Early Childhood Education Journal最新文献

There is considerable research regarding measures of early reading but much less in early writing. Nevertheless, writing is a critical skill for success in school and early difficulties in writing are likely to persist without intervention. A necessary step toward identifying those students who need additional support is the use of screening tools. The purpose of this study was to identify tools used with emergent writers and summarize the current state of this empirical literature. A systematic review was conducted for publications between 1990 and 2022. A total of 59 studies focused on early writing for preschool or kindergarten students and met criteria for inclusion in the review. Results indicated the most used early writing measure was Name Writing followed by Letter Writing, and Spelling tasks with some studies using this specific combination of measures. Despite some consistency in the measures used, there was significant variation in the scoring approach. Review of technical adequacy indicated 65% of studies included reliability data while considerably fewer included validity. Future studies using consistent approaches to scoring early writing tasks and additional examinations of validity are needed to improve educators’ ability to identify and intervene in this skill area.

The purpose of this article is to detail preschool age students’ exploration of social justice as they cocreated with their teacher an interactive read-aloud approach, named Picturebooks for Social Justice. Over the three phases, the teacher researcher studied her own preschool teaching as she read and explored 12 picturebooks with the 3-5-year-old children in her preschool class. Guided by relational and critical theoretical perspectives, findings demonstrate and detail examples of the children’s learning across the social justice standards of identity, diversity, justice, and action. These standards, which functioned both as the content and the goals of Picturebooks for Social Justice, were explored through books in the context of the strong bond between the children and teacher. The insights gained in this study can guide educators and researchers in understanding young children’s capacity to explore and understand social justice.

In recent times, the field of education has experienced significant technological advancements, especially in area of Artificial Intelligence (AI). A particularly groundbreaking development is the emergence of humanoid AI robots, which holds immense promise for enhancing children’s learning experiences during early childhood. Unlike other forms of AI, humanoid AI robots bear a closer resemblance to humans, making them more approachable and engaging for young children. This paper explores a practical framework for incorporating humanoid AI robots into early childhood education. This framework includes several key components: first, introducing AI concepts in a child-friendly manner; second, fostering a relationship between children and AI; third, designing developmentally appropriate activities facilitated by AI; and finally, addressing the challenges associated with integrating AI into early childhood classrooms. The aim is to utilize the potential of AI in a way that enriches the educational environment for young learners.

In early childhood education, implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) is crucial for enhancing children's developmental outcomes. While educator preparation program coursework often covers the content knowledge of EBPs, the application of this knowledge in fieldwork settings is limited. This results in infrequent implementation of EBPs in early childhood settings, highlighting the need for better strategies. One effective way to promote educators' implementation of EBPs is integrating the behavioral skills training (BST) model during fieldwork experiences. Incorporating BST into early childhood educator preparation programs can foster strong collaborative partnerships among team members, facilitating the identification and intentional use of EBPs to support individual children's learning and development. We describe this new collaborative partnership model in fieldwork experiences to demonstrate how preservice educators, in-service educators, and teacher educators play pivotal roles in influencing each other's performance. This collaborative effort aims to promote the implementation of EBPs that lead to the children's improved developmental outcomes.

Previous research has acknowledged that informal digital learning of English (IDLE) between parents and children can play an important role in children’s first and second language (L1 and L2) learning. However, most previous parent–child studies have been conducted in Western countries where English is the child’s first language. This study aimed to understand how Iranian children learn English as an L2 in a home context through mother–child home digital experiences. Five Iranian families which included six children, aged 6 to 7 years old, and their mothers were recruited as participants to explore mother–child IDLE experiences. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and observations of mother–child L2 English interactions with popular culture using Video-Stimulated Recall (VSR) methods. The overall findings revealed children are interested in popular culture (e.g., playing Lego Jurassic World as a digital game, watching Princess Mononoke as an animation, and engaging with Drawing for Kids applications in English) and their dominant Discourses at home were gaming, narration, female role-modeling, music, and artistic experiences. Moreover, the findings showed that the role of mothers as scaffolders is essential for enhancing their children's learning at home, whether by asking questions or helping children discuss their favorite popular culture. However, maternal scaffolding can be improved by providing mothers with guidance to effectively support their children’s IDLE which can further enhance their children’s learning outcomes.

This paper examines the research publication trends in the United States regarding the use of technology and media with or for young children (infants, toddlers, and preschoolers) from 2013 to 2022 after the joint National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and Fred Rogers Center (FRC) position statement was released in 2012 to indicate areas for further exploration. Articles were carefully selected with predetermined exclusion criteria within three chosen databases that cover professional and scholarly peer-reviewed journals in a variety of areas in education. The final 124 articles were analyzed and categorized with predefined categories: publication year, type of article participants, methodology, research setting, purpose(s) of study.

In early 2021, early childhood music educators and researchers from six global regions contributed to a book chapter documenting that state of early childhood music education during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over three years have passed since the onset of the global pandemic. This article represents an update from five of the six authors describing (a) how the pandemic is viewed in their setting as of March 2023, (b) how procedures and offerings have changed since the height of the pandemic, (c) positive or negative changes to early childhood offerings as a result of the pandemic, and (d) broader societal impacts of COVID that may be interrelated with early childhood music instruction. The intent of this article is to document the changes to specific early childhood programs in five global cultures as well as to reflect on the impact of socio-political events and movements on early childhood music education.

Educators shape the quality of early education programs and are essential to children’s learning and healthy development. However, the early childhood education field is often challenged in retaining educational staff. Using a descriptive research design this study explores turnover and retention through the voices of Head Start and Early Head Start education staff. Education staff identified retention factors to be, holding a job with meaning and purpose that made a positive difference for children, families and communities, access to professional development opportunities, and positive connections with colleagues. While, low wages, high volumes of paperwork, complex caseloads, lack of recognition, weak onboarding, teacher preparation practices, and lack of voice in program changes, were identified as turnover factors. Despite low wages educators voiced they are more likely to stay when their growth and relatedness needs are being met. Overall turnover and retention were influenced by an organization’s systems, practices, and working conditions and how well these met the human core needs of its staff.

There has been a marked increase in attention to educators’ well-being since the pandemic. The majority of this research activity, however, has been focused on the well-being of early childhood teachers while the challenges of early childhood leaders have gone largely undocumented. Using a holistic conceptualization of leader well-being along with the Job-Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework, the purpose of this study was to examine the well-being and working conditions of early childhood leaders in the U.S. To this end, we examine descriptive data on various aspects of the working conditions and physical, psychological, and professional well-being of 547 leaders (directors and associate directors) in center-based settings (ECE) as well as 667 elementary/primary principals nationwide. Overall, we found that ECE center-based leaders were paid 60% less than their K-12 counterparts but reported significantly longer tenure in the profession and in their current school. Both groups reported high workloads, working hours well above the standard 40-h workweek, and few opportunities for professional growth, coaching, and mentoring opportunities. The physical health of both groups was poor; obesity, sedentary behavior, and low physical activity were prevalent. A significant proportion of leaders (40%) were at high risk for depression and exhibited moderate burnout. Despite high demands and poor physical and psychological well-being, both groups had high job satisfaction, but also low intent-to-leave and feelings of isolation.

Shared book reading at home is a beneficial language and literacy learning experience for young children. While there has been extensive research on shared book reading in general, more is needed on understanding what this looks like for multilingual refugee families and their preschool children, particularly among Burmese families in the United States. Past research has focused on literacy development among Burmese refugee children in the school context, but few studies exist on shared book reading among Burmese refugees and their preschoolers in the home context. This qualitative study highlights four Burmese mothers and their young children’s use of dual language books in shared book reading while incorporating interactive reading strategies like questioning, pointing and extratextual talk. Findings indicate that these mothers’ capacities to engage in book talk and scaffolding promote children's and caregivers' literacy skills. The study also highlights the need for resources and interventions that might be developed to support these families in their efforts to boost young children’s literacy using shared book reading strategies.