Scaffold Children Research Articles

‘Chairs of Conflict Resolution’: training young children to resolve conflicts in Greek kindergartens

ABSTRACT The Chairs of Conflict Resolution (CoCR) is a process developed for training children to discuss their conflicts constructively so they experience win-win outcomes. The present study examines the discussion taking place during the use of CoCR with young children 4–6-years-old. The discussion between the two children proceeded in four phases: (a) Describing the conflict where the ‘protestor’ blamed the other child and the ‘reactor’ accepts or denies his/her actions; (b) Discussing emotions; (c) Elaboration where they explain further their actions and intentions, evaluate their behaviour, recall class rules or CoCR rules, propose alternative ways of actions and (d) Resolution where children apologize and sometimes hug. Through teacher’s scaffolding children were able to resolve their conflicts in a mutually beneficial way. The outcomes are discussed in relation to the development of perspective-taking and social understanding and recommendations are being made for its successful implementation in early year settings.

How Mobile ECCE Practitioners Leverage a Variety of Learning Materials in Resource-Scarce Communities

This study explored how curriculum policies support that Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) practitioners need to leverage a variety of learning materials in resource-scarce communities to enhance children’s holistic development. Mobile ECCE practitioners face a challenge of limited resources especially in rural areas. Yet there is lack of professional training on the use of variety of learning materials in a resource-scarce communities. The study was underpinned by Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory to understand the significance of how mobile ECCE practitioners scaffold children's learning experiences by using various materials and tools, considering the underprivileged sociocultural context. A qualitative phenomenological design was adopted to examine mobile ECCE practitioners leveraging of a variety of learning materials in resource-scarce communities. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from twenty mobile ECCE practitioners in the rural communities from two mobile ECCE units of the Free State Province, South Africa. Prolonged engagement was used to validate the results. Interpretative phenomenological strategy was used to analyse data with the help of Atlas.ti. This study found that mobile ECCE practitioners employed innovative methods to adapt and improvise the use of existing materials to improve children’ holistic development. In light of this, it is recommended that practitioners need to integrate sociocultural context into their innovative methods improve the quality of ECCE in the face of resource constraints. Thus, novelty of this paper contributes to the curriculum and professional development in resource-scarce communities in rural areas.

“They are not losing anything”: preschool educators’ language ideologies and use for young emergent multilinguals labeled with disabilities

This study examines preschool educators’ language ideologies and use in dual language bilingual education (DLBE) classrooms for young emergent multilinguals labeled with disabilities (EMLWDs). EMLWDs require services supporting both their linguistic and disability needs; however, current policies either address their linguistic or disability needs. One equity-oriented approach for preparing EMLWDs is through inclusive DLBE. Educators’ language ideologies can enhance or constrain EMLWDs’ access to equitable multilingual spaces. For example, educators’ misconceptions regarding the bilingualism of EMLWDs restrict their access to DLBE. Therefore, there is limited research concerning EMLWDs conducted in preschool DLBE settings. This study aims to fill this literature gap by focusing on educators’ language ideologies and use for EMLWDs in preschool DLBE classrooms, using language ideology and language policy theories, as well as Disability Studies in Education perspective. As an ethnographic study, the data were collected via participant observations, interviews, and recording classroom interactions. The interview data were analyzed using a constant-comparative method, and the video data were analyzed following Erickson’s five-step inductive approach. The findings revealed educators’ three primary language ideologies: multilingual language ideologies, heteroglossic language ideologies, and ideologies that reinforced English dominance. Educators’ language use revealed English as the dominant language and translanguaging for several purposes, such as to scaffold children’s understanding.

Effect of a whole-group intervention on children’s participation in interactive book reading

This study examined the effects of an SLP-delivered whole-class interactive book reading intervention and a professional development program on children’s self-initiated participation. Eleven kindergarten teachers and the children in their classes participated in this quasi-experimental study. They were filmed during book reading at pre- and post-intervention, and follow-up. Children’s types of spontaneous comments appeared to be more diverse after the intervention, and the types that increased or emerged were consistent with the language targets of the interactive book reading. Nonparametric statistical tests were conducted. Significant changes were found in the number of hands raised by children to make a spontaneous comment and in the number of spontaneous comments after the intervention and at follow-up. Results for child-initiated interaction sequences were mitigated. This study invites school-based SLPs to foster children’s self-initiated participation in their tier-1 intervention and to support teachers in using children’s spontaneous comments to further scaffold children’s learning.

Does adult-child co-use during digital media use improve children's learning aged 0–6 years? A systematic review with meta-analysis

Young children spend a significant and increasing amount of time using digital media. Thus, a clear understanding of how best to support children's learning from digital media is important. A specific recommendation by some professional bodies is that parental co-use should be applied to scaffold children's learning from digital media. The aim of this meta-analysis was to assess the association between adult-child co-use on 0–6-year-old children's learning from digital media. The analysis was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We identified 17 studies investigating typically developing 0–6-year-old children's learning outcomes from digital media use with an adult for inclusion in this meta-analysis. We extracted 100 effect sizes (Ntotal = 1288) from studies published between 1977 and 2022. Our meta-analysis found a small positive association of adult-child co-use on children's learning from digital media (g = 0.198, 95% CIs: 0.059–0.337, p = 0.009); none of our moderator analyses were significant. While the evidence suggests a positive role of adult-child co-use, support for this conclusion was limited by small sample sizes and a lack of variety in study design. These issues limited the statistical power of our moderator analyses. The effect is, however, clearly significant and suggests that a real effect exists in the practice of co-use, but future research systematically exploring the mechanisms by which adult-child co-use supports children's learning is warranted.

Children's creative participation as a precursor of 21st century skills in Finnish early childhood education and care context

The purpose of this article is to study how children's creative participation as a precursor of 21st century skills is related to their skills and competencies, involvement, and class activities in the Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC) context. The study is part of the Finnish ECEC Progressive Feedback research and development project, which was conducted in 21 Finnish cities and companies providing ECEC services between 2017 and 2022. In this study, 5047 children aged between 1 and 7 years participated, using data which included both observation and child evaluations. Children's creative participation was examined using the social orientation theory together with the LI-SYC to focus on their involvement in class activities. The results showed that children's creative participation was related to their skills and competencies, involvement, and play as a class activity. The results emphasize the significance of creative participation as an indicator of quality and learning in ECEC. Educational relevance and implications statementThe results of this study show that creative participation as a precursor of 21st century skills (especially creativity and collaboration) is also an indicator of quality and learning today. Creative participation occurred in play as a class activity, and it was also connected with children evaluated individual skills and skills and competencies, especially creativity in pretend play and less support needs in language development. This is significant because with scaffolding and being conscious of the opportunities for creative participation in the pedagogy of early childhood education and care, it is possible to scaffold children's learning and well-being today and the skills and competencies they will need in the future.

Guided STEM Activity Kits for Parents With Preschool Children: Design, Frequency of Use, and Parent Evaluation

ABSTRACT Parents boost STEM skills by scaffolding children’s attention and discovery during play, but many need support doing so. Using human-centered design (HCD) methods, we created activity kits fostering parents’ (a) involvement in and (b) valuing of parent-child play to promote preschoolers’ STEM skills. Study 1 documents how HCD methods informed the design of guided activity kits. In initial home visits, we videorecorded six parent-child dyads playing with basic building materials. Play revealed minimal parental STEM scaffolding and talk. Collaborating with 18 families and drawing on prior research, parent interviews, videotaped play sessions, and advisory-board members’ expertise, the interdisciplinary research team designed and refined activity kit prototypes. Study 2 was a randomized field test comparing use and evaluation of final guided kits (n = 50) versus basic kits (n = 25) that contained identical building materials and challenges but omitted scaffolding guides. Both groups received kits by mail every other week for 10 weeks. Relative to parents given basic kits, parents given guided kits (a) reported significantly more sustained use of the kits across the 10 weeks, (b) felt more self-efficacy in fostering their child’s STEM learning, and (c) judged that their child had achieved greater STEM-skill learning from program use.

Investigating the role of spatial thinking in children’s design ideation through an open-ended design-by-analogy challenge

Spatial thinking is ubiquitous in design. Design education across all age groups encompasses a range of spatially challenging activities, such as forming and modifying mental representations of ideas, and visualizing the scenarios of design prototypes being used. While extensive research has examined the cognitive processes of spatial thinking and their relationships to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning, there remains a knowledge gap regarding the specific spatial thinking processes needed for open-ended problems, which may differ from those assessed in close-ended, analytical spatial tasks. To address this gap, we used educational design-based research to develop a nature-inspired, design-by-analogy project and investigate the spatial thinking processes of young, novice designers. 16 children from an international school in the Netherlands participated in this five-week design project. Multimodal evidence from classroom recordings and children’s design works were triangulated to offer insight into the key spatial thinking processes involved in their creation of nature-inspired, analogy-based design prototypes. Our results revealed spatial thinking processes that might not align with those assessed in conventional spatial tests and may be unique to design or open-ended problem-solving. These processes include abstracting spatial features to infer form-function relationships, retrieving a range of relevant visual information from memory, developing multiple possible analogical matches based on spatial features and relationships, elaborating and iterating on the design concepts and representations to make creative and suitable solutions for the design challenge, as well as visualizing design prototypes in practical usage scenarios. By highlighting the nuanced differences between spatial thinking in open-ended, divergent thinking tasks and conventional spatial tasks that demand single correct solutions, our research contributes to a deeper understanding of how children utilize spatial thinking in design and open-ended problem-solving contexts. Furthermore, this case study offers practical implications for scaffolding children's analogical reasoning and nurturing their spatial thinking in design education.

Mapping Children’s Actions in the Scaffolding Process Using Interactive Whiteboard

This study aims to examine children’s actions in relation to the preschool teacher’s scaffolding action in a context where an interactive whiteboard (IWB) is used. Over five months, 22 children aged between 4 and 6 years old, along with their five preschool teachers, were video observed. The study of these teaching moments has provided a rich seam of evidence that details the ways children act in relation to their teacher’s scaffolding. The results show that children manifest 12 distinct actions including: Giving short responses, Approaching the IWB to engage in the teaching activities; Explaining, Experimenting; Smiling and laughing; Pointing and showing; Working together; Challenging each other; Solving a problem; Using language in meaningful contexts; Expressing emotions; and Comparing the similarities and differences. By mapping children’s actions in the scaffolding process, which are often undermined or ignored in the existing research, the findings of this study have expanded and deepened our understanding of the scaffolding process and the notion of scaffolding itself. The findings, further, exemplify how just providing support can contribute to early childhood education, since early interventions, such as the ways preschool teachers scaffold children’s actions, are particularly crucial for children’s learning and development.

Relations between Math Achievement, Math Anxiety, and the Quality of Parent–Child Interactions While Solving Math Problems

In the current study, we used a multi-method approach to understand the quality of math homework-helping interactions between parents and their children and how parents’ and children’s own math achievement and math anxiety relate to the quality of the interaction. Forty Canadian parents and their children (ages 10–12 years; grades 5 to 7) completed self-report measures of math and general anxiety. Parents and children completed standardized assessments of math achievement and were then recorded as they engaged in a simulated math homework interaction. Coders assessed parent–child interaction quality during the interaction. Parent–child dyads generally performed well on the simulated math homework task. Nevertheless, task performance was correlated with the quality of the interaction, with high-quality interactions associated with high accuracy on the math task. Furthermore, the variability in the quality of the interaction was associated with parents’ and children’s math achievement and with the math anxiety of the children, but not the parents. Identifying the elements that influence parent–child interactions in math-related situations is essential to developing effective interventions to scaffold children’s math learning and attitudes.

Scaffolding children’s participation during teacher–child interaction in second language classrooms

ABSTRACT This study investigates the nature of teacher–child interaction and teacher scaffolding in Finnish second language (L2) classrooms. Although previous research on classroom interaction has highlighted the importance of scaffolding in language learning, much less is known about the importance of scaffolding for younger children's L2 learning. Utilising a sociocultural approach, this study aims to fill this gap. The data were collected from seven pre-primary/early primary L2 classrooms, with four teachers and 205 children through video recording (56 h) and observational field notes. The interaction analysis focused on the communicative functions of teacher–child interaction, teacher and student initiations, and teachers’ scaffolding children's participation during whole-class and small-group sessions. The results show how teacher–child interaction during small-group sessions supported the children’s active participation in L2 interaction and learning. The results also suggest how changing from teacher-centred modes of classroom interaction to child-centred and playful interaction is challenging and requires strong teacher professionalism.

Caregiver speech predicts the emergence of children's emotion vocabulary.

Learning about emotions is an important part of children's social and communicative development. How does children's emotion-related vocabulary emerge over development? How may emotion-related information in caregiver input support learning of emotion labels and other emotion-related words? This investigation examined language production and input among English-speaking toddlers (16-30 months) using two datasets: Wordbank (N=5520; 36% female, 38% male, and 26% unknown gender; 1% Asian, 4% Black, 2% Hispanic, 40% White, 2% others, and 50% unknown ethnicity; collected in North America; dates of data collection unknown) and Child Language Data Exchange System (N=587; 46% female, 44% male, 9% unknown gender, all unknown ethnicity; collected in North America and the UK; data collection dates, were available between 1962 and 2009). First, we show that toddlers develop the vocabulary to express increasingly wide ranges of emotional information during the first 2 years of life. Computational measures of word valence showed that emotion labels are embedded in a rich network of words with related valence. Second, we show that caregivers leverage these semantic connections in ways that may scaffold children's learning of emotion and mental state labels. This research suggests that young children use the dynamics of language input to construct emotion word meanings, and provides new techniques for defining the quality of infant-directed speech.

Scaffolding young children's computational thinking with teacher talk in a technology-mediated classroom

Although studies have shown that computational thinking (CT) can enhance learning processes and outcomes across traditional subjects, they have not shown how teachers might scaffold children's CT processes in a technology-mediated learning context. This exploratory study examined how teacher talk and technologies impacted the CT of three children (6 to 8 years old). Seven videotaped 90-minute sessions of weekly project-based activities yielded 4,842 turns of talk (2,974 by children). Statistical discourse analysis revealed the following results. After a teacher command, the children more often executed a sequence of actions toward a solution but less often demonstrated problem understanding than otherwise. Following a teacher's open question, the children were more likely to offer logically organized ideas. In response to a teacher's rhetorical question, they more often searched for information. These results inform educators regarding when to use each type of teacher talk to scaffold children's CT processes.

Cultural connections in early childhood: Learning through conversations between educators and children

This research aimed to explore the conversations between Aboriginal children and their educators in early childhood contexts. The research particularly focused on the relevance of these conversations for developing children’s identity. Participants were Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children and educators, who participated in conversations in early childhood education and care (ECEC) contexts. Qualitative analysis of 26 interactions was conducted using an Indigenist approach. Analysis revealed a broad range of topics that were discussed in the interactions, with an overarching theme of social interaction and communication. Within this umbrella theme, educators focused on skill development and scaffolding children’s interactions and communication. This research highlights how educators in the ECEC context focus on developing children’s identity and skills through social interactions. Aboriginal educators integrated their cultural knowledge and experiences to develop Aboriginal children’s skills and scaffold their communication, in preparation for transition into a mainstream formal education system.

Picture book reading on the development of preschoolers in rural areas of China: Effects on language, inhibition, and theory of mind.

Studies have shown that book reading intervention may scaffold children's language development. However, whether book reading interventions are equally effective for children's cognitive development in a Chinese rural school setting remains to be explored. We conducted a four-month book reading intervention to address these issues in rural Chinese areas. A total of three hundred twenty-one children aged between 2.56 and 6.47 years (M = 4.66 ages, SD = 0.80) were assigned to three groups as follows: (a) control group without donated picture books; (b) active reading control group with donated picture books; and (c) intervention group with a 4-month instructed picture book reading intervention. The findings indicate that the available books could produce significant positive changes in the development of receptive language (F (1,191) = 14.46, p < 0.01) and inhibitory control (F (1,190) = 7.64, p = 0.01) of rural children. However, a 4-month intervention was noneffective at boosting participants' performance on these tasks (F (1,203) = 0.07~2.73, p > 0.10). The results discussed the possible explanations, implications for behavioral intervention researchers, and suggestions for social service organizations or public institutions.

Towards inclusiveness and sustainability of robot programming in early childhood: Child engagement, learning outcomes and teacher perception

AbstractThe proliferation of screen‐free programmable robotics allows teachers to implement age‐appropriate integrated activities that can promote child learning and development. However, very scarce is known about the challenges of using programmable robots as a tool to empower children in minority communities. This mixed‐methods case study examined a Free Quality Kindergarten situated in a low‐income public housing estate in Hong Kong to explore the affordances and challenges of robot programming (RP) in early childhood education (ECE). Both quantitative and qualitative data were generated through videotaped observations, child assessments and teacher interviews to journey with the teaching team as they managed to implement the newly introduced RP curriculum. Child assessment evidence revealed that there was a statistically significant improvement in CT scores over 6 weeks of RP activities, while the pretest–posttest change of child self‐regulation scores was nonsignificant. Video analysis results further revealed that children's interaction level with the robot kit significantly predicted the change of self‐regulation over time. Qualitative results are presented to explicate the micro, meso and macro conditions that constrain the implementation of RP curriculum, including the following: (a) teachers' limited TPACK in RP education, (b) a disconnect between the RP curriculum and the school‐based curriculum, (c) limited resources and (d) the Confucian tradition and cultural barriers. These illustrate the intricacies involved in the implementation of RP education to empower marginalized children in under‐resourced ECE settings. This study will help bring systemic change to the ECE field by uncovering ecological difficulties in integrating new technologies to promote inclusiveness and sustainability for the future. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Screen‐free robot programming (RP) is beneficial for preschool children in terms of promoting their computational thinking (CT) and executive functioning. RP can be generally engaging for preschool children from a middle‐class background. What this paper adds The study is addressing the inclusiveness and sustainability according to the learning needs of kindergarten students, especially those from less privileged backgrounds. The story‐based approach to RP can cater to the learning needs and interests of children from a lower socio‐economic background, which is likely to enhance their CT skills. Children with a higher level of interaction with the robot kit benefited more from the RP activities in terms of self‐regulation skills. This study used multiple methods (ie, video analysis, teacher interview and child assessment) to reveal the effects of micro, meso and macro contexts on RP education in an under‐resourced Hong Kong kindergarten. Implications for practice and/or policy RP education should be cautiously prompted in diverse early childhood settings, especially the less privileged institutions, to enhance positive effects. Critical constraints on the use of programmable robots to empower marginalized children should be adequately addressed when trying to integrate RP into early childhood education. Teachers should receive training and continual support in RP‐related pedagogical strategies to facilitate and scaffold children's learning.

The role of bilingual discussion prompts in shared E-book reading

This randomized controlled trial study examined the effects of bilingual discussion prompts with feedback within a multimedia interactive e-book on parent-child shared reading for young English language learners aged 3–7 in China. Sixty-four parent-child pairs read a multimedia English storybook with bilingual discussion prompts in the treatment condition, and forty-three pairs read the same multimedia storybook without discussion prompts. After reading the storybook twice, children in the discussion-prompt group outperformed the control group on story comprehension and retelling measures. However, children in both groups showed comparable gains in English vocabulary. According to our qualitative analysis of parent-child responses on discussion pages, when parents follow the question-response-evaluate-feedback flow of the discussion sessions, they tend to practice dialogic reading strategies and scaffold children's learning naturally and effectively without explicit training. With the learning facilitation from both the storybook and parents, children received more comprehensible input, produced more English output, and became active storytellers instead of passive learners. Moreover, the e-book with a built-in questioning avatar established children's parasocial relationship with the story characters. These findings suggest an exciting potential for multimedia interactive e-books, powered by bilingual discussion prompts, as an effective educational tool for families from diverse linguistic backgrounds.

Mother-child synchrony is high across child executive function levels for both physical and digital spatial play

PurposePlay is a powerful influence on children's learning and parents can provide opportunities to learn specific content by scaffolding children's play. Parent-child synchrony (i.e., harmony, reciprocity and responsiveness in interactions) is a component of parent-child interactions that is not well characterized in studies of play. ProceduresWe tested whether children's executive function relates to mother-child synchrony during physical and digital play in sixty mother-child dyads. Main findingsMother-child synchrony did not relate to children's executive function or differ by play type (physical, digital), though during digital play mother-child synchrony was higher for girls relative to boys. ConclusionsThe findings suggest that mother-child synchrony is not influenced by children's executive function and physical and digital play can be similarly beneficial in offering the opportunity for responsive, reciprocal, dynamic interactions. The sex difference suggests that further factors should be explored as influences of play synchrony.

Exploring Patterns of Stability and Change in Caregivers' Word Usage Across Early Childhood.

The linguistic input children receive across early childhood plays a crucial role in shaping their knowledge about the world. To study this input, researchers have begun applying distributional semantic models to large corpora of child-directed speech, extracting various patterns of word use/co-occurrence. Previous work using these models has not measured how these patterns may change throughout development, however. In this work, we leverage natural language processing methods-originally developed to study historical language change-to compare caregivers' use of words when talking to younger versus older children. Some words' usage changed more than others; this variability could be predicted based on the word's properties at both the individual and category levels. These findings suggest that caregivers' changing patterns of word use may play a role in scaffolding children's acquisition of conceptual structure in earlydevelopment.

Drawingfrom and Expandingtheir Toolboxes: PreschoolTeachers' TraditionalStrategies, Unconventional Opportunities, and NovelChallenges in Scaffolding YoungChildren's Social and Emotional Learning During Remote Instruction Amidst COVID-19.

Building on aspects of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory centering around social interaction and adult scaffolding as essential to children’s learning, this study investigated the most prominently used strategies by eight teachers to scaffold social and emotional learning (SEL) in preschool children (ages 3–4) in the context of remote instruction during the 2021–2022 school year amidst COVID-19. These teachers (seven females and one male) came from two urban preschools funded by their local Board of Education in the state of New Jersey in the United States. These teachers (ages 28–44 years, M = 32 years) varied in teaching experience from five to 29 years (M = 13 years). Each teacher was interviewed for an average of 40 min virtually via Zoom. The interviews were digitally recorded and then transcribed for analysis. A thematic analysis of the data revealed that the three most salient strategies the teachers implemented to virtually scaffold the children’s SEL were: (1) involving book reading and discussion, (2) utilizing visuals, and (3) engaging in targeted conversations. In addition to adapting these three traditional strategies applied during in-person instruction to remote instruction, the teachers creatively and appropriately leveraged online resources to further scaffold and enhance children’s SEL in the unconventional virtual environment, thereby expanding their toolboxes. Despite their intentional efforts, these teachers found that there were unconventional opportunities and novel challenges in scaffolding children’s SEL during remote instruction not traditionally found during in-person instruction. Collectively, the findings of this study suggest that in-person instruction, due to its social nature, is still the most optimal condition for promoting children’s SEL.