Early Childhood Classrooms Research Articles

POWERFUL TOOLS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING: DIGITAL STORYTELLING

Digital storytelling is the telling of stories using computer-based tools to tell stories. It combines the art of telling stories with a variety of multimedia, including graphics, audio, video, and Web publishing. In the field of education, teachers and their students, from early childhood classrooms through graduate school, are using digital storytelling in many different content areas and across a wide range of grade levels. The purpose of this article is to explain the way how the digital storytelling can be created. There are five steps in creating digital storytelling in this workshop. 1. Determine Topic and Write a Script, 2. Collect Digital Resources, 3. Select Content and Develop a Storyboard, 4. Import, Record, Finalize, and 5. Share, Teach, Improve. It is expected that after having completed reading this article, the readers can create their own digital storytelling for educational use.
 Key Words: Digital Storytelling, Computer Based Tools

Look What I Did Today: A Case Study on the Introduction of Social Networking to an Early Childhood Classroom

Look What I Did Today: A Case Study on the Introduction of Social Networking to an Early Childhood Classroom

Beginning the Day with the IWB in an Early Childhood Classroom.

There is a substantial demand in New Zealand for professional learning opportunities to help early years' teachers to make use of ICT for teaching and learning (Harlow, Cowie and Jones, 2008), and where interactive whiteboards (IWBs) are increasingly being purchased by schools as instructional technologies. This paper reports on the findings of a researcher who was invited by a teacher in a small rural school in New Zealand to describe and understand the use of an IWB with young children aged five to six years. In this paper, the role of the IWB to enhance learning particularly in the use of language, symbols and texts is examined. The research involved collecting data from intensive classroom observation over a week using video and audio recordings as well as student and teacher interviews. Data were analysed using a framework developed by Kennewell and Beauchamp (2007), who identified how teachers used features of ICT/IWBs to enhance learning. The findings indicate that it was the way the teacher integrated the IWB into her pedagogy to improve the learning activities that made the IWB such an effective tool in this classroom.International Research in Early Childhood Education, vol. 1, no. 2, p. 57-68

Jordanian early childhood teachers' perspectives toward science teaching and learning

The purpose of this study was to examine Jordanian early childhood teachers' perspectives toward science teaching and learning and understand the contextual lived science experiences as realized by teachers in early childhood settings. The study has utilized mixed methods approach. An Arabic-validated version of the Early Childhood Teachers' Attitudes toward Science Teaching questionnaire was completed by 101 early childhood teachers who were randomly selected from preschools and kindergartens in Zarqa city; one of the biggest and highly populated cities in Jordan. Follow-up in-depth interviews were then conducted with 15 teachers who were randomly selected from the teachers whose permission was granted through collected questionnaires. Findings of the quantitative part of this study indicate that Jordanian early childhood teachers hold, in general, positive attitudes toward science. None of the variables (i.e., number of years of experience, qualification level of the teachers and number of science courses taken) had significant effect on the teachers' attitudes. Despite the reported positive attitudes, most teachers in this study reported that they allocate an average of less than 30 minutes per week to the teaching and learning of science in their early childhood classrooms. Qualitative data analysis helped in contextualizing the questionnaire findings. Three major themes emerged through constant comparative analysis of the interviews' transcripts: comfort and confidence in light of contextual experience, science instructional practices, and reasons behind the limited instructional time dedicated to science. This research paper ends by considering the role of the continuous professional development and pre-service teacher preparation programs in upgrading early childhood teachers' attitudes toward science teaching and learning.

A case study of collaboration between a drama specialist and early childhood classroom teachers in an early childhood drama program

This article presents findings from a qualitative case study of a 9-week collaborative early childhood drama education program. It focuses on collaborations between a drama specialist and two early childhood classroom teachers at a private school in the Midwestern United States. A full-time drama specialist with educational background and professional experience in drama and two experienced early childhood teachers were the main participants. Analysis illustrates the participant teachers' roles, expectations, and interactions with each other. The results identify specific aspects that hindered the collaborative process at the individual teacher level (unclearly defined leadership, the lack of communication, and perceptions of insider versus outsider) and at the institutional level (the absence of school regulations and support). Suggestions including structured school-wide support and incentives in addition to individual teachers' efforts for a successful collaboration are provided.International Research in Early Childhood Education, vol. 2, no. 1, p. 45-62

A Study on the Meaning of ‘Image Vocabulary List’ in Early Childhood Classroom

A Study on the Meaning of ‘Image Vocabulary List’ in Early Childhood Classroom

Talking the talk: translating research to practice

ABSTRACTDecades of research have identified features of classrooms and teachers’ talk that are associated with children’s language growth. Unfortunately, much of this work has not yet translated to widespread practice in early childhood classrooms. Given the important contributions that early language development makes to later academic achievement, enacting the findings of research is of paramount importance. Here, we review current research, identifying factors that support early language development and practices, settings, and materials in early childhood classrooms that are associated with language development. We present findings from our studies and those of others that indicate the pitfalls and promises of past and current instructional practices. Finally, we pose a call to action for researchers and practitioners to improve the quality of children’s language experiences in early childhood classrooms.

Young Children's Physical and Psychological Well-Being Through Yoga

Children's participation in yoga activities is receiving increasingly widespread attention as an exercise system that promotes not only physical health benefits but also psychological well-being. The authors of this article introduce how yoga practices can be implemented in an early childhood classroom to enhance children's mind and body harmony, develop their kinesthetic awareness, and provide opportunities for regular exercise. A school-based yoga project such as the one described here can increase children's knowledge of health, while helping them develop skills of balance and control and promoting imagination and collaboration between peers.

Using Least-to-Most Assistive Prompt Hierarchy to Increase Child Compliance with Teacher Directives in Preschool Classrooms

Prompt strategies have been used to increase the compliance of preschool-aged children to teacher directives. This paper describes two experiments conducted to determine if classroom teachers could learn to use the LtM prompt hierarchy and if child compliance would increase in response to teacher behavior. This study builds on the current literature base by using prompting, specifically LtM with the additional requirement of teacher-child proximity and teacher-child eye level prior to beginning the prompt sequence, which is consistent with recommended practice in early childhood (Copple and Bredekamp, Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs (revised edition), National Association for the Education of Young Children, Washington, DC, 2009). The participants consisted of 6 preschool teachers, with varying levels of education and experience, across 2 different early childhood classrooms. Teacher prompts and children's completion of teacher directives were measured during free choice center time. Results were consistent with previous research in that compliance to teacher directives increased in preschool children with the implementation of the LtM.

Impact of Mother Tongue on Children's Learning Abilities in Early Childhood Classroom

Abstract The study investigated the impact of a mother tongue on the learning abilities of pre-school children in one of the states in Nigeria, the nation of over 200 ethnic groups and more than 400 native languages. A quasi-experimental design was adopted. The results showed a significant difference in the post-test scores of the experimental and control groups. The study concluded that using a mother tongue in early childhood classroom was effective in fostering children's learning abilities.

Creating mathematicians and scientists: disciplinary literacy in the early childhood classroom

ABSTRACTDisciplinary literacy focuses on the specific ways a content area thinks, uses language, and shares information. While much of the literature on disciplinary literacy suggests it is an advanced language strategy to be taught to secondary students, early childhood classrooms may be the ideal environment in which to introduce this type of field-specific thinking and learning. Early childhood education (ECE) classrooms, through their approach to teaching and learning, classroom environment, curriculum organisation, and assessment practices, lend themselves to having young learners engage with content in discipline-specific ways. ECE teachers may find it easy to incorporate strategies that can lay the foundation for a deeper understanding of math and science.

The Process of Negotiating Qualitative Researcher’s Role as a Facilitator with Participant Early Childhood Teachers: Constructing the Culture of Facilitator within Early Childhood Classroom

The Process of Negotiating Qualitative Researcher’s Role as a Facilitator with Participant Early Childhood Teachers: Constructing the Culture of Facilitator within Early Childhood Classroom

Rethinking Inclusion as Mundanity: Insights from an Experimental Bilingual Kindergarten Classe LSF at École Maternelle Gabriel Sajus in France

In this article, I demonstrate how hybrid language practices allow for children to make use of their full linguistic repertoire in negotiating the social and communicative demands of the school environment (Axelrod in Early Child Educ J, p 1–8, 2014). I argue that the unusual case of classe LSF and Ecole Maternelle Gabriel Sajus directly challenges mainstream progressive assumptions of inclusion that effectively exclude deaf children from their deaf peers. Current so-called progressive models of inclusion often isolate deaf learners in mainstream classroom settings with non-deaf classmates and adults. Classe LSF and Ecole Maternelle Gabriel Sajus offers insights for rethinking inclusion in early childhood classrooms in the ways that it provokes us to consider the inclusive potential of hybrid linguistic spaces for bilingual learners.

Candace R Kuby (ed.), Critical Literacy in the Early Childhood Classroom: Unpacking Histories, Unlearning Privilege

Candace R Kuby (ed.), <i>Critical Literacy in the Early Childhood Classroom: Unpacking Histories, Unlearning Privilege</i>

The Black baby doll doesn’t fit the disconnect between early childhood diversity policy, early childhood educator practice, and children’s play

ABSTRACTThis article explores how multicultural policy approaches, which mandate the inclusion of culturally and ethnically ‘diverse’ play materials in early childhood classrooms influence the pedagogical practice of educators and, in turn, children’s play and social interactions. Using data collected through participant observation of children’s play in a preschool/kindergarten classroom, interviews with early childhood professionals, and document analysis of a particular early years policy, we highlight the shortcomings of the focus on physical materials as the primary strategy for addressing ‘race’ and other forms of difference in early childhood education. Assumptions about children’s play are examined and critiqued, with examples of children’s play episodes provided to emphasize how play reproduces systems of power and oppression present in the broader social context. A number of recommendations are offered for both professional practice and the reconceptualization of early childhood policy.

Block play: spatial language with preschool and school-aged children

ABSTRACTImplementing a play-based curriculum presents challenges for pre-service and in-service teachers given the current climate of standards and didactic pedagogies. This study highlights the value of playful learning and its rightful place in early childhood classrooms for children of all ages. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the use of spatial words with children aged between three and nine years. The benefits of the use of spatial words in a playful venue to advocate block play for not only preschool children, but elementary-school-age children were examined. This article suggest that industry and academia need to collaborate to provide play venues for children, and unit blocks need to be brought back into early childhood programmes.

Beyond Borders

Beyond Borders

Identifying Common Practice Elements to Improve Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Outcomes of Young Children in Early Childhood Classrooms.

Educators are increasingly being encouraged to implement evidence-based interventions and practices to address the social, emotional, and behavioral needs of young children who exhibit problem behavior in early childhood settings. Given the nature of social-emotional learning during the early childhood years and the lack of a common set of core evidence-based practices within the early childhood literature, selection of instructional practices that foster positive social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes for children in early childhood settings can be difficult. The purpose of this paper is to report findings from a study designed to identify common practice elements found in comprehensive intervention models (i.e., manualized interventions that include a number of components) or discrete practices (i.e., a specific behavior or action) designed to target social, emotional, and behavioral learning of young children who exhibit problem behavior. We conducted a systematic review of early childhood classroom interventions that had been evaluated in randomized group designs, quasi-experimental designs, and single-case experimental designs. A total of 49 published articles were identified, and an iterative process was used to identify common practice elements. The practice elements were subsequently reviewed by experts in social-emotional and behavioral interventions for young children. Twenty-four practice elements were identified and classified into content (the goal or general principle that guides a practice element) and delivery (the way in which a teacher provides instruction to the child) categories. We discuss implications that the identification of these practice elements found in the early childhood literature has for efforts to implement models and practices.

OBSERVING TODDLERS' INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCES IN CLASSROOMS: INITIAL USE OF THE PARENTING INTERACTIONS WITH CHILDREN: CHECKLIST OF OBSERVATIONS LINKED TO OUTCOMES.

This study investigated using the Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO; Roggman, Cook, Innocenti, Norman, & Christiansen, 2013a) measure to assess teacher-child interactions experienced by individual toddlers within their childcare classrooms. Forty toddlers were observed, each during three 10-min cycles, and all their interactions with adults in the classroom were coded using the PICCOLO. Results, in terms of psychometric properties, indicate promise for using this measure to observe toddlers' individual experiences of teacher-child interactions in group settings. Furthermore, certain individual teacher-toddler interactions were associated with toddlers' problem behavior. Implications for use of the PICCOLO in early childhood classroom research and particular findings related to toddlers' behavior are discussed.

Exploring Assessment Demands and Task Supports in Early Childhood Phonological Awareness Assessments

Phonological awareness is assessed in various ways in both research studies and early childhood classrooms. The measures used to assess phonological awareness are related closely, although they differ in the linguistic unit used (e.g., word, syllable, onset-rime, or phoneme), the position of the linguistic unit (e.g., initial, medial, final), the task operation (e.g., detection, segmentation, deletion, production), the response mode (e.g., verbal, nonverbal), the task support or demands (e.g., picture prompts or memory demands), and in words used (low vs. high age of acquisition). To understand phonological awareness assessments better, phonological awareness tasks used with young children were examined based on these variations. The results indicate that considerable variability exists in the cognitive demands on phonological awareness assessments used in early childhood settings. These results raise some important questions regarding how phonological awareness is assessed in early childhood. Moreover, variations in response format and task support/demand are likely to increase or decrease the complexity of the tasks, which could have implications for classroom instruction and intervention.