Guiding Children's Verbal Plan and Evaluation During Free Play: An Application of Vygotsky's Genetic Epistemology to the Early Childhood Classroom

Vygotsky advocated that a teacher's active involvement in children's verbalization of planning and evaluating play activities facilitates the development of their mental processes. Through verbal exchange, children internalize the psychological tools for thinking and move from regulation by others to self-regulation. From this Vygotskian perspective, I have developed the Verbal Plan and Evaluation (VPE) program, an instructional model applicable for free play time. Teaching strategies for implementing the program in an early childhood classroom are presented.     

Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development and Problem-based Learning: Linking a theoretical concept with practice through action research

This paper describes how an influential theory of cognitive development informed teaching on a problem-based learning (PBL) course in Zoology. Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD) was introduced to the course tutors as a set of 'common sense' ideas with the potential to enhance professional practice and improve teaching in PBL. Through collaborative action-research, a reflexive critique of experiences was systematically documented over 3 years and the present account focuses on three areas of practice influenced by the ZPD. These were a new emphasis on diagnostic teaching and learning, creating and maintaining instructional environments centred on authentic activities and supporting students as peer-teachers to help develop student autonomy in the context of collaborative learning.     

Equality of opportunity in a pluralistic society: A theoretical framework

Cultural pluralism is gaining importance in contemporary discussions of education. It can be viewed as a special case of freedom of choice, to be stipulated in policy making along with equity and efficiency. But, when applied to the special case of immigrants' children, implications for policy are equivocal. The spatial distribution of the residences of such children gives rise to obstacles in supplying educational services. Policies seemingly expressive of cultural pluralism are less clear when the heterogeneity within each immigrant group is considered. Freedom of choice can create major inequities.     

Toward a theoretical framework for community EE

Given the growing attention to community environmental education (CEE), this study develops a theoretical heuristic for this approach through a retroductive process by (1) examining theories appropriate for a CEE conceptual framework; (2) testing this framework in diverse contexts to determine its viability, and (3) reconceptualizing the framework. The framework hypothesizes that a community of practice focused on improving the conditions of local natural resources will exemplify transformative learning and empowerment if the community of practice is successful. Initial testing involved case studies of two groups from diverse contexts. Results indicated both groups organized as communities of practice. However, evidence showing improved local natural resources, transformative learning, and empowerment was lacking. Instead, there was evidence of enhanced agency and self-efficacy, requiring a reconceptualized framework.     

Early Childhood Education in Societal Context: Teachers in Three Countries Speak About Early Childhood Education

Building on the cross-cultural patterns and systems research as well as social constructivism, in-depth interviews were conducted with key informant early childhood teachers in three regions with similar characteristics in Sweden, Russia, and in the United States. Inductive analyses revealed differences in responses among Swedish, Russian and American informants related to the macro-, meso-, and micro-levels of societal system. United States teacher informants had a great number of separate topic comments and distributed them more evenly across all levels than did Russian and Swedish teacher informants who had more emphasis at the meso level. United States and Russian teacher informants discussed the lack of societal support for young children and their families, while Swedish teacher informants seemed to almost take this support for ranted. United States teacher informants suggested that early childhood programs were important in developing support networks among parents, while Russian teacher informants often gave information to parents and Swedish teachers spoke about mutually sharing information. United States teacher informants desired both strict rules with strong academic content and extension of the child's initiations through play; they emphasized activities and materials. Swedish teachers discussed a child- centered approach to social learning and creativity and desired to be with children rather than do activities with them. Russian teacher informants emphasized the importance of obedience, aesthetic education, and preparation for school and the labor of the larger society. These study outcomes deepen understanding about the multidemensional relationships between early childhood programs and societal contexts in which they are embedded, and they suggest alternative approaches to working with young children and their families.     

Understanding biosystem organization Part 2: towards a theoretical framework

The notion of biosystem organization is poorly understood by students and so its exploitation as an integrative concept is far from complete. In an attempt to go some way towards removing this problem, this paper presents a framework for analysing and describing biosystem organization. Taking biosystems to be models, the nature of the modelling process is reviewed from one perspective in the philosophy of science. Some important themes involved in biosystem modelling are identified and examined in some detail. One category, the systemic metaphors, is examined more fully and examples are described. The paper concludes with a look at some educational implications of this approach.     

Memory Binding in Early Childhood: Evidence for a Retrieval Deficit

Previous research has suggested that performance for items requiring memory-binding processes improves between ages 4 and 6 ( J. Sluzenski, N. Newcombe, & S. L. Kovacs, 2006 ). The present study suggests that much of this improvement is due to retrieval, as opposed to encoding, deficits for 4-year-olds. Four- and 6-year-old children ( N  = 48 per age) were given objects, backgrounds, and object + background combinations to remember. Younger children performed equivalently to 6-year-olds during a working memory task for all types of memory questions but were impaired during a long-term memory task for the object + background combinations. Furthermore, this deficit was completely due to differences in false alarm rates, suggesting that separate analyses of hits and false alarms may be preferable to corrected recognition scores when studying memory development.     

Immigrant students' experience of schooling: a narrative inquiry theoretical framework

We explore immigrant students' experience of schooling focusing on Yang Yang and his family. We present insights into immigrant Chinese educational experience in Canada and bring forward a narrative‐inquiry framework for the study of student experience. We find that—contrary to some of the expectations of Chinese immigrants—family relations, student learning, and school policies are complicated, with families finding it difficult to translate Chinese educational values in the Canadian context and their children facing serious learning and social difficulties.     

全人发展的幼儿教育——世界幼儿教育的发展趋势之一

全人教育是20世纪70年代从北关兴起的一种以促进人的整体发展为主要目的的教育思潮,对20世纪80年代中期以来的幼儿教育产生了重要影响,主要表现在幼儿教育的目的、目标、内容、过程、方法和途径等诸多方面。     

Parental Behaviours Predicting Early Childhood Executive Functions: a Meta-Analysis

Recent research indicates that parental behaviours may influence the development of executive functions (EFs) during early childhood, which are proposed to serve as domain-general building blocks for later classroom behaviour and academic achievement. However, questions remain about the strength of the association between parenting and child EFs, more specifically which parental behaviours are most strongly associated with child EFs, and whether there is a critical period in early childhood during which parental behaviour is more influential. A meta-analysis was therefore conducted to determine the strength of the relation between various parental behaviours and EFs in children aged 0 to 8 years. We identified 42 studies published between 2000 and 2016, with an average of 12.77 months elapsing in the measurement of parent and child variables. Parental behaviours were categorised as positive (e.g. warmth, responsiveness, sensitivity), negative (e.g. control, intrusiveness, detachment) and cognitive (e.g. autonomy support, scaffolding, cognitive stimulation). Results revealed significant associations (ps < .001) between composite EF and positive (r = .25), negative (r = ?.22) and cognitive (r = .20) parental behaviours. Associations between cognitive parental behaviours and EFs were significantly moderated by child age, with younger children showing a stronger effect size, whereas positive and negative parental behaviours showed a stable association with EFs across ages. We conclude that modest, naturally occurring associations exist between parental behaviours and future EFs and that early childhood may be a critical period during which cognitive parental behaviour is especially influential.     

Early Childhood Education and Care in the Time of COVID-19: Introduction to a Special Issue of Early Childhood Education Journal

Early Childhood Education Journal -     

A theoretical framework for the study of ICT in schools: a proposal

A sociocultural approach towards the study of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education rejects the view that ICT can be studied in isolation; it must be studied within the broader context in which it is situated. The paper argues for a more holistic approach of studying ICT in schools by adopting a sociocultural perspective. It proposes a theoretical framework based on activity theory, with the activity system as a unit of analysis that is surrounded by different levels of ecological circles.     

Reflections on a Redefined Early Childhood Practicum

This paper reports the processes and outcomes involved in reconceptualising the practicum experience at the School of Early Childhood Studies, University of Melbourne. The foci of the changes were acknowledging individual stages of student development, ensuring a clearer focus in the process of supervision and redefining the roles of the triad involved in this supervision. Subsequent evaluations indicated that triadic assessment procedures and a competency‐based focus for supervision and assessment achieved the initial goals, with the more recent evaluations suggesting directions for further enhancement of the early childhood practicum.     

Early Childhood Services in Ireland

This paper gives background information on early childhood services in Ireland and presents the results of a survey of the preschool experiences of 1065 children. The results of the survey suggest that the majority of children experienced some form of early childhood service before starting school. The most common service was a playgroup although a significant proportion of the children had experienced home‐based care with a relative or family day care provider. The implications of the findings for the development of a policy on early childhood services are discussed.