Young Children's Explorations Research Articles

Artificial Intelligence education for young children: Why, what, and how in curriculum design and implementation

Artificial intelligence (AI) education has posed fundamental challenges to early childhood education (ECE), including (1) why AI is necessary and appropriate for learning in the early years, (2) what is the subset of key AI ideas and concepts that can be learned by children, and (3) how to engage children in a meaningful experience that allows them to acquire these fundamental AI concepts. This report from the ECE field discusses the key considerations for developing an AI curriculum for young children. These key considerations altogether present an innovative pedagogical model for AI literacy education in early childhood. This model argues that AI literacy is an organic part of digital literacy for all citizens in an increasingly intelligent society. The core AI knowledge that can be explored with young children is: Using large amounts of data input, AI algorithms can be continuously trained to identify patterns, make predictions, and recommend actions, even though with limitations. Based on the theoretical notions of learning-by-making and pedagogy-as-relational, an embodied, culturally responsive approach should be used to enable young children's exploration with AI technologies. Finally, an exemplary curriculum named “AI for Kids” is introduced to demonstrate this pedagogical model and explain how educators can provide children culturally responsive inquiry opportunities to interact with and understand AI technologies. The synthesis of knowledge regarding “Why”, “What”, and “How” to do with AI education for young children informs a new way to engage children in STEM and understanding the digital world.

또래와의 놀이에서 나타나는 유아의 내러티브 탐구

본 연구는 또래와의 놀이에서 나타나는 유아의 내러티브를 관찰하여 미메시스와 환상내러티브의 특징을 분석하였다. 본 연구의 대상은 C시에 소재한 A어린이집 만 5세 유아 19명(남아 10명, 여아 9명)으로 자료수집과 분석은 2018년 6월 1일부터 12월 31일까지 약 7개월간 이루어졌다. 오전 자유놀이시간에 또래와의 놀이를 관찰하여 놀이에서 나타나는 내러티브를 수집하였으며, 관찰일지 및 연구자 일지 등 추가 자료를 함께 분석하였다. 또래와의 놀이에서 나타난 내러티브를 분석한 결과, 첫째, 미메시스 내러티브에서 현실에서의 경험을 재현하기도 하지만, 경험을 변형시키며, 현실을 뒤집는 내러티브를 만들었다. 둘째, 환상 내러티브에서는 불멸의 인물과 마법의 도구가 등장하였고, 신비한 공간과 신기한 사건으로 내러티브를 만들어나갔다. 유아들이 놀이에서 또래와 만들어낸 내러티브는 현실 경험의 모방과 재현을 넘어선 창조와 변형의 과정이며, 새로움을 형성해 나가는 미메시스로서 의미가 있다. 또한, 현실과 상상을 넘나들며 자유롭게 표현되는 환상의 내러티브는 유아에게 즐거움과 재미, 카타르시스를 느낄 수 있는 기회를 제공하였다. 죽이는 인물, 부수는 도구와 비현실적 사건이 등장하여 성인은 이러한 내러티브를 과격하게 여기고 금기하는 경향이 있으나 이는 유아의 관심과 욕구가 반영된 교육적 가치가 있는 것으로 인정해야 함을 강조하였다.

‘My special, my special thing, and my camera!’ Using GoPro™ as a complementary research tool to investigate young children’s museum experiences.

This paper discusses insights derived from a small-scale ethnographic study designed to explore young children’s (aged three to six) everyday, lived experiences within a participatory family museum in southern England. Inspired by the child-centred work of Kirk (2014) this paper begins by examining the effectiveness of photo-elicitation interviews in accessing ‘snap-shots’ of children’s perspectives of their museum visits. In the current study this method is complemented by the use of chest-mounted GoPro cameras to provide a first person and more holistic perspective of children’s museum visits. 12 children’s visits were filmed in total. During three of these, children were also carrying child-friendly digital cameras. As this was part of a larger study the data collection was designed to compare the utility of GoPro technology being used in tandem with both photo and drawing-elicitation. In response to these initial findings a photo-map of the museum was created to prompt discussion with the final six participants. Recruitment was purposive and there was no contact with the participants prior to them arriving at the museum. The video captured by the chest-mounted Go-Pro cameras is particularly illuminating when analysed in the context of the post-visit interview data. Although the photo-elicitation and drawing-elicitation interviews do reveal some important details about the children’s experiences and perspectives, the video footage highlights the difficulties with relying on these methods in an everyday museum setting. For example parental involvement in the children’s photography is far more pervasive than might be expected, and the degree to which the camera affects the nature of the children’s visits is notable. The video also reveals how easy it is to misinterpret children when relying solely on their recollections in an interview situation. This paper finishes with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of using Go-Pro technology as a complementary tool in the exploration of young children’s museum experiences.

Cross‐Cultural Differences in the Influence of Peers on Exploration During Play

Certain social context features (e.g., maternal presence) are known to increase young children's exploration, a key process by which they learn. Yet limited research investigates the role of social context, especially peer presence, in exploration across development. We investigate whether the effect of peer presence on exploration is mediated by age or cultural-specific experiences. We test its impact on exploration across development (2-11years) and across cultures (United States and the Tsimane', indigenous farmer-foragers in Bolivia). Specifically, peer presence does not boost exploration among young U.S. children and becomes more inhibitory among school-age children. In contrast, peer presence facilitates exploration and provides an additional boost for older Tsimane' children, who differ from U.S. children in their cultural-specific learning experiences (e.g., formal education), among other differences. We discuss potential cultural factors and mechanisms by which peer presence may boost exploratory behavior.

Development of an Electronic Version of The Children's Self-Perceptions of Adequacy in and Predilection for Physical Activity (CSAPPA) Scale.

To develop an electronic version of the Children's Self-Perceptions of Adequacy in and Predilection for Physical Activity (eCSAPPA), which would allow individual administration to children younger than nine years of age. Fifty-four, four-nine-year-old children completed the eCSAPPA and the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2). Parental measures of physical activity, and body mass index were obtained. Twenty-one participants additionally completed the paper version of the CSAPPA. All children successfully completed the eCSAPPA with interclass correlation coefficients of .76 for Adequacy and .86 for Total Score. Correlations and linear predictive equations for eCSAPPA revealed the TGMD-2's Locomotor subtest, age, and parent's activity rating explained 28-30% of the variability in Total and Adequacy eCSAPPA scores. Predilection and Enjoyment of Physical Education (PE) scores were less stable, with the TGMD-2's Locomotor subtest and age predicting 17% of the Predilection score and the TGMD-2's Object Control subtest demonstrating 17% of Enjoyment of PE. Children ages four-nine years can feasibly complete the electronic version of the CSAPPA and results hint that self-efficacy may be more plastic in younger children. The eCSAPPA is a promising instrument allowing the exploration of young children's development of adequacy and predilection toward physical activity as well as enjoyment of PE.

Critical thinking and young children's exploration of picturebook artwork

ABSTRACTThe data featured in this article were gathered during a classroom-based research project with Grade 2 (six- and seven-year-old) children. The overall purposes of the study included exploration of how the development of young children's understanding of elements of visual art and design would affect their comprehension, interpretation, and analysis of the artwork in a selection of picturebooks, as well as the subsequent application of the same elements when they created their own multimodal print texts. A discussion of critical thinking is followed by descriptions of the study's guiding theoretical and conceptual frameworks, as well as an overview of relevant literature, the research context and methods, and the data analysis procedures. The findings from the content analysis of the students’ written responses about the artwork of one picturebook are discussed with reference to key concepts associated with critical thinking. The conclusion features a consideration of how students’ critical thinking skills and esthetic development can be enhanced by instruction about elements of visual art and design in picturebooks.

Informational Text Content and Structure: Intervention Ideas for Young Children

In recent years there has been an effort to increase the use of informational texts in early childhood settings (Pre-K-2), creating a growing need for effective strategies to teach the unique features of informational texts. This article will share practical ideas for supporting young children's exploration of informational content and initial awareness of basic organizational patterns found in informational texts. Strategies will be shared for highlighting relationships that can occur between or among ideas (e.g., problem/solution, compare/contrast, and sequence), strengthening content learning through oral language associated with multiple texts and experiences, and engaging children's interest in informational content.

Eighteen-month-olds’ ability to make gaze predictions following distraction or a long delay

The abilities to flexibly allocate attention, select between conflicting stimuli, and make anticipatory gaze movements are important for young children's exploration and learning about their environment. These abilities constitute voluntary control of attention and show marked improvements in the second year of a child's life. Here we investigate the effects of visual distraction and delay on 18-month-olds’ ability to predict the location of an occluded target in an experiment that requires switching of attention, and compare their performance to that of adults. Our results demonstrate that by 18 months of age children can readily overcome a previously learned response, even under a condition that involves visual distraction, but have difficulties with correctly updating their prediction when presented with a longer time delay. Further, the experiment shows that, overall, the 18-month-olds’ allocation of visual attention is similar to that of adults, the primary difference being that adults demonstrate a superior ability to maintain attention on task and update their predictions over a longer time period.

Young children's explorations of average through informal inferential reasoning

This study situates children's early notions of average within an inquiry classroom to investigate the rich inferential reasoning that young children drew on to make sense of the questions: Is there a typical height for a student in year 3? If so, what is it? Based on their deliberations over several lessons, students' ideas about average and typicality evolved as meaning reasonable, contrary to atypical, most common (value or interval), middle, normative, and representative of the population. The case study reported here documents a new direction for the development of children's conceptions of average in a classroom designed to elicit their informal inferential reasoning about data.

Young children's explorations: young children's research?

‘Exploration' is recognised as research behaviour; anecdotally, as an early years' teacher, I witnessed many young children exploring. However, young children's self-initiated explorations are rarely regarded as research by adult researchers and policy-makers. The exclusion of young children's autonomous explorations from recognition as research conflicts with ‘new sociology’ perspectives positioning children as social actors. These tensions have driven a small-scale interpretive study, developed with children aged four to eight years in three ‘good’ schools in England to investigate (1) Do children aged four to eight years in three Early Childhood Education and Care settings explore?; (2) If so, what are their explorations and what effects and affects them?; and (3) Do young children's explorations count as epistemology? Findings indicate that in settings where ‘free-flow’ play characterised practice, four- to five-year-old children engaged in exploration, but its quality was affected by several factors, including variable levels of children's autonomy. Seven- to eight-year-old children in a teacher-directed setting explored less than the four- to five-year-old children, but were frequently observed ‘off-task’, pursuing self-initiated explorations.

Examining External Influences in Young Children's Explorations Within Sociodrama

Sociodrama is a tool of dramatic exploration, which engages participants within an aesthetic, three-dimensional problem-solving process to examine, explore, and reflect upon issues of personal and collective importance. Using twelve sociodrama workshops, eleven students (six males and five females) from one senior kindergarten classroom were encouraged to create and reflect upon common social issues and concerns as a classroom community through warm-ups, sociodramatic activities, and oral group reflections. Using modified activities inspired by the works of both Moreno (1943) and Boal (1985, 1995, 1998, 2002, 2006), students discovered that they held the power to modify their own responses and behaviors in specific social situations. Although sociodrama naturally exists as a spontaneous, realistic learning activity where participants have power and control over their experiences, it appeared in this study as though influences beyond the students' control including the school environment, the classroom teacher, and the students themselves may have influenced and limited the shape and scope of the dramatic explorations.

Religious education, conflict and diversity: an exploration of young children’s perceptions of Islam

This article explores the way pupils in English primary school perceive Islam through discussion of Islam in the media. The research suggests that pupils are aware of Islam as a world religion and of many of the images and popular discourses associated with Islam. The research also suggests that while a minority of pupils expressed explicit racist or prejudiced views about Islam many pupils appeared to perceive Islam and Muslims as ‘foreign’ and ‘alien’. The article questions the effectiveness of an approach to teaching Islam that does not include pupil’s negative preconceptions of religion and which focuses on presenting an idealised or monolithic version of Islam.

An exploration of young children’s ethnic identities as communities of practice

This study is concerned with experiences of ethnic identity amongst a group of three‐year‐old and four‐year‐old children, four‐fifths of whom are of Pakistani heritage and the remainder of white indigenous heritage. Focused on a nursery school in the United Kingdom, the study explores the relationship between the individual and the social and cultural, initially in the home and then as the children start nursery school. An ethnographic approach is used to record the children’s daily experiences and relationships as contexts where they reveal, shape and reshape who they are. Children’s ethnic identities are explored in relation to boundaries where different communities of practice collide, alongside other aspects such as gender and sexuality and under the influence of factors such as power and religion. What appears to emerge is a sense of ethnic identity as social practice and performance rather than as the result of maturation or of internal cognitive development.

An exploration of young children's understandings of genetics concepts from ontological and epistemological perspectives

This research examined 9- to 15-year-old children's understandings about basic genetics concepts and how they integrated those understandings with their broader theories of biology. A cross-sectional case study method was used to explore the students' (n = 90) understandings of basic inheritance and molecular genetics concepts such as gene and DNA. Data were collected by interview and were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. A theoretical framework consisting of an ontological perspective and an epistemological perspective informed the data analysis. The results indicate that the majority of students had a theory of kinship because they could differentiate between socially and genetically inherited characteristics. While these students had heard of the concepts gene and DNA, a bona fide theory of genetics was elusive because they did not know where genes are or what they do. The discussion explores popular cultural origins of students' understandings and potential ontological and epistemological barriers to further learning about genetics. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed, 89:614–633, 2005

Calculators as Learning Tools for Young Children's Explorations of Number

The development of number concepts is a major emphasis of mathematics instruction with young children. This development includes acquiring an understanding of number, ways of representing numbers, and number relationships (NCTM 2000). Using calculators as learning tools can empower young children with the capacity to investigate number ideas in ways that were previously inaccessible to them. The calculator expands opportunities and possibilities for young children's explorations of number.

A Naturalistic Study of Young Children's Explorations Away from Caregiver

29 child-caregiver pairs were observed in a public park without the adults' preknowledge, to examine the effects of mode of locomotion and age of child on exploration. A clear relation was found between child exploration and both age and walking vs. crawling ability. Ability to walk seems to be the most important determinant. No effect of age was found on mean length away or number of explorations away from caregiver among walking children ages 12-36 months. Age differences, however, were found in mean distance (computed from measurements taken every 10 sec) to caregiver. On this measure children who were more than two years old tended to be farther away. The divergence between the two measures 'mean length of distance to caregiver' and 'mean length of exploration' may be explained by group differences in the amount of time spent in vicinity of the caregiver. No differences were found in a number of sorties or time spent away between groups aged 12-18, 19-24, and 25-36 months. The duration of sortie was lower in the youngest age group. The younger children seemed mainly to make short and brief sorties punctuated by equally brief moments of proximity and tended not to return from their longer sorties. The older children made fewer and longer sorties and they returned regularly. The findings are compared in some detail with the findings reported by Anderson (1972a, b).