Young Children's Knowledge Research Articles

Exploring Preschool Children's Science Content Knowledge

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to describe children's science content knowledge and examine the early predictors of science content knowledge in a sample of 194 typically developing preschool children. Children's science content knowledge was assessed in the fall (Time 1) and spring (Time 2) of the preschool year. Results showed that children exhibited significant gains in science content knowledge over the course of the preschool year. Hierarchical linear modeling results indicated that the level of maternal education (i.e., holding at least a bachelor's degree) significantly predicted children's Time 1 science content knowledge. Children's cognitive, math, and language skills at Time 1 were all significant concurrent predictors of Time 1 science content knowledge. However, only Time 1 math skills significantly predicted residualized gains in science content knowledge (i.e., Time 2 scores with Time 1 scores as covariates). Practice or Policy: Factors related to individual differences in young children's science content knowledge may be important for early childhood educators to consider in their efforts to provide more support to children who may need help with science learning.

Young children's knowledge about the spatial layout of writing.

Children who are knowledgeable about the basic properties of writing when formal literacy instruction begins are better prepared to benefit from that instruction than children who know less about this topic. In the present study, we examined U.S. preschoolers' knowledge about one aspect of writing: its spatial arrangement. Our participants, who had a mean age of 4 years, 2 months and who could not read any words in a list of simple words, were significantly above the level of chance at determining that horizontally arranged strings of letters are more like the writing in books than are letters with vertical, diagonal, or scattered arrangements. Contrary to the theory that children learn about the characteristics of writing that hold true in all writing systems before they learn about the characteristics that are specific to their own writing system, young children did not show a priority for vertical arrangements. The results are more consistent with the hypothesis that preschoolers apply their statistical learning skills to the spatial layout of writing.

English

Increasingly, it has become recognized that young children's mathematical knowledge is fundamental to their mathematics learning at school. Consistent with this claim, the mathematical knowledge of at-risk students (e.g., students from low-income families) is lower than that of those without risk, even at school entry. Similarly, Asian children have been shown to perform better at mathematics than their counterparts in many other countries, both at school and preschool level. This suggests that Asian children are better prepared for mathematics when entering schools than children in other countries. Children's mathematical learning at school benefits largely from appropriate pre-school education. This article proposes an alternative and potentially effective way to support young children's mathematical learning without relying on systematic teaching, by introducing Japanese preschool math activities as an example. The studies indicate that Japanese preschool teachers effectively facilitate young children's mathematics learning by frequently embedding mathematics in everyday activities. I consider that, for embedded mathematical activities to function effectively, a teacher must be sensitive to the children's current state of mathematical development. In addition, a teacher needs to be flexible in embedding appropriate levels of mathematics in response to children's spontaneous mathematical interests in a variety of activities

Young children's food brand knowledge. Early development and associations with television viewing and parent's diet

Brand knowledge is a prerequisite of children's requests and choices for branded foods. We explored the development of young children's brand knowledge of foods highly advertised on television – both healthy and less healthy. Participants were 172 children aged 3–5 years in diverse socio-economic settings, from two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland with different regulatory environments. Results indicated that food brand knowledge (i) did not differ across jurisdictions; (ii) increased significantly between 3 and 4 years; and (iii) children had significantly greater knowledge of unhealthy food brands, compared with similarly advertised healthy brands. In addition, (iv) children's healthy food brand knowledge was not related to their television viewing, their mother's education, or parent or child eating. However, (v) unhealthy brand knowledge was significantly related to all these factors, although only parent eating and children's age were independent predictors. Findings indicate that effects of food marketing for unhealthy foods take place through routes other than television advertising alone, and are present before pre-schoolers develop the concept of healthy eating. Implications are that marketing restrictions of unhealthy foods should extend beyond television advertising; and that family-focused obesity prevention programmes should begin before children are 3 years of age.

녹색성장교육에 기초한 프로그램이 유아의 환경보전지식, 태도 및 행동에 미치는 효과

본 연구는 유아가 함께 참여할 수 있도록 녹색성장교육에 기초한 프로그램을 구성하고 이 프로그램이 유아의 환경보전지식, 태도 및 행동에 미치는 효과를 분석하는데 목적이 있다. 녹색성장교육에 기초한 프로그램은 '생태계', '에너지', '자원', '녹색시민의식'으로 크게 4가지 내용 영역으로 구성하였고, 각 내용 영역에 가장 적합하다고 판단되는 구체적인 활동을 20회기로 계획하여 만 5세 유아를 대상으로 프로그램을 실시하였다. 프로그램 실시 후 환경보전지식, 환경보전태도, 환경보전 행동에서 실험집단 유아의 점수가 비교집단 유아보다 유의하게 높은 것으로 나타나 녹색성장교육에 기초한 프로그램이 유아의 환경보전지식 습득과 환경보전태도 및 행동의 향상에 효과적임을 알 수 있었다. 본 연구는 유아교육현장에서 녹색성장교육을 실행하는데 많은 어려움을 호소하고 있는 현실을 반영하여, 녹색성장교육을 실행하고자 하는 유아 교사에게 구체적이고 실질적인 정보를 제공할 수 있을 것으로 기대한다. This study started as an effort to solve the serious environmental program that the Korean government and internationally focused on. For the purpose of the study, a green based growth education program was composed that young children could participate in. With this program, the study participants could form attitudes, behavior, and knowledge of environmental preservation. To see the effectiveness of the green growth educational program, the study set up a control and an experimental group. The program was composed with four major content 'ecosystem', 'energy', 'resource', and 'green citizenship'. The study planned 20 sessions including fairy tales, storytelling, art, game, and science activities. The study's participants were a total of 42 five-year-old children. The result of the research showed that the experimental group's environmental preservation knowledge, attitude, and behavior score was significantly higher than the control group. The green growth educational program had a positive effect on young children's knowledge, attitude, and behavior of environmental preservation. This study included the realities of the difficulties applying green growth education in kindergarten, the result provided practical information regarding the green growth educational program to kindergarten teachers.

Emotion Expressiveness and Knowledge in Preschool-Age Children: Age-Related Changes

Emotion is a central feature of social interactions. In this study, we examined age-related changes in emotion expressiveness and emotion knowledge and how young children's emotion expressiveness and knowledge were related. A total of 300 children attending a daycare center contributed data for the study. Observation and interview data relevant to measures of emotion expressiveness and knowledge were collected and analyzed. Both emotion knowledge and expressed positive affect increased with age. Older preschool children expressed positive affect more frequently than did younger preschoolers. Older preschool children also labeled, recognized, and provided plausible causes mores accurately than did younger preschool children. In addition, we tested whether children's errors on the free labeling component conform to the structural model previously suggested by Bullock and Russell (1986) and found that preschool children were using systematic strategies for labeling emotion states. Relations between emotion expressiveness and emotion knowledge generally were not significant, suggesting that emotional competence is only gradually constructed by the child over the preschool years.

Is Children's Informal Knowledge of Mathematics Important? Rethinking Assessment of Children's Knowledge of Mathematics

Children bring with them tremendous informal knowledge of mathematics when they enter school, but this has often been overlooked when assessing their knowledge of mathematics. This article raises the inevitable issue among early childhood educators and researchers to rethink the assessments to evaluate young children's informal knowledge of mathematics.

Development of Mathematical Knowledge in Young Children: Attentional Skill and the Use of Inversion

The principle of inversion, that a + b − b must equal a, is a fundamental property of arithmetic, but many children fail to apply it in symbolic contexts through 10 years of age. We explore three hypotheses relating to the use of inversion that stem from a model proposed by Siegler and Araya (2005). Hypothesis 1 is that greater calculational skill is related to greater use of inversion. Hypothesis 2 is that greater attentional skill is related to greater use of inversion. Hypothesis 3 is that the relation between attentional skill and the use of inversion is particularly strong among children with high skill in calculation. We found suggestive evidence for Hypothesis 2 and clear evidence for Hypothesis 3, indicating that for children who are strong at calculation, attentional flexibility is related to use of inversion.

학부모의 에너지절약 인식 및 행동이 유아의 친환경태도와 환경보전지식에 미치는 영향

이 연구는 학부모의 에너지절약 인식 및 행동이 유아의 친환경태도와 환경보전지식에 미치는 영향을 알아보는데 목적이 있다. 이를 위하여 2013년 6월 10일부터 30일까지 충남 N시의 농어촌형 어린이집에 다니는 유아와 부모 160명을 대상으로 설문조사를 실시하였다. 분석결과 첫째, 학부모의 에너지절약 인식이 유아의 친환경태도에 미치는 영향은 학부모의 환경보전의식, 에너지 전략의식이 유아의 친환경태도에 영향을 미쳤다. 둘째, 학부모의 에너지절약 행동이 유아의 친환경태도에 미치는 영향은 학부모의 일반행동, 선택행동이 유아의 친환경태도에 영향을 미쳤다. 셋째, 학부모의 에너지절약 인식이 유아의 환경보전지식에 미치는 영향은 학부모의 환경보전지식, 에너지 전략의식이 유아의 환경보전지식에 영향을 미쳤다. 넷째, 학부모의 에너지절약 행동이 유아의 환경보전지식에 미치는 영향은 학부모의 일반행동, 선택행동이 유아의 환경보전지식에 영향을 미쳤다. 이상의 연구결과 학부모의 에너지절약 인식과 행동은 유아의 친환경태도와 환경보전지식에 긍정적인 정(+)의 영향을 받는 것으로 나타났다. 이는 유아의 친환경태도와 환경보전지식을 긍정적으로 높이기 위해 학부모의 바른 에너지절약인식과 행동의 중요함을 시사해 준 것이라 할 수 있다. The purpose of this study was to figure out the effects of parents' energy conservation awareness and behaviors on young children's environment-friendly attitudes and environmental preservation knowledge. To achieve this, a survey was carried out to 160 kindergarten children and their parents in the farming and fishing communities located in N city, Chungnam through June 10 to June 30, 2013. The results of the analysis were as follows. First, the effect of parents' energy conservation awareness on young children's environment-friendly attitudes showed that parents' environmental preservation awareness and energy conservation awareness had an effect on young children's environment-friendly attitudes. Second, the effect of parents' energy conservation behaviors on young children's environment-friendly attitudes showed that parents' general behaviors and selective behaviors had an effect on young children's environment-friendly attitudes. Third, the effect of parents' energy conservation awareness on young children's environmental preservation knowledge showed that parents' environmental preservation knowledge and energy conservation awareness had an effect on young children's environmental preservation knowledge. Fourth, the effect of parents' energy conservation behaviors on young children's environmental preservation knowledge showed that parents' general behaviors and selective behaviors had an effect on young children's environmental preservation knowledge. As for findings stated above, parents' energy conservation awareness and behaviors had a positive effect on children's environment-friendly attitudes and environmental preservation knowledge. This implies that parents' right energy conservation awareness and behaviors are important to enhance children's positive environment-friendly attitudes and environmental preservation knowledge.

A measure of emerging print knowledge in young children

There is a need for more comprehensive assessments of young children's emerging print knowledge. Traditional letter and numeral identification assessments score children's responses as either correct or incorrect and this approach can underestimate what children know. The present study tested an assessment scale that scored three- and four-year-old children's (N = 69; M age = 49.17 months) responses along a continuum from no letter and numeral name knowledge, to using a mix of non-conventional and conventional names, through to full mastery. Compared to traditional scoring, the new scale was more comprehensive because it included more elements of each child's emerging knowledge of letter and numeral identification and was more sensitive to individual differences among children. The emergent print identification scale can be used to inform learning and teaching in the early years classroom and be used in early literacy research.

Young children's knowledge and skills related to sexual abuse prevention: A pilot study in Beijing, China

To examine the level of knowledge and skills related to prevention of child sexual abuse (CSA) in a sample of Chinese preschoolers in Beijing and to explore the associations between children's scores on the knowledge and skills and their parents’ reports on the knowledge and communication with children about CSA prevention. One hundred and thirty-six preschoolers were interviewed by researchers using the Chinese versions of Personal Safety Questionnaire and the “What If” Situation Test, and one parent of each child was invited to complete an anonymous questionnaire regarding parental knowledge and parent–child communication about CSA prevention. Less than half children knew that strangers were not the only perpetrators and only 16% thought that children should report secret touching. In 3 inappropriate touching requests, less than 30% of the children were aware of using verbal response to definitely refuse the inappropriate touching and less than 20% of the children were aware of definitely removing themselves from the abusive situations. Parent–child communication about CSA and parental educational level were the significant factors for children's self-protection skills. Preschool children lack CSA prevention knowledge and related self-protection skills. Culturally relevant primary CSA prevention programs in China need to be developed and parental education should be a part of CSA prevention. Parents need to be informed about CSA knowledge concepts and need to be encouraged to communicate with their children about sexual abuse prevention.

Toddlers Activate Lexical Semantic Knowledge in the Absence of Visual Referents: Evidence from Auditory Priming.

Language learners rapidly acquire extensive semantic knowledge, but the development of this knowledge is difficult to study, in part because it is difficult to assess young children's lexical semantic representations. In our studies, we solved this problem by investigating lexical semantic knowledge in 24-month-olds using the Head-turn Preference Procedure. In Experiment 1, looking times to a repeating spoken word stimulus (e.g., kitty-kitty-kitty) were shorter for trials preceded by a semantically related word (e.g., dog-dog-dog) than trials preceded by an unrelated word (e.g., juice-juice-juice). Experiment 2 yielded similar results using a method in which pairs of words were presented on the same trial. The studies provide evidence that young children activate of lexical semantic knowledge, and critically, that they do so in the absence of visual referents or sentence contexts. Auditory lexical priming is a promising technique for studying the development and structure of semantic knowledge in young children.

Adapting Cognitive Task Analysis to Explore Young Children's Thinking Competence

Researchers and educators recognize that performance assessments and naturalistic observations are well suited for assessing young children's thinking abilities and understanding. The need to establish explicit evaluation criteria to guide assessment decisions has led to the widespread use of rubrics. Rubrics tend to channel assessors to look for features of task performance that are similar to or different from the description contained in the rubrics and ignore other aspects of task performance or thinking skills. This qualitative research adapted cognitive task analysis techniques typically used to study adult expert performance to explore young children's thinking skills and domain knowledge in their task performances. This innovative approach demonstrates that such techniques as thinking conversations and visual representations can be useful tools for eliciting and analyzing children's thinking processes and skills. These techniques allow for a more open-ended approach to exploring children's thinking competence than such commonly used methods as tests and criteria-based performance assessments. They can be employed to identify specific aspects of children's thinking competence for formative purposes or subsequent targeted assessment. The findings of this study could contribute to both research methodology and educational assessment methods.

Critical professional issues in labour force development for teachers with children up to two years of age: a New Zealand perspective

This paper critically examines current concerns regarding professional issues in labour force development for teachers with children up to two years of age (UtoT). The concerns in New Zealand (NZ) relate to whether initial teacher-education (ITE) qualifications prepare teachers to work with children UtoT, involving synergy between ITE and the early childhood curriculum, and if there is widespread acknowledgement that in-depth knowledge is needed for teachers as leaders in this field. The background to these issues involves low teacher status with children UtoT and high staff turnover, and a lack of specialised knowledge, accompanied by increasing enrolments for this age group. A recent document analysis of ITE programmes in NZ revealed an increasingly generalised view of children under five years rather than specialised knowledge of young children in the first years. A more knowledgeable and professional labour force would provide much needed leadership in this expanding part of the education sector.

Computer use and letter knowledge in pre‐school children: A population‐based study

To explore the link between pre-school children's general home computer use and their letter knowledge. As part of the Early Language in Victoria Study, a community cohort of 1539 four-year-old children was tested on letter knowledge as well as on non-verbal intelligence, oral language, articulation and phonological awareness. Performance on these measures was examined in relation to parent-questionnaire responses exploring home literacy environment and the amount of time children spent using the computer. A positive correlation between computer use and letter knowledge was found, and this association was still evident after controlling for other cognitive and environmental factors known to predict the development of letter knowledge in young children. Greater computer use in pre-school children appears to have a positive association with emerging literacy development. Future research needs to examine the nature of that association.

Children's experiences as hospital in-patients: Voice, competence and work. Messages for nursing from a critical ethnographic study

BackgroundThere is growing evidence that children's subjective interpretations of events may differ significantly from those of adults; yet children's and young people's voices and children's knowledge regarding hospital care remain relatively unexplored. ObjectiveTo develop insight into children's subjective interpretations and knowledge of being hospital in-patients. DesignCritical ethnography. SettingA nephro-urology ward in a tertiary referral children's hospital in the north of England. ParticipantsA purposive sample was employed of 15 children over 2 phases: six (9–15 years) at home in a reconnaissance first phase, and nine (5–14 years) in hospital in phase 2. MethodsA raft of child-friendly, age-appropriate strategies was used to engage children in phase 1. Phase 2 involved over 100h of field-work with hospitalised children over 6 months, with observation, interview, play and craft activities as prominent methods. Data were analysed using constant comparative methods. ResultsThe study ward was a place in which children struggled to find a space for their competence to be recognised and their voice heard. Children's voice became manifest in what they said but also through the non-verbal mechanisms of resisting, turning away and being silent. While all the children shared the experience of being in trouble, recognition of their competence was fluid and contingent on their relationships with the nurses alongside other structural and material factors. The children worked hard to maintain their position as knowledgeable individuals. When they could not do so they relied on supportive adults, and in the absence of supportive adults they became marooned and received bare minimum care. ConclusionThe hospital ward was a place for children in which there was little space for children's voices. When their voices were heard, they were often seen as a challenge. Quiet, sick and shy children who were alone were the most likely to have their needs overlooked and become subject to standardised nursing care. A more inclusive and participatory model of nursing practice with children is urgently needed.

The structure of semantic knowledge in young children's false memory.

The structure of semantic knowledge in young children's false memory.

Children's participation rights in early childhood education and care: the case of early literacy learning and pedagogy

This position article argues that educators' knowledge of young children's perspectives on aspects of early learning, including literacy learning, and subsequent interpretations of the ways that these perspectives can inform and shape pedagogy are key to promoting children's participation rights in early childhood education and care. Drawing on ideas such as guided participation and Bruner's notion of a pedagogy of mutuality, it is argued that pedagogy, as it is now understood, implies that children's participation is central to the task of teaching. It is also argued that explicit articulation of the concept of joint participation in relation to literacy curricula and pedagogy in early childhood is warranted. The latter part of the article raises the issue of the diversity of children's perspectives of literacy learning and pedagogy. There follows a discussion of some of the issues related to working with young children's perspectives on literacy.

How do Australian junior primary school children perceive the concepts of “healthy” and “unhealthy”?

Purpose – This paper aims to describe Australian children's perceptions of healthiness and sources of health knowledge in order to develop an understanding of young children's perceptions, knowledge and sources of influence to guide future behaviour change and health promotion strategies.Design/methodology/approach – One‐hour interactive focus groups were conducted in a South Australian primary school. Four small groups (n=28) of children aged five to nine participated in focus groups in which they were asked to discuss being healthy and their sources of health information as well as engaging in storying around the healthy or unhealthy behaviours of fictional characters.Findings – Children generally perceived themselves to be healthy. Perceptions of healthiness were equated with performing positive dietary (primarily eating fruit) and physical activity behaviours. Behaviours on an unhealthy day related to being sedentary and consuming “junk foods”. Commonly cited sources of health information included fam...

Young Children's Knowledge of the Representational Function of Pictorial Symbols: Development Across the Preschool Years in Three Cultures

Three- to 5-year-old children's knowledge that pictures have a representational function for others was investigated using a pictorial false-belief task. In Study 1, children passed the task at around 4 years old, and performance was correlated with standard false-belief and pictorial symbol tasks. In Study 2, the performance of children from two cultural settings who had very little exposure to pictures during the first 3 years (Peru, India) was contrasted with that of children from Canada. Performance was better in the Canadian than Peruvian and Indian samples on the picture false-belief task and drawing tasks but not on the standard false-belief measure. In all settings, children passed drawing and standard false-belief tasks either concurrently with, or prior to, passing the picture false-belief task. The findings suggest that children's explicit knowledge of the representational function of pictorial symbols matures in the late preschool years and develops more rapidly in cultures that strongly promote the symbolic use of pictures early in life.