Kindergarten Year Research Articles

Technology-Based Assessment of Phonological Awareness in Kindergarten

AbstractPrevious research has shown that phonological awareness is one of the most important prerequisites for early reading. Monitoring its development requires reliable, easy-to-use instruments especially in the last years of kindergarten. The present study aims to explore the potential for assessing phonological awareness and some of its subskills through online testing. Participants of the study were 317 kindergarteners (Mage = 6.61, SD = .54 years). The instruments developed for this study within an online assessment platform in two assessment dimensions (syllable and phoneme awareness) contain nine subtests (syllable synthesis, segmentation, deletion; phoneme identification in different sound environments, identification of phoneme position, identification of initial phonemes, phoneme synthesis and segmentation). The results of the study show that: (1) the test is a reliable assessment tool for kindergarteners’ phonological awareness skills; (2) according to the underlying measurement model of phonological awareness, the tasks are separated based on particular operational components independently of the size of the language element involved; (3) segmentation tasks proved to be the most difficult parts of the test; and (4) the media effect is insignificant. The online test aims to emphasize the importance of online testing and the inseparable relationship between measuring and developing phonological awareness, prompting teachers to rethink their teaching methods. It also introduces a new tool for educators to use, tailored to children's needs but potentially challenging for teachers with lower ICT literacy, requiring methodological support, ultimately providing a new opportunity for kindergartens.

Error-monitoring: A predictor of future reading skills? A 3-year longitudinal study in children

Investigation of the factors explaining individual differences in the acquisition of expert reading skills has become of particular interest these last decades. Non-verbal abilities, such as visual attention and executive functions play an important role in reading acquisition. Among those non-verbal factors, error-monitoring, which allows one to detect one's own errors and to avoid repeating them in the future, has been reported to be impaired in dyslexic readers. The present three-year longitudinal study aims at determining whether error-monitoring efficiency evaluated before and during reading instruction could improve the explanation of reading skills. To do so, 85 children will be followed from the last year of kindergarten to the second grade. The classic predictors of reading will be assessed at each grade level. Error-monitoring indices in domain-general and reading-related contexts will be derived from EMG data recorded during a Simon task in kindergarten and during both a Simon and a lexical decision tasks in the first and second grades. Findings concerning the role of error-monitoring on reading skills are expected to have an important impact on reading instruction to prevent reading difficulties in at-risk children and improve remediation to help children with reading difficulties.

Children’s Thoughts on Wonder in Fairy Tales

AbstractFairy tales are a means to introduce the Polish language and social education exercises in Polish kindergartens and schools (early childhood literature education). In their methodological proposals, authors of school handbooks use fairy tales as a medium for teaching moral values. The Goldfish is an example of such an approach (Fałdzińska and Rączyńska, 2017). This article presents the thoughts of children aged six to nine (Polish kindergarten and primary school years one to three) constructed around the fairy tale in question, which, on the one hand, can be understood as a cautionary lesson about the importance of remaining satisfied with one’s station (Tatar 2014), and on the other serves as a meta-tale, exposing a rule of the genre’s poetics (Somoff, 2019). Assuming the role of observer-as-participant, intent on providing interpretations, the author of this study aims to identify children’s categories of wonder occurring in Aleksandr Afanasyev’s The Goldfish (Afanasyev, 1984). It was observed that children reflect on the rules of wonder in fairy tales (as culture-specific texts) and derive social meanings significant from the viewpoint of fairy tale categories. As such, they were not only limited to the lesson of condemning greed, which is often assigned to The Goldfish.

Assessment of math abilities before school entry: a tool development

IntroductionThe years preceding school entry are pivotal for children to develop fundamental skills that bolster their learning in literacy and math in the following years. Skills like counting and subitizing stand as key predictors of future math abilities. Hence, the availability of universal screening tools is vital to promptly identify children who are lacking in these skills, allowing for tailored classroom practices to meet their needs. This study aimed to develop a mathematical screening tool and assess its psychometric properties.MethodsThe tool encompasses both group and individual tasks, to evaluate counting, cardinality, subitizing, quantity discrimination, addition, and subtraction. The tool was administered twice to 257 children, aged 5-6, in their final year of kindergarten in Portugal, at both the start and end of the school year.ResultsThe findings reveal that the tasks generally present a low level of difficulty, especially by the end of kindergarten. Factor analysis demonstrated an adequate structure, and all dimensions showed high internal consistency (>0.80). There was a medium-to-high intercorrelation among the various tasks. Correlations between task scores at the beginning and end of the school year were high. Furthermore, scores across all tasks correlated with math achievement in the first grade of primary education.DiscussionThese outcomes suggest that the tool is both valid and reliable, making it a useful resource for assessing and intervening in math skills during the critical years before school entry.

Implementation of the Project to Strengthening the Pancasila Student Profiles in Kindergartens in Pemalang Regency

The independent curriculum is a new curriculum in which there are co-curricular activities, namely implementing projects to strengthen the profile of Pancasila students by emphasizing the process of children's activities to stimulate the character of Pancasila in their lives. The purpose of the study is to describe the implementation of the project to strengthen the profile of Pancasila students in PAUD. The method used in this research is qualitative with a case study approach. This research was used to obtain information on the project's implementation process to strengthen the profile of Pancasila students in kindergarten through activities with the theme "I Love Indonesia" commemorating Independence Day in school activities. Data are obtained through triangulation of interviews, observations, document studies, and field notes. Research subjects of schools, teachers, and children aged 5-6 years in several kindergartens in Pemalang Regency. The results showed that schools implementing project activities to strengthen the profile of Pancasila students in kindergarten are still experiencing an adjustment stage in learning because teachers still have difficulties in making and designing teaching modules and learning activities in schools. The character of faith, cooperation, and creativity is stimulated in the project to strengthen the profile of Pancasila students on the topic of commemorating the Indonesian Independence Day. During the evaluation of the implementation of the Pancasila student profile strengthening project, there were supporting and inhibiting factors. Then, educators have an effort to implement learning activities to implement the Pancasila student profile. Keywords: independent curriculum, Pancasila student profile strengthening project, early childhood

Big little leap: The role of transition difficulties in children's skill development during kindergarten

Considerable interest is directed to promoting children’s success as they transition to kindergarten. It is generally proposed that children who experience lower levels of transition difficulties at kindergarten entry achieve higher academic and socialemotional gains, although this premise has seldom been explicitly evaluated in tandem with children's kindergarten readiness skills. To improve understanding of the consequences of transition difficulties, this study investigated the role of transition difficulties at the child level to children's achievements at the end of the kindergarten year in a Midwestern state in the US. Results from a series of covariate-adjusted regression models showed that children who experienced less transition difficulties at the beginning of kindergarten demonstrated relatively more gains in math, reading, and social-behavioral skills at the end of kindergarten, even when controlling for kindergarten readiness skills, child and family characteristics, and classroom-level contextual factors. The findings also indicated that the associations between kindergarten transition difficulties and academic and social-behavioral skill development at the end of kindergarten did not vary by children's academic and social-behavioral skills at kindergarten entry. Taken together, these findings suggest that transition difficulties that children encounter within the kindergarten context may have significant and independent implications for children's skill development. Possible practices to ease transition difficulties are discussed.

Teachers' report of sense of time in kindergarten predicts children's time-processing skills in first grade.

The main aim of this longitudinal study was to evaluate if a questionnaire measuring the sense of time, filled in by teachers and parents in the last year of kindergarten, was able to predict children's time-processing skills at the end of 1st grade. The sample included 131 children (initial mean age = 4.77 ± 0.29 years) tested three times in a 2-year period with tasks of time reproduction, time discrimination, and comparison of durations. One of their parents and teachers filled in a questionnaire about children's sense of time both in kindergarten and 1st grade. The teacher version of the questionnaire administered in kindergarten was able to predict most of the time-processing tasks at the end of 1st grade. The parent version of the questionnaire was not able to predict children's performance in these tasks. Different developmental trajectories of time reproduction and time discrimination were observed. This study supports the role of preschool teachers as skilled evaluators of children's time-processing skills.

Letter Gloves Media with Storytelling : Effect on Letter Recognition in Children in Kindergarten Pekanbaru

Language is a verbal communication medium that humans use to interact with each other. Basically, early childhood language development includes four developments, namely listening, speaking, reading, writing, and recognizing letters by reading. The purpose of this study was to find out how much influence the letter glove media has on the ability to recognize letters in children aged 4-5 years in Kindergarten. This type of research is experimental research using a one group design with pretest and posttest through observation sheets. From the results of the research and from the discussion, it was concluded that the ability to recognize children's letters before being given treatment through the media of letter gloves with the storytelling method was considered low, this was seen from the individual categories of children, namely 20 children who were categorized as medium 25%, low 75%, and high 0%. After going through the letter glove media with the storytelling method, the child's ability to imprint letters increased, namely 60% Medium was categorized as high, 40% was categorized as medium and no children were in the low category.

Pengembangan Media KIncir Pintar dengan Metode Demonstrasi dan Bermain untuk meningkatkan kemampuan Bahasa Ekspresif dan keaksaraan Anak Usia 5-6 Tahun di TK Negeri Pembina Batang

The background of this research is the conditions in the Batang Pembina Batang State Kindergarten, Kalisalak Village, Batang. Researchers also found problems learning expressive language skills and expressive language literacy and low literacy reaching 75%. The approach used in this research is the type of research carried out is the ADDIE development research method including: Analysis, Design, Development or Production, Implementationor Delivery and Evaluations. The ADDIE model was developed by Dick and Carry in 1996 to design learning systems (Mulyaningsih, 2016). This model can be used for various forms of product development in learning activities such as models, learning strategies, learning methods, media and teaching materials. The results of this study are 1. Results of the Smart Wheel (Kintar) media validation using demonstration and play methods to improve expressive language skills and literacy of children aged 5-6 years with very valid criteria. 2. Practicality The validation of the Smart Wheel (Kintar) media with the demonstration and playing method developed can improve expressive language skills and early childhood literacy in kindergarten based on the results of teacher and student response questionnaires. 3. Being able to improve the expressive language skills and literacy of children aged 5-6 years in Kindergarten. The effectiveness of learning using the Smart Wheel (Kintar) media with demonstration and play methods can be seen through the effectiveness test with the result that the Smart Wheel (Kintar) media with Demonstration and play methods can improve expressive language skills and motor literacy in early childhood in kindergarten, this is shown by the average score of students' learning ability assessment of 4.00. it can be concluded that the effectiveness of the Smart Wheel (Kintar) media with demonstration and play methods to improve expressive language skills and early childhood literacy falls within the very good criteria.

Age-related differences in Russian and Hungarian linguistic pictures of the world

This cross-cultural, interdisciplinary study aims to investigate how the linguistic picture of the world differs in various age groups from kindergarten years to adulthood. In this paper, linguistic picture of the world is referred to as a technical term introduced into linguistics by Leo Weisgerber (Weltbild der Sprache). In order to trace the differences in Russian and Hungarian language users’ linguistic picture of the world in different age groups, thus obtaining a more precise picture of the linguistic development of the individual from a cross-cultural perspective, a research was conducted and data were collected with the aid of the association experiment, a foundational research method of Russian psycholinguistics. Respondents from three age groups (4–5 years, 10–12 years, and 18–26 years) were investigated via the collection of word associations to 10 stimulus words. As the research results suggest, culturally bound traits of linguistic development were identified, including the Russian linguistic consciousness changing its orientation from being self- and family-oriented in early childhood to being people-oriented (man-oriented) as an adult. The study also revealed common characteristics of the age-related development of the Russian and Hungarian linguistic pictures of the world, for instance, toys and games moving from the center of the linguistic image of the world to the periphery to be replaced by love. Results can be utilized not only for theoretical psycholinguistic purposes including a better description of the presumed age-related changes in the mental lexicon but also in the practical realm of education for curriculum development or the fine-tuning of pedagogical methods, as well as in intercultural studies for gaining a more precise picture of the linguistic consciousness of representatives of different cultures.

Language and Culture Interconnectedness: A Case Study Of a Chinese College Student Nurtured in the Cordilleras

Culture and language are intricately intertwined in that one influenced the other as they developed, succeeded, interacted, and survived together in a long and unending process of human development. Anent this, the researcher conducted a case study on Christian, a Chinese college student in one of the universities in the Philippines whose family has migrated to the country, and he has been staying here since his kindergarten years. The data gathered through an unstructured interview were analyzed using Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis technique. The analysis revealed that language acquisition of a second language was influenced by the individual’s environment, parental and significant other’s support, and age. Moreover, a language expression shapes one’s mindset and mirrors one’s culture.

Missing Out: Kindergarten Teachers’ Reports of Soft Exclusionary Discipline Practices

ABSTRACTResearch Findings: Students perceived as struggling to regulate their emotions and behavior are at risk for experiencing classroom and school exclusion beginning in preschool. In this preliminary and exploratory secondary data analysis study, we examined teachers’ self-reported use of classroom-based soft exclusionary discipline practices with kindergarten students whom they perceived as displaying the lowest self-regulation and social skills. In a sample of 2,053 teachers and 40,771 kindergarten students, teachers reported on their use of five soft exclusionary discipline practices and rated students’ self-regulation and social skills in the fall of the kindergarten year. Teachers reported variability in their use of soft exclusionary discipline practices with some practices being used multiple times per day by some teachers. Most variability in the use of these practices was at the teacher (rather than the school or district) level. Teachers reported using certain soft exclusionary discipline practices (break outside classroom, losing free time, and limit talking) more frequently when the racial composition of students they rated as having the lowest self-regulation and social skills included more Black students. Practice or Policy: Findings highlight the importance of better understanding the range and types of exclusionary discipline practices used with young students, and which children are most likely to experience them.

Educational and developmental gains in early childhood (EDGE) study protocol: investigating the impact of funded three-year-old kindergarten

ABSTRACT This paper describes the research protocol for the Educational and Developmental Gains in Early Childhood (EDGE) Study, which will examine the implementation of two years of funded kindergarten prior to the first year of school in Victoria, Australia. EDGE will examine whether children’s language, cognitive, social-emotional, and behavioural outcomes are improved after two years of kindergarten compared to one year. The experiences of (and impacts on) teachers, service leaders, and families will also be examined. The study includes a cross-sectional cohort of 95 early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, and an embedded longitudinal observational cohort of children attending these services. Case studies of 15–20 ECEC services will also be collected, in addition to interviews with policy stakeholders.

The Influence of the Storytelling Method on the Speaking Ability of Children Aged 5-6 Years in Kindergarten St-Antonius 1 Medan

The purpose of this study was to determine the presence or absence of the influence of the storytelling method on the ability to speak children aged 5-6 years in TK ST-Antonius 1 Medan. This research was conducted at the St-Antonius 1 Medan TK which is located at Jalan HM Joni No. 52 A Medan. The population in this study was all children in TK ST-Antonius 1 Medan with a total of 103 children. The research design used is pretest-post-test design. Sampling techniques, namely with Purposive Sampling techniques in class B3 as many as 28 children. The data obtained were analyzed using non -parametric statistics Wilcoxon signs rank test. The results of the analysis obtained the average class value using a conventional storytelling method of 16.21 with SD = 3.26 and the average class value with an interactive storytelling method of 25.78. With SD = 2.10. From the hypothesis calculation data obtained asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) worth 0,000. smaller than 0.05 (<0.05), it can be concluded that there is a significant effect of the interactive storytelling method on the ability to speak in children aged 5-6 years in kindergarten. St. Antonius 1 Medan compared to the ability to speak children taught by conventional storytelling methods.

Development of Center Learning Model for Children's Metacognitive Stimulation in Kindergarten

The purpose of this research is to provide an overview of the center learning model that can stimulate metacognitive abilities in children. The problems discussed are related to obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the requirements of the prototype model in the form of a center learning model that can stimulate children's metacognitive abilities that are valid, practical and effective. This research is a research and development that uses the Borg and Gall development model. The subject of the research relates to students aged 5-6 years in kindergarten. The results of research and development show that the development of a center-based learning model to stimulate children's metacognitive skills is needed. This is because the average level of understanding of teachers is still lacking, resulting in low achievement of children. Therefore, a systematic center-based learning model syntax is needed, which integrates the science process approach to foster curiosity and creative thinking, as well as the 5E continuum approach to improve children's problem solving skills at each stage of play. The overall validity of the model consisting of model books, guidebooks, and research instruments obtained an average validity score that fell into the valid category, indicating feasibility for use. The level of practicality in trials 1 and 2 was successfully implemented, as evidenced by the teacher's response which showed practicality and student activity which was classified as active during the stimulation process. This model has been declared effective because it is proven those children’s metacognitive achievement increases significantly when the center learning model is applied.

The Effect of Early Numerical Literacy on Early Childhood Cognitive Development

The development of the times with increasingly advanced technology requires today’s people to be able to be literate in numeracy and master it. The low numeracy literacy activity in adults indicates a lack of stimulation given early on. This study aims to determine the effect of numeracy literacy on the cognitive development of children aged 5-6 years in Kindergartens throughout Jambi City. The subjects of this study were 31 teachers in kindergarten. Data collection techniques using a questionnaire. This research uses quantitative methods and data acquisition is analyzed using simple linear regression. Data analysis in this study used SPSS version 29. The research findings showed that there was an effect of numeracy literacy on the cognitive development of children aged 5-6 years with a calculated F value of 29.713 with a significance level of 0.

The Effect of Animated Video in Stimulating Sexual Understanding of 5-6 Years Old Children in Gowa Regency

understanding of children aged 5-6 years in kindergarten in Gowa Regency. This study used purposive sampling method with a sample of 60 children. 30 children from Nurul Fadhilah Kindergarten as the experimental group and 30 children from Pertiwi Tamarunang Kindergarten as the control group. The data analysis method in this research is prerequisite test and independent sample t-test. From the results of the t-test based on the assumption of equal variance, there is a difference in the level of sexual understanding of 5 to 6 year olds in the experimental group that is treated and the control group and not treated. The research hypothesis states that there is an effect of animated videos in stimulating the sexual understanding of children aged 6 to 6 years in kindergarten in Gowa Regency which can be proven from the results of the independent sample t-test. If there is a difference in the average sexual understanding of children in Nurul Fadhilah Kindergarten and Pertiwi Tamarunang Kindergarten, then H0 is rejected and H1 is accepted.

The Effect of Playing Plasticine on the Fine Motor Development of Children Aged 4-6 Years in Kindergarten

Introduction: Fine motor development in children aged 4-6 years is able to use scissors correctly, write numbers, letters, draw body parts. However, the facts in the field, especially in Widuri Kindergarten, SKB Playschool, Mawar Putih Playschool, there are still many children aged 4-6 years who are not able to hold a pencil properly, have not been able to hold scissors and hold the crayon correctly and even draw body parts are not able to cause problems with children's fine motor development that is slow and causes obstacles to children in completing their tasks. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of playing plasticine on fine motor development of children aged 4-6 years kindergarten in Baleendah Village, Bandung Regency. Method: The method used in this study is with experimental methods with Quasi Experimental Design research design. Result and Discussion: The statistical test in this study is Mc Nemar obtained results with p-value (Asymp. Sig 2 tailed) of 0.0001 < 0.05, it can be concluded that there is an effect of playing plasticine on fine motor development in children aged 4-6 years kindergarten in Baleendah Village, Bandung Regency. Conclusion: Through this study there are results that playing plasticine has an influence on children's fine motor development, therefore it is hoped that learning methods by utilizing plasticine play can be applied in kindergartens in Baleendah Village

Analisis Perbedaan Empati Anak Usia Dini Ditinjau Berdasarkan Jenis Kelamin di TK X di Kecamatan Purwakarta

This research was conducted with the aim of analyzing differences in early childhood empathy in terms of gender in Purwakarta District. The participants in this study were early childhood with the criteria of 5-6 years in Kindergarten in Purwakarta Subdistrict, consisting of 7 girls and 7 boys. This study used a qualitative research method with a descriptive approach. Data collection techniques in this study used observation and documentation. The data that has been collected is then analyzed using the Milles and Huberman data analysis model. The results showed that there were differences in empathy for early childhood in terms of gender in Purwakarta District where girls have higher empathy than boys or girls have better empathy than boys.

Using Artificial Intelligence to Identify the Associations of Children's Performance of Coloring, Origami, and Copying Activities With Visual-Motor Integration.

Performance of coloring, origami, and copying activities reflects children's visual-motor integration (VMI), but the levels of association remain unclear. To use artificial intelligence (AI) to investigate associations of performance of coloring, origami, and copying activities with VMI. Cross-sectional study. Kindergartens. A sample of 370 children (182 boys and 188 girls) in the second and third years of kindergarten. Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration, 6th Edition (VMI-6). Data for preschool children from an ongoing project were retrieved. AI models were trained to use photographs of activity products to predict total score on the VMI-6. R2 values were used to identify the variance in VMI-6 standardized scores explained by predicted scores from the activities. That is, R2 values reflected associations between activity performance and VMI. The R2 values for the combination of origami and copying were the largest (.390-.577). These R2 values were larger than those for each individual activity (.340-.473) and similar to those for the combination of all three activities (.400-.550). Because moderate R2 values were found between performance of the three activity products and VMI, the three activities have high potential for use in identifying children's level of VMI or as teaching materials to facilitate the development of children's VMI. Furthermore, combining origami and copying activities is recommended for teachers and clinicians who need to address VMI. What This Article Adds: A combination of origami and copying activities had the strongest associations with children's VMI. Teachers and clinicians can use these two activities when addressing VMI development among preschool children.