Early Childhood Education Classrooms Research Articles

Cultural semiotic resources in young children’s science drawings

AbstractThis study aims to explore the meanings communicated by young children with visual cultural semiotic resources available in the science classroom. It is a case study in an Early Childhood Education classroom of 23 children (3–4 years old) and their teacher, all engaged in a long-term science project about snails. We focus on the analysis of two series of drawings of snails made by children a month apart, examined through two complementary lenses: comparative content and social semiotics. The findings show that, during their first year of formal schooling, children acquired a range of semiotic resources to communicate to others, which are part of their classroom culture, rather than explicitly taught. Children used these resources to construct sophisticated meanings through their science drawings, highlighting what they considered important and accounting for different modalities and categories. These results point to the importance of supporting drawing tasks in early years, as well as providing opportunities for discussing and interpreting representations. A methodological contribution of this research regards the combination of two complementary foci in the analysis of children’s drawings that allows for a nuanced examination of their learning and abilities for meaning making.

The incidence of information and communication technologies in early childhood classrooms: A systemic literature review

The importance of information and communication technology (ICT) in education has been increasingly acknowledged due to advancements in technology. Prior research has explored several perspectives on the “use of ICT in early childhood education (ECE) and has highlighted many obstacles to its implementation in the classroom setting”. The synthesis of these research does not lean towards a singular perspective or definitive result, so allowing for further investigation of the issue at a more profound level. This systematic literature review seeks to enhance the current body of knowledge on teachers’ attitudes toward the efficacy of using ICT in ECE classrooms. By using PRISMA procedures, a total of 12 studies were selected to investigate the perspectives of teachers about the use of ICT, the current methods employed, and the efficacy of teaching at ECE level. The study’s findings indicate that, in general, teachers exhibit a significant propensity toward the use of ICT in ECE. However, the implementation of ICT in classrooms is constrained by several factors.

Seasonal Variation of Indoor Dust Levels of Potential Toxic Heavy Metals in Early Childhood Education Classrooms

The study examines the seasonal variation in potentially toxic heavy metals found in indoor dust in early childhood classrooms, as heavy metal exposure becomes more common in Nigerian childcare settings. Six preschool dust samples from two Nigerian cities were collected during the dry and wet seasons, respectively. After being dried to a consistent weight, the dust samples were ground in a standard pulverizer. The Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) method was used to conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses of the samples to determine the heavy metal and elemental composition of the dust in both locations. The dust samples contained seven heavy metals (As, Cd, Co, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn), with concentrations varying by season: Co 0.83 µgg-1 to Zn 38.43 µgg-1 during the rainy season, and 1.82 µgg-1 Cu to 80.00 µgg-1 Zn during the dry season. The study concluded that seven elements were present in the sample, and it is recommended that the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria implement the necessary mechanisms to monitor the impact of dust on preschool children.

Teachers’ Perspectives on Disruptive Student Behaviors: The Interconnectedness of Environment and Early Childhood Education in Pakistan

This study describes teachers’ perspectives on disruptive student behaviors in early childhood education classrooms in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Using an ecological model, this paper describes interviews with 26 teachers working in early childhood education. The findings show that home, school, and society do not play optimal roles in children’s education, which leads to disruption in classrooms. Illiteracy and socioeconomic problems at home prevent parents from playing their required roles, and schools are often overcrowded and have unattractive classrooms. Teachers are minimally qualified and have few teaching-learning materials at their disposal. Fear of violence is another factor. These factors do not support the behavioral development of young children. The three major circles (home, school, society) that comprise a child’s ecology are inadequate, which leads to classroom disruption, lack of motivation, and poor behavior that endangers the continuation of education.

Introducing the PETaL approach in ECE classrooms in Indonesia

The study explores the implementation of the PETaL approach as a strategy to cultivate Intercultural Education (IE) in Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Indonesia through the lens of kindergarten teachers. The study implemented Mixed Methods Approach (Creswell & Clark, 2017) to provide reliable data about how the PETaL approach is perceived by teachers, and how it is actually being executed in the ECE context in Indonesia. The implementation included four hours of interventions to train participating teachers about Intercultural Education and a thorough introduction to the PETaL approach. This study used interviews and semi-structured observations as the instruments of the research. The data analyzed reported positive feedback from kindergarten teachers regarding the implementation of the PETaL approach in the Indonesian context. In accordance to how this approach has been applied, the study reported medium to high success rate in the application of the PETaL approach as the mean value showed 1,21 out of 2 in average with moderate to high variations. Conclusions indicate that the PETaL approach had been applied well by participating teachers of ECE in Indonesia, adhering coherently to its principles. Nevertheless, further training and continuous guidance are needed to improve the pertinence level of implementation in the Indonesian context.

A helping hand

In this article, I examine responses to the taking of food items during snack time in an early childhood education classroom with deaf toddlers (18 months to three years old) who are native signers of American Sign Language (ASL). These children have grown up with exposure to ASL from deaf family members and are attending a classroom where all individuals use ASL. Through the combined analysis of ethnographic and interactional data, I argue that the teachers’ corporeal socialization of the deaf toddlers into a visual orientation leads to their development of a social and moral understanding of ownership rights within the classroom which is displayed in the children’s social awareness, social responsiveness and self-reliance in responding to food takings.

Does Participation Benefit Children’s Socio-Emotional Development? Positive Associations Between Children’s Participation and Self-Concept, Through Children’s Perceptions

ABSTRACT Participation, a fundamental right of all children, is described as an indicator of early childhood education (ECE) settings’ quality, and as an investment in children’s development and well-being. Teachers and children influence each other, within interactions that shape participatory processes. In this study, we examined associations between ECE teachers’ participation practices (i.e. both self-reported and observed), observed teacher-child interactions, and children’s socio-emotional outcomes (i.e. self-concept and social skills), mediated by children’s perceptions of their own participation. Participants in this study were 336 children (163 boys), aged between 42 and 76 months (M = 60.14, SD = 7.86), from 58 ECE classrooms in the Lisbon area, Portugal, and their lead teachers. Research Findings: Suggest positive associations between observed participation practices and children’s self-concept, mediated by children’s perceptions of participation. To our knowledge, this study represents the first empirical attempt to address the mechanisms by which participation practices are associated with children’s developmental outcomes, valuing children’s subjective experiences of participation, and accounting for different informants and levels of analysis. Practice or Policy: The main findings and study implications for research, practice, and policymaking are discussed.

IMPACT OF EFFECTIVENESS OF THE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION (ECE) CLASSROOM LEARNING ENVIRONMENT IN GOVERNMENT GIRLS’ SCHOOLS OF NASEERABAD ZONE

The early childhood education is the period of human life (first eight years) is important for emotional growth, cognitive and physical development of child. The main objectives of the study to check the effectiveness of the early childhood education early childhood education of classroom learning environment is provided that students learning. The population of the study, there were total (428 schools in 6 districts) UNICEF started the practicing early childhood education but researcher selected Naseerabad zone for this purpose. There were 30 schools of Government girls Naseerabad zone. Data collected from semi-structured interview and observations, data was analyzed through thematic analysis, the findings of research. There were very less facilitates for the early childhood education teachers, there was no specialized two-year training offered, according to 2009 National Education Policy. It was also noticed that more extra rooms required for early childhood education. There was only one classroom in schools that has been designated as child-friendly and set aside for early childhood education classrooms, so that government must start the early childhood education trainings on regular bases and arrange the activities corners in the classrooms for the students.

Early childhood education professionals’ mentalization: a pilot study

ABSTRACT The present study applied Video Enhanced Reflective Practice (VERP) to promote and assess Finnish professionals’ interactional competence by means of stimulated recall during three group-based shared review discussions. A VERP trainer guided the professionals to reflect on children’s, their own, and colleagues’ actions and mental states based on video-recorded interactions in early childhood education classrooms. Self-reports on attuned interaction and guidance were collected before and after the in-service training. A coding scheme was developed to assess the target, type, and richness of mental state utterances (N = 787) produced during the VERP training. The professionals equally discussed children’s and adults’ mental states. They talked more frequently about motivational states when referring to children and cognitive states when referring to themselves and colleagues. The more attuned the professionals perceived their interaction with the children was before training, the more frequently they referred to their own or colleagues’ mental states observed during the group discussions. Our study extends assessment of mental states and provides guidelines for future group-based video-stimulated recall training for early childhood education professionals.

Using Pyramidal Training to Address Challenging Behavior in an Early Childhood Education Classroom

Challenging behavior exhibited by students in a school setting is one of the most significant obstructions to student learning. These behaviors often warrant specialized interventions delivered by educators in the presence of typically developing peers; however, the availability of personnel to prepare educators to implement said interventions is limited. One viable solution may be to leverage a pyramidal training model in which training is provided in tiers, allowing for more individuals to be trained within a shorter period. In the current study, one researcher utilized pyramidal training to prepare four educators to implement functional communication training without extinction to decrease aggression toward peers for one student in an inclusionary early childhood education setting. With written instruction only (similar to what a teacher might receive as part of a behavior intervention plan), all educators implemented the intervention with low fidelity (M = 15% steps completed correctly). Post-intervention, all educators were able to implement the intervention with the trainer at or above 80% fidelity, and skills improved to 100% fidelity during in situ training with the student. For the student, aggression was completely decreased to zero levels, and functional communication responses increased. Moreover, all results were maintained after the holiday break without additional training. Implications for research and practice will be discussed.

Play is a play, is a play, is a play… or is it? Challenges in designing, implementing and evaluating play-based interventions.

When a social-emotional learning (SEL) intervention is implemented in an early childhood classroom, it often involves play. Some interventions even list play as its main component. However, the advocates of play arguing for the return of play in early childhood education (ECE) classrooms still have difficulty convincing the proponents of more rigorous academic instruction. These proponents cite research pointing to the insufficient evidence of the positive effect of play on children's short- and longer-term social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes as well as their overall well-being. We believe that there are multiple issues with play-based interventions' design, implementation, and evaluation that might account for this insufficient evidence. In our paper, we discuss the numerous ways play does (or does not) feature in SEL interventions and how it might affect the outcomes of these interventions. We also examine the methodological challenges of having child-controlled play as a component of an SEL intervention. While we are not proposing a specific protocol for re-evaluation of the results of existing interventions, we outline some ways such re-evaluation can be possible in the future, along with the development and evaluation of new play-based SEL interventions.

Using Nursery Rhymes in Teaching English for Young Learners at Childhood Education

This study is a literature review that explores the use of nursery rhymes as a teaching tool for young learners in early childhood education. Nursery rhymes, also known as English children's songs, can be an enjoyable way to engage children and foster their interest in learning English. Additionally, singing nursery rhymes can support children's physical-motor, social, emotional, and intellectual development. When selecting nursery rhymes as teaching materials, teachers must consider the appropriateness of the content for the children's age and world, and the potential for the content to encourage discussion and exploration of values and problem-solving skills. The illustrations should also be evaluated for their alignment with the story and appropriateness for the children's age. From a linguistic standpoint, teachers must choose nursery rhymes that are suitable for the children's language level, that facilitate language learning, and that can serve as the basis for activities. While there are challenges associated with selecting and utilizing nursery rhymes as teaching materials, this study suggests that their use can be a valuable tool in the early childhood education classroom

Cultural Considerations in Defining Classroom Quality: Ghanaian Preschool Teachers’ Agreements and Disagreements with Standards-Based Instruments

Early childhood education (ECE) programs are expanding across sub-Saharan Africa. But the quality of these programs, and their effectiveness when implemented at scale, remains unclear. Defining quality is not simple, as learning environments are shaped by cultural values and societal sociodemographics. Framed within sociocultural theory, this study broadens understanding of ECE classroom quality by examining whether and how Ghanaian educators foster children’s development in ways that are culturally and contextually adaptive but not included in current definitions of quality, using an existing classroom observation tool as a prompt. ECE teachers and school headteachers participated in semistructured interviews and focused discussions of the most widely used standards-based observation tool—the CLASS—highlighting elements of agreements, disagreements, differences, and key features of the teacher-child relationship not captured by the tool. The findings highlight ways in which the sociocultural and educational contexts need to be considered when measuring classroom quality.

Educational Robotics to Address Behavioral Problems in Early Childhood

After detecting behavioral problems in an early childhood education classroom and verifying the importance of intervening at early ages, we propose the design of an intervention plan through an educational proposition to modify the problematic behaviors. This proposition is focused on developing standards of conduct through computational thinking using robotics. Firstly, needs were identified; then, an educational proposition was implemented; and, lastly, the results were evaluated. For this study, a mixed methodology (quantitative and qualitative) was used. The instruments selected were observation scale, interview and teacher’s diary. The results show a clear improvement of disruptive behaviors. The technology used contributed to the collaborative resolution of the problem, allowing the students to lead such resolution by stimulating their participation and creativity. Thus, it can be asserted that the development of computational thinking through educational robotics is effective for the improvement of social skills at early ages.

Reinventing the public square and early educational settings through culturally informed, community co-design: Playful Learning Landscapes.

What if the environment could be transformed in culturally-responsive and inclusive ways to foster high-quality interactions and spark conversations that drive learning? In this article, we describe a new initiative accomplishing this, called Playful Learning Landscapes (PLL). PLL is an evidence-based initiative that blends findings from the science of learning with community-based participatory research to transform physical public spaces and educational settings into playful learning hubs. Here, we describe our model for conducting this research, which is mindful of three key components: community input, how children learn best, and what children need to learn to be successful in the 21st century economy. We describe how this model was implemented in two PLL case studies: one in a predominantly Latine community and the second in early childhood education classrooms. Furthermore, we describe how research employing our model can be rigorously and reliably evaluated using observational and methodological tools that respond to diverse cultural settings and learning outcomes. For example, our work evaluates how PLL impacts adult-child interaction quality and language use, attitudes about play and learning, and community civic engagement. Taken together, this article highlights new ways to involve community voices in developmental and educational research and provides a model of how science can be translated into practice and evaluated in culturally responsive ways. This synthesis of our process and evaluation can be used by researchers, policymakers, and educators to reimagine early educational experiences with an eye toward the built environment that children inhabit in everyday life, creating opportunities that foster lifelong learning.

Multitiered Consultation to Promote Preservice Teachers’ Delivery of Behavior-Specific Praise in Early Childhood Education Classrooms

Multitiered Consultation to Promote Preservice Teachers’ Delivery of Behavior-Specific Praise in Early Childhood Education Classrooms

Erken Çocukluk Eğitiminin Kalitesi ile Çocukların Sosyoekonomik Özellikleri Arasındaki İlişki

The quality of early childhood education (ECE) schools and classrooms have been studied by many researchers. The results indicated that there is a considerable gap in terms of quality among ECE schools and classrooms. There is inequality among children from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds in attending high-quality ECE. It is known that a high proportion of the child population is currently attending public ECE schools. Therefore, the current study aims to get comprehensive data about the quality of public ECE classrooms and descriptive data about children’s socioeconomic backgrounds. Based on this, the current study aims to assess whether there is a relationship between these two factors and whether there is a gap among children in terms of reaching high-quality public ECE. This study is correlational research. The Non-random purposive sampling method is used for the data collection. The results show that there is a significant positive correlation between parents’ socioeconomic factors and the quality of ECE classrooms. The study contributed to the ECE literature by identifying the factors related to children, parents, teachers, and the quality of ECE classrooms. There is a need for further research in Turkey that defines and investigates the quality of ECE from a multidimensional perspective and particularly including families, schools, educational programs, and culture.

It Is Never Too Early: Social Participation of Early Childhood Education Students from the Perspective of Families, Teachers and Students

The aim of this study was to delve into social participation in early childhood education classrooms of centres that include students with ASD, considering social participation as a fundamental element to understand inclusion. To this end, we propose a Convergent Parallel Mixed Methods approach. A quantitative study was carried out with the participation of 85 Early Childhood Education students from centres that include students with ASD. Information was gathered through attitude and social support questionnaires. Six families and eight professionals of these centres participated in the qualitative study. In this case, interviews were conducted. The results show the need to attend to the social participation of all students already in the stage of Early Childhood Education as a fundamental part of what is understood as an inclusive classroom. Similarly, this study identifies both the factors that hinder and facilitate the response of teachers to this aspect in relation to the students, teachers, and families.

Improving the Quality of Early Childhood Education (ECE) Training through Collaborative Community Partnerships

The benefits of high-quality early childhood education (ECE) affect students, families, and the community as a whole. Shifts in the demographics of student populations in ECE classrooms have highlighted a need for improvements to teacher training, recruitment, and retention programming. In Pennsylvania, in particular, there is a substantial demand for high-quality preschool settings staffed by ECE professionals with a post-secondary degree and/or certification. As such, a more predictable pathway to ECE teacher credentials is necessary to demonstrate universal competencies between and among ECE educators. Solutions to these concerns rest with effective collaboration among stakeholders with multiple perspectives. This paper describes an Institution of Higher Education (IHE) and community-based partnership formed to address the goals of a federally funded planning grant. In particular, the partnership was charged with the development of credit-bearing coursework to improve skills and knowledge of ECE professionals and to examine the barriers that inhibit enrollment in formalized training. This paper describes how the expertise of the participant groups offered value to the team as a whole and how these personal resources propelled the work of the collaboration. Through a shared purpose and identity as ECE advocates, the collaboration became committed to the work both within and beyond their communities. As a community of learners, the partnership sponsored and sustained active engagement, reciprocity, and cohesion among the group.

Embedding character education into an early childhood classroom through service-learning

The implementation of service-learning in early childhood education classrooms has not been well documented, and the links to service-learning and the potential effects on character education are scarce at best. In this paper, a service-learning pedagogy is presented as a way to enhance character through education with the youngest learners: children in an early childhood classroom. This study examines the experiences of both teachers and children in an early childhood classroom participating in the form of a service-learning pedagogy for a year, and investigates the social emotional and character development of the young children participating in the classroom. Through the implementation of service-learning in early childhood classrooms, it is possible to grow and create a generation of learners who connect academic curricula through projects that deal with real community needs. With an emphasis on building relationships and making connections, service-learning the authors suggest, is an approach that can allows teachers to maximize children’s strengths, while at the same time building character and positive social and emotional traits.