool inclusiveeducation but also indirectly affects their work engagement throughpreschool teachers’ self-efficacy, which provides theoretical and practical guidance for the research of inclusiveeducation. (shrink)

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Considerable evidence supports thatpreschooleducation is a milestone stage for children. Nonetheless, systematicpreschool giftededucation programs rarely exist in public elementary schools. The current study explored the perceptions of 16preschool teachers from seven public schools in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates regarding their views about various components of giftededucation forpreschool children. Qualitative analyses, using the inductive data analysis method, revealed several themes such as the concept and identification of (...) giftedness, characteristics of gifted preschoolers, preschoolers’ problem-solving skills, the communication and social skills of gifted preschoolers, resources/services offered by the school to serve gifted preschoolers, enrichment programs available for gifted preschoolers, inclusiveeducation for gifted preschoolers, twice-exceptional preschoolers, and governmental support. The results of this study may help advocate for infusing more services and programs related to the identification andeducation of gifted preschoolers in public schools. The findings identified the need to have an abundance of assessment tools and enrichment programs that can empowerpreschool teachers to cater for giftedness. (shrink)

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In order to improve early childhood physicaleducation, in this study, the talent cultivation mechanism for undergraduates was explored under the “full-practice” concept, oriented by preschooler mental health. First, from the perspective of preschooler psychology, the mechanisms of ability training and talent cultivation for undergraduates majoring in early childhoodeducation were explored under the “full-practice” concept. Considering that the physical, psychological, and intellectual development of preschoolers shall follow the rules of physicaleducation, and current early childhood (...) class='Hi'>education mainly focuses on intelligenceeducation in China, early childhood physicaleducation was analyzed further in this study. By investigating the undergraduate majors of early childhoodeducation in Henan University, this study first summarized the current problems in early childhoodeducation systems in universities. Secondly, combined with the form of physicaleducation in kindergartens, strategies for talent cultivation and curriculum setting of early childhood physicaleducation majors in colleges and universities were proposed. Finally, from the perspective of innovation and diversification of training forms, the cultivation of early childhood educators’ physicaleducation ability was analyzed at multiple levels and multiple objectives, and the integrated training system of early childhoodeducation talents was constructed. The results show that, among all the courses for early childhoodeducation major, compulsory courses account for 81.2% and optional courses account for 18.8%. In addition, a survey on undergraduates’ attitudes toward the curriculum of their major demonstrates that 81.2% of the undergraduates thought that the range and content of practical courses should be increased, indicating that undergraduates majoring in early childhoodeducation are dissatisfied with the current curriculum system, and they have an increased demand for practical courses. Correspondingly, it is vital to build and improve on the early childhood physicaleducation. In terms of its talent cultivation, the “full-practice” concept helps combine theory with practice to improve the effectiveness ofeducation and teaching, pushing forward the reform of theeducation system. Meanwhile, data- and intelligence-oriented teaching will become the new direction of modern sports development, as well as an important link for tracking and monitoring children’s sports teaching in China. Through the continuous introduction of wearable artificial intelligence products, real-time monitoring of children’s physical conditions can be realized, which helps improve the effectiveness of early childhood physicaleducation. (shrink)

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European policy has seen a number of changes and innovations in the field of early childhoodpreschooleducation over the last decade, which have been reflected in various forms in the policies of individual EU countries. Within the Czechpreschool policy, certain innovations and approaches have been implemented in the field of early childreneducation, such as the introduction of compulsorypreschooleducation before entering primary school from 2017, emphasis on inclusiveeducation, equal (...) conditions ineducation and enabling state-supported diversity in theeducation concepts of kindergartens. The aim of our study was to assess the influence of variouspreschooleducation systems in the Czech Republic in the context of psychological variables reflecting selected children’s outcomes which may contribute to future school achievement. The monitored variables were the attitudes, motivations and executive functions of children in the last year ofpreschooleducation. A comparison was made between the traditionalpreschooleducation program and the so-called alternative types ofpreschooleducation, such as Montessori, Waldorf and religious schools. The total sample was divided into four subgroups, namely a group of children attending traditional kindergartens, religious, Montessori, and Waldorf kindergartens. To determine empirical data, the following research methods were used: Attitude Questionnaire, School Performance Motivation Scale, and Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. The results of our survey show the fact that the type of kindergarten attended has a significant effect on the child’s level of school performance motivation, attitudes toward school as well as executive functions. Significant differences were found between the different types of kindergartens attended in the monitored variables. (shrink)

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This book also spotlights a program at Yale University that, in response to the dearth of play inpreschool curricula, emphasized learning through play for ...

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Thepreschooleducation profession often faces many challenges andpreschool teachers, as important members of thepreschooleducation profession must respond to a variety of emergencies with young children, which also leads to high levels of job stress and can have a negative impact on their ongoing well-being. Past research has pointed out that a healthy lifestyle is one of the key factors in enhancing sustainable well-being in high-stress work situations and many studies have found (...) that good leisure activity engagement as a healthy lifestyle is associated with higher levels of well-being. However, the relationship betweenpreschool teachers’ leisure engagement and sustainable well-being has been less explored. Therefore, this study proposed seven research hypotheses based on the engagement theory proposed by Fredricks et al. and developed a research model to explore the relationship between three types of leisure engagement, including behavioral, affective and cognitive, andpreschool teachers’ job stress and sustainable well-being, using age as a control variable. This study used a cross-sectional web-based questionnaire with a convenience sample of 500preschool teachers in China. The collected data were analyzed for reliability and validity, model fit testing and structural equation modeling for model validation after removing invalid data and incomplete responses. The results of the study showed that behavioral engagement was not related with either the job stress or sustainable well-being ofpreschool teachers; Emotional and cognitive engagement were negatively related to job stress but positively related to the sustainable well-being ofpreschool teachers; and Job stress was negatively related to the sustainable well-being ofpreschool teachers; Age is an effective control variable. From the above results, it is clear that not all three types of leisure engagement are effective in terms of reducing the work stress ofpreschool teachers. As well as being related to the sustainable well-being ofpreschool teachers emotional and cognitive engagement contributed more to sustainable well-being acquisition. (shrink)

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Early childhood andpreschooleducation and care have changed significantly due to many new findings. This has also changed the importance ofpreschool teachers, who are confronted with a variety of challenges and new tasks on a daily basis. It is closely linked to their professional identity as a changing category of the complex development process of an individual in their profession. The aim of this study was to determine howpreschool teachers perceive certain factors, in (...) this case career choice, positive or negative experiences and the desire to leave the profession, to affect their professional development and identity. The questionnaires were completed by 594preschool teachers at different stages of professional development and levels ofeducation. It was found that a significant percentage ofpreschool teachers knew very early on that they wanted to become apreschool teacher, just as the majority never wanted to leave their profession. Those who do, usually see the reasons in stressful situations. A certain correlation was found between positive or negative descriptions and the professional development phase, i.e. the level of training of thepreschool teachers. (shrink)

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Prospectivepreschool teachers often incorporate picturebooks into their teaching practices in kindergartens as part of their training. However, they often rely heavily on asking children numerous questions while reading picturebooks, such as identifying the protagonists of the story, detailing the sequence of events, and exploring the who, what, when, where, and why. This approach may result in a superficial interrogation of the text, overlooking (i) the nuanced messages conveyed through illustrations or the synergy of text and imagery, and (ii) (...) the potential opportunities that could arise if children were encouraged to pose their own inquiries through philosophical exploration, delving deeper into the themes presented in picturebooks. This research was conducted in 2023 with 36 prospectivepreschool teachers from the University of Crete, Greece. The research comprises two phases. In the initial phase, the student teachers established a philosophical community of inquiry and acquired several philosophical inquiry skills. Following each inquiry session, student teachers engaged in self-reflection and assessed their contributions, identifying aspects of their experience that are applicable to using picturebooks with kindergarten children. They then developed lesson plans centred around the philosophical exploration of these picturebooks. In the subsequent phase, student teachers received supervision as they implemented their lesson plans in a kindergarten and subsequently reflected on their teaching experiences. The findings illustrate both the advantages and challenges encountered by prospectivepreschool teachers when approaching literature from a philosophical perspective. Additionally, the student teachers reflected on the interconnectedness of literature and philosophy, as well as the potential benefits for both educators and children through this integrated approach. A correction to this article was published on 22 January 2025. (shrink)

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Introduction : before school -- Small miracles -- Life way afterpreschool -- The futures market -- The imprimatur of science -- Who cares for the children? -- Jump-starting a movement -- The politics of the un-dramatic -- English lessons -- Kids-first politics.

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The aim of the present study, which involvedpreschool teachers, was to explore the area of working with musically gifted children. In particular, we focused on the identification of musically gifted children and monitoring of their musical development,preschool teachers’ competence for working with children, and evaluation of factors important for the development of musically gifted children. Research results showed that the majority ofpreschool teachers: were able to identify musically gifted children; rarely monitored and documented children’s (...) musical development systematically and did not acquire enough knowledge for working with musically gifted children during their formal and informaleducation. Among the important factors influencing the development of musically gifted children,preschool teachers pointed out motivation to work with musically gifted children, identification of musically gifted children, cooperation with music experts and parents, and implementation of additional musical activities. Cilj ovog istraživanja, koje je uključivalo odgojitelje u vrtiću, bio je istražiti područje rada s glazbeno nadarenom djecom. Posebno smo se usredotočili na otkrivanje glazbeno nadarene djece i praćenje njihovog glazbenog napretka, kompetencije odgojitelja za rad s djecom i procjenom čimbenika važnih za razvoj glazbeno nadarene djece. Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su da je većina odgojitelja: uspjela otkriti glazbeno nadarenu djecu; rijetko su sustavno pratili i dokumentirali glazbeni napredak djece i nisu stekli dovoljno znanja za rad s glazbeno nadarenom djecom tijekom svog formalnog i neformalnog obrazovanja. Među važnim čimbenicima koji utječu na razvoj glazbeno nadarene djece odgojitelji su istaknuli motivaciju za rad s glazbeno nadarenom djecom, otkrivanje glazbeno nadarene djece, suradnju s glazbenim stručnjacima i roditeljima te provedbu dodatnih glazbenih aktivnosti. (shrink)

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Teorijski okvir studije predstavljaju dva koncepta: međugeneracijko učenje i profesionalno usavršavanje. Kvantitativno istraživanje provedeno 2021. godine na uzorku od 108 odgojitelja predškolskih ustanova banjolučke regije imalo je za cilj ispitati perspektivu odgojitelja o čimbenicima međugeneracijskog učenja važnima za vlastito profesionalno usavršavanje. Korištenjem faktorske analize izdvojena su tri čimbenika međugeneracijskog učenja iz perspektive odgojitelja i to su: profesionalna suradnja i osobni rast; inkluzija starijih u odgojno obrazovni rad i humanističko obrazovanje; predrasude i stereotipi. Nalazi ukazuju na to da odgojitelji naglašeno prepoznaju (...) međugeneracijsko učenje u kontekstu osobnoga rasta, rada i karijere, ali također uočavaju i human i inkluzivni karakter međugeneracijske suradnje, dok nisu skloni međugeneracijskim stereotipima i predrasudama prema kolegama iz drugih generacija. Poticanje profesionalne suradnje te promicanje i potpora inkluziji starijih mogu pridonijeti smanjenju međugeneracijskih sukoba i predrasuda. (shrink)

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IntroductionRecent research investigating the benefits of being outdoors and contact with nature in children showed strong associations with children’s health and development. More teachers are choosing to integrate outdoor learning into their practice in Quebec, but few studies have focused on OL in the school environment, particularly in Canada and more specifically in Quebec, despite the fact that the school context lends itself favorably to this practice.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to portray OL inpreschool and primary schools (...) in Québec by identifying three key elements: teachers’ perception of the outdoors, the uses of OL in schools, and teaching strategies and factors that influence teachers’ integration of OL.MethodologySemi-structured group interviews conducted with 14 teachers and participant observations were used for data collection. Inclusion criteria were to be apreschool or primary school teacher, to have taught at least eight sessions of OL in the past year, and to have no connection or contact with the research team prior to the start of the study.ResultsFirst, the results showed that teachers commonly understood the outdoors as being in the open air, practicing a physical activity, having the presence of nature, providing physical freedom and targeting a pedagogical intention. Second, teachers appeared to incorporate a variety of pedagogical intentions in OL, in a variety of settings, and with a variety of academic subjects and learning tasks. Third, teachers used a wide range of teaching strategies in OL. Participants also identified multiple factors specific to their setting that appeared to facilitate or limit their integration of OL into the school environment.ConclusionThis study provided a better understanding of the current use of the OL in the Quebec school environment by identifying the common characteristics, limitations and winning strategies of its use in schools. Teachers and schools interested in OL could benefit from the results of this study, particularly those interested in adopting a Forest School or Udeskole approach. (shrink)

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Enhancing teacher leadership is not only one of the approaches to improving teaching and learning, but it is also essential to the success ofeducation reform. Based on leader-member exchange theory, 294preschool teachers in China were surveyed, and a structural equation model was established to explore the relationship between the participating teachers' principal leadership style, teacher leadership and psychological capital. The findings revealed a significant positive correlation between transformational and transactional leadership styles andpreschool teacher leadership. (...) The laissez-faire leadership style had no correlation withpreschool teacher leadership. The transformational leadership style and transactional leadership style were significantly and positively correlated with psychological capital, while the laissez-faire leadership style was significantly and negatively correlated with psychological capital. The transformational leadership style can positively influencepreschool teacher leadership directly and indirectly through psychological capital; and the transactional leadership style can only positively influencepreschool teacher leadership indirectly through the mediating role of psychological capital.Preschool teachers' leadership can neither be directly influenced by a laissez-faire leadership style nor be indirectly influenced through the mediating role of psychological capital. (shrink)

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Angle is an important concept in geometry. Young children have difficulty separating angle size from other dimensions such as the length of angle sides, perhaps due to whole-object bias in word learning. The present study used the pre-test–training–post-test design to investigate the effectiveness of two ways of separating angle from angle size in 3–6-year-old Chinese preschoolers. A total of 228 children were given a pre-test and 219 of them failed the crucial test. 168 of the 219 children were present at (...) school during the training phase and were randomly assigned to three groups: the “toma” group, which received training to call the whole angle figure as “toma” and angle size as angle size; the “angle/angle size” group, which received the training of separating “angle” from “angle size”; and the control group, which used “angle size” alone to represent both the overall angle figure and angle size. Results showed that the “toma” group improved significantly more than the other two groups, the latter of which did not differ from each other. These results suggest that it is insufficient to have two separate words/phrases for children to learn to differentiate angle from angle size, perhaps due to their shared usage of the word angle. Instead, the use of a novel term is necessary and sufficient to improve learning. Implications forpreschooleducation are discussed. (shrink)

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It has become common to find diagrams and flow-charts used in our organizations to illustrate the nature of processes, what is involved and how it happens, or to show how parts of the organization interrelate to each other and work together. Such diagrams are used as they are thought to help visualization and simplify things in order to represent the essence of a particular situation, the core features. In this paper, using a social semiotic approach, we show that we need (...) to develop a much more critical sense of how these diagrams and flowcharts can easily abstract, conceal and substitute actual causalities, work roles and relationships. We demonstrate this using the example of a series of interrelated flows-charts used to implement a new system of target-based learning inpreschool/kindergartens in Sweden – a system which works highly in favor of a rapidly privatizingeducation sector. Here, the flow charts shape how school processes and learning are presented to devalue the former system and value the new. (shrink)

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This set of seven experiments examines reasoning about the inheritance and acquisition of physical properties in preschoolers, undergraduates, and biology experts. Participants (N = 390) received adoption vignettes in which a baby animal was born to one parent but raised by a biologically unrelated parent, and they judged whether the offspring would have the same property as the birth or rearing parent. For each vignette, the animal parents had contrasting values on a physical property dimension (e.g., the birth parent had (...) a short tail; the rearing parent had a long tail). Depending on the condition, the distinct properties had distinct functions (“function-predictive”) were associated with distinct habitats (“habitat-predictive”), or had no implications (“non-predictive”). Undergraduates' bias to view properties as inherited from the birth parent was reduced in the function- and habitat-predictive conditions. This result indicates a purpose-based view of inheritance, whereby animals can acquire properties that serve a purpose in their environment. This stance was not found in experts or preschoolers. We discuss the results in terms of how undergraduates' purpose-based inheritance reasoning develops and relates to larger-scale misconceptions about Darwinian evolutionary processes, and implications for biologyeducation. (shrink)

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Between the elitist “philosophy is for grown-ups” and the demagogic “everyone can be a philosopher”, where does Philosophy for Children (P4C) belong in preschools? What is it assumed, expected, or intended to achieve? How is it implemented? This article reviews the literature evaluating the impact of P4C practices onpreschool children (aged 3–6). It identifies the main actual or purported obstacles signaled by educators to argue that philosophy cannot be practiced before age 6. It then appraises, from a cognitive (...) developmental psychology perspective, the reality of these supposed obstacles, considering the underlying developmental skills that very young children may lack compared with older ones. Finally, pedagogical adjustments to P4C school practices are suggested, illustrated, and discussed to adapt this program, initially designed and documented for elementary-school children, to the potential of preschoolers. (shrink)

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The article presents theoretical generalization and offers new solutions to the problem of developing creative skills in preschoolers in painting classes, taking into account the postmodern tendencies which are becoming increasingly common in the post-Soviet countries. The relevance of the article lies in the need to reform today’seducation system in the post-Soviet space and develop pedagogical technologies to enhance the effectiveness ofpreschooleducation and reveal the creative potential of each child in the context of the (...) postmodernism and the latest achievements in psychology of creativity. The paper aims to develop and theoretically justify a technology for developing creative skills in preschoolers in painting classes in educational institutions for the postcolonial democracies on the example of Ukraine based on the analysis of relevant scientific sources and teaching placement. The article also substantiates the technology for developing creative skills in preschoolers in painting classes, which is defined as a model for organizing artistic and aesthetic activity of preschoolers aimed at expanding their cognitive experience and emotional perception of the world, as well as cultivating their aesthetic attitude to its objects and ensuring creative self-expression of each child. The article proves the validity of the open performative postmodernist approach, according to which playing activities, perception and enjoyment from creativity act as the main drivers of the creative activity of primary school children. (shrink)

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China set the goal of expanding early childhoodeducation in 2018, by encouraging the development of public interest kindergartens to provide high-quality, low-costpreschool services to the general public. This is in response to the challenges of accessibility, affordability, and accountability besetting China’s current ECE system. However, the transition toward PIK has been slow due to various complex problems, including the lackluster willingness of ECE providers to become PIK. To better understand the challenges leading to low participation, this (...) study explores the external pressures affecting ECE providers and evaluates the external factors that influence their level of social responsibility. A stratified-random sampling questionnaire survey solicited responses from 832 ECE personnel representing 261 kindergartens from across China. Our findings suggest that institutional pressure has a positive effect on social responsibility and inclusive participation. We also found that institution visibility positively regulates the relationship between institutional pressure and social responsibility. At the same time, the level of environmental perception positively governs the relationship between social responsibility and participation willingness. Kindergartens should have certain social values, including assuming certain behaviors and participating in social activities in the spirit of social service and ensure multiple subjects’ synergetic governance. (shrink)

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There is common agreement thatpreschool-level scienceeducation affects children’s curiosity, their positive approach towards science, and their desire to engage with the subject. Children’s natural curiosity drives them to engage enthusiastically in all forms of exploration. Engaging in scientific exploration necessitates self-regulation capabilities and a wide repertoire of cognitive and metacognitive strategies. The purpose of this study was to examine to what extent preschoolers (aged 5‒6 years) implement nascent inquiry skills, metacognitive awareness, and self-regulation capabilities during play-based (...) scientific exploration tasks. An additional purpose was to investigate the relationships between these capabilities, a relationship not yet investigated in the context of play-based, scientific exploration among young children. The study consisted of 215 preschoolers, from 10 preschools. For this study, we developed two scientific exploration tasks—structured and open-ended. Our motivation was to examine whether preschoolers’ capabilities will differ in the context of structured task which is aligned with the view that young children need guidance and explicit instructions compared to the context of open-ended, play-based task–allowing the children to apply and test their intuitive theories and skills. During performance participants were videotaped. Their verbal and non-verbal responses were analyzed by means of a scoring scheme. The results of a micro-analysis of about 100 hours of video showed that given the opportunity, even without setting explicit goals and instructions, children exhibit inquiry capabilities: they ask questions, plan, hypothesize, use tools, draw conclusions. Asking questions and planning were better manifested during the structured task. Children also manifested higher levels of attention, persistence, and autonomy during the structured task. However, significant higher scores of self-regulation indications were revealed in the context of the open-ended, play-based, exploration task. Moreover, results indicate significant correlations between the five measures of preschoolers’ inquiry capabilities and measures of metacognitive strategic awareness and self-regulation. The results of the present study suggest the importance of combining various learning environments and experiences in early scienceeducation that encourage children to engage in structured exploration alongside play-based, open-ended, exploration. (shrink)

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Thepreschool period is a period when the character of the child is formed, all their qualities and abilities begin to be formed, and can be used.Education is for human, and its main purpose is to develop all the abilities of a human by revealing them and to contribute to the healthy saturation of their emotions. It is also the duty of the educator to reveal and educate the child's innate sense of belief in a supreme being. (...) In this regard, the joint support of the child’s religious development, which is an integral part of development, as well as all areas of development, is an important aspect that should be considered in the context of the principle of “integrity” of development. Therefore, religiouseducation is necessary in thepreschool period, as well as other knowledge and skills. Taking into account the characteristics of the developmental period in which the child is located, religiouseducation, which will be provided to the child using appropriate methods and techniques, will be able to contribute to the child throughout his/her life. The important thing here is that this educationshould be pedagogically based and the data of other branches of science should be used. However, in our country, there are no gains to support the religious development areas of the child in the curriculum of thepreschool period, and there is no religiouseducation activity other than the answers given to the religious questions asked by the children. In this study, many issues such as the necessity of religiouseducation in thepreschool period, its importance, possible consequences, what are its principles and methods will be discussed comprehensively from the point of view ofpreschool teachers in this study. As a result of this study, which was based on the relational scanning model, which is one of the qualitative research methods, some conclusions were reached such as that it would be appropriate to give religiouseducation considering the developmental stages of children in the pre-school period, and that the religious development area of the child would be lacking in the absence of religiouseducation. (shrink)

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ObjectiveAs the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic spread across Shanghai, China, in late February 2022 and protective measures to mitigate its impact were enacted, this study aimed to estimate how home quarantine affected the mental health ofpreschool children in Shanghai, China and explore the association between lifestyle factors and mental health during this special period.MethodsA cross-sectional online survey of 2,110preschool students from Shanghai, China, was conducted during May 20–25,2022. Preschooler’ mental health and daily activities were reported by (...) parents.ResultsThe sample involved 2,110 children with a mean age of 4.65 years [standard deviation : 0.91, range: 3–6 years]. Boys and children whose mother’seducation level were college and high school had higher rate of mental health problems. Boys had significantly higher rates of peer problems and prosocial behaviors than girls. The 3-year-old group had significantly higher rates of prosocial behaviors than other groups. As compared to the Shanghai norm and the SDQ results ofpreschool children in Shanghai in 2019, there were a significant decrease in emotional symptoms score, as well as a significant increase in conduct problems score. Additionally, peer problems score significantly increased compared to SH2019. Decreased time spent on daily sleep was associated with the increased risk for preschoolers’ mental health problems.ConclusionThere was an increase in the frequency of emotional and behavioral problems, especially regarding conduct problems and peer problems, inpreschool children during the COVID-19 home quarantine in Shanghai, China. Boys, youngerpreschool children and children whose mother’seducation level were college and high school may be especially vulnerable to emotional and behavioral problems. It was also found that decreased time spent on sleep may aggravatepreschool children’s mental health problems. It may be beneficial to differentiate and focus on conducting psychoeducation and implementing psycho-behavioral interventions to solve these issues. (shrink)

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This study investigated the role of theme-based blocks play in enhancing Chinese children’s language capacity with a quasi-experiment. Altogether 61 young children were assigned to the experiment group and the control group. The experiment group was engaged in a 12-week theme-based block play intervention programs, whereas the control group received no interventions but free block play during the parallel time sessions. All the children were tested with the Language Assessment forPreschool Children before and after the intervention. The ANCOVA (...) results indicated that the experimental group significantly improved in LAPC test, whereas the control group showed no significant change. The educational implications of these findings are discussed. (shrink)

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This book offers current international initiatives, developed for working with children from "Birth to Eight" by a diverse group of noted professional authors. Their readings present an overview of earlyeducation as it evolved from the Froebelian kindergarten to today's practices in various EarlyEducation settings around the globe. The international voices of the authors represent a balanced perspective of happenings in various nations and lend a conversational approach to each chapter. The chapters analyze the UniversalPreschool (...)Education movement promoted by various countries, states, and agencies; examine model curriculum programs in a variety of teaching/learning settings; and identify directions the community can take in promoting effective earlyeducation programs. Particular attention is given to key issues and concerns faced by practitioners and families world-wide. Studies reveal successful approaches to bilingualeducation in a Chilean kindergarten, research findings on gender differences in primary school girls for learning science in Wales, literacy development strategies for teaching in UK multicultural classrooms and childhood centres, the process of integration specialeducation with early childhood practices in China, and exemplars of community outreach to improve the well being of children through advocacy for governmental changes in earlyeducation policies and professional development. This book is for everyone interested in the well being of young children moving forward in a global age to meet the challenges of early citizenship in their world. (shrink)

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The COVID-19 epidemic in the early 2020s is making a big difference for educators around the world. For the past 2 years, the curriculum and working patterns have been overturned in response to this epidemic, which has brought unprecedented challenges and physical and mental stress topreschool teachers. This situation can have a drastic impact on the acquisition of job well-being forpreschool teachers. During this special time, the leader’s management style will also influence the psychological feelings of (...) the organization’s staff. For example, empowering leadership is an important management function that empowers subordinates, emphasizes the meaning of work, promotes participation in decision-making, and expresses confidence. Therefore, in the current COVID-19 pandemic context, it is worthwhile to explore the topic of empowering leadership to ensurepreschool teachers’ well-being, by balancing work demands and work resources in a way that facilitates a sense of organizational support and reduces job stress, while relatively fewer studies have been conducted on the relationship betweenpreschool teachers’ job well-being in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on this, this study proposed a research model from the theoretical perspective of the Job Demands-Resources Model to explore the influence of empowering leadership, sense of organizational support, and job stress onpreschool teachers’ job well-being in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve the purpose of this study, a convenience sampling method was used to invite 500preschool teachers in China to complete a questionnaire survey, and after removing invalid samples and data with incomplete answers, reliability and validity analyses and model fit tests were conducted, followed by a structural equation modeling method for path analysis. The results of the study showed that in the kindergarten work context, empowering leadership showed a significant negative effect on job stress, but a significant positive effect on job well-being and a significant positive effect on sense of organizational support. Sense of organizational support had a significant negative effect on job stress but a significant positive effect onpreschool teachers’ job well-being.Preschool teachers’ job stress and job well-being showed a significant negative effect. The contribution of this study was to explore the relationship between understanding leadership empowerment andpreschool teachers’ job well-being in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic based on the Job Demands-Resources Model, which will facilitate educational organizational contexts to empowerpreschool teachers to work harder to reduce their job stress as well as enhance their sense of organizational support and promote the acquisition of job well-being. (shrink)

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