Reading, Reasoning, and Literacy: Strategies for Early Childhood Education From the Analysis of Classroom Observations

Researchers have posited that children generally learn to read in environments that are trusting, comfortable, and offer small group or one-to-one adult support, all of which are characteristics of a high quality early childhood education program. This evaluation research study examines the Pre-Kindergarten Incentive Program, an early childhood demonstration program in Washington, DC designed to study several urban community-based sites. The authors facilitate a discourse on how all early childhood education programs can become high quality programs through standardized observations, evaluations, and constructive feedback. The article describes the demonstration program, highlights general findings from standardized classroom observations, discusses areas needing improvement, and presents strategies for addressing areas of challenge. It will reveal to early childhood educators how evaluation findings can improve teaching and learning techniques and environments in early childhood programs. The goal is to promote overall improvement in reading, reasoning, and literacy for children enrolled in early childhood programs and thereby better prepare them for kindergarten.     

Making Research Relevant in Preservice Early Childhood Teacher Education

Increasingly, researchers, teacher educators and governmental agencies underline the need for early childhood professionals to be able to conduct and use relevant research in their practice. In contrast, early childhood teachers tend to draw exclusively on practical advice rather than research evidence to evaluate and develop their teaching. To address these contradictions in expectations, recently developed preservice early childhood teacher education programs have included a core research subject that aims to foster an appreciation of the value of research and its contributions to professional practice. This study examines the effectiveness of teaching and learning approaches designed to make research relevant to undergraduates at an Australian regional university by tracking students' changing views about research during a one-semester teaching period. The findings of this study show that relevant learning experiences, such as designing and conducting a simple research project, modeling research, collaborative inquiry, focused reading, and organizing a research conference, significantly changed student perceptions of the relevance of research to their teaching and their future role as early childhood professionals.     

Understanding and Promoting Resilience in the Context of Adverse Childhood Experiences

Brain development in the early years is especially susceptible to toxic stress caused by adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). According to epigenetics research, toxic stress has the capacity to physically change a child’s brain and be hardwired into the child’s biology via genes in the DNA. The compelling nature of the impact of early adversity on later health and development has generated interest in protection against the impact of early adversity. Research highlights three interrelated “core protective systems” associated with positive adaptation. Early childhood educators are in a unique position to play a role in early identification of ACEs and to contribute to the development of protective skills. Adults within the early childhood education community can assist in increasing physical health and mental well-being for children who have encountered ACEs. Safe and healthy environments that allow the child to play, explore, and maximize his/her capacities are examples of how individual protective factors can be enhanced. Early childhood educators can support the child’s protective system by building the child’s personal attributes associated with resiliency, such as self-efficacy and self-regulation. Early childhood educators can provide a secure relationship, which is especially critical for children who have experienced trauma because it can provide extra support in times of stress. Additionally, by working collaboratively with parents, early childhood educators provide an additional layer of protection for children who experience adversity. Lastly, at the community level, early childhood educators can bring awareness to the public and private sectors by informing others of ACEs effect on early brain development and the link to later outcomes on individuals and society. Society is positively impacted when ACEs are reduced and individuals are raised in thriving families and communities.     

Preparing early childhood educators for global education: the implications of prior learning

This paper outlines the increasing cultural diversity of Australia’s education settings and explicates the global education movement and the new Australian Early Years Learning Framework. It discusses the implication of these factors for early childhood education practice and early childhood teacher education. The key research question considered in this paper is what prior learnings do early childhood educators utilise to consider global education? Data are presented on a research project that explores the prior learning of pre‐service early childhood educators at a major Australian university. The paper shows that, unlike primary and secondary pre‐service teachers, most early childhood education pre‐service teachers have significant professional experiences in educational settings. These prior experiences have a significant impact on pre‐service early childhood educators’ knowledge, beliefs and attitudes in the area of global education and align strongly with the global education curriculum movement and new national curriculum.     

Promoting vocabulary learning in young children who are d/Deaf and hard of hearing: translating research into practice

Vocabulary knowledge is strongly associated with reading achievement and becomes increasingly predictive of overall reading proficiency as children progress through the elementary grades. Children who are d/Deaf and hard of hearing often begin schooling with small meaning vocabularies, a disadvantage that puts them at risk of struggling to learn to read. Recent research on vocabulary intervention with young children who have typical hearing demonstrates the effectiveness of targeted, contextualized instruction on children's word learning and provides insights for early childhood educators of young d/Deaf and hard of hearing children. In the present essay, which is grounded in the qualitative similarity hypothesis (Paul, 2010, in press; Paul & Lee, 2010) and sociocultural theories of learning, the author argues for evidence-based vocabulary interventions for young d/Deaf and hard of hearing children that are rooted in the contemporary research literature.     

Supporting Young Children’s Vocabulary Growth: The Challenges, the Benefits, and Evidence-Based Strategies

The complexity of words makes vocabulary development a multi-faceted process that presents challenges to early childhood educators, offers benefits to young learners, and must be supported through evidence-based strategies. All students, regardless of socio-economic status or background, need to make significant gains in receptive and expressive vocabulary at home and at school each year in order to support their growth in literacy. Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and those students who speak English as a second language are particularly at risk of failing to make proficient vocabulary gains. The most effective way for early childhood educators to enhance the vocabulary development of all students is to implement evidence-based strategies for teaching vocabulary. A key finding in the research is that young children need to be actively engaged in vocabulary development if they are to remember new words and begin to grasp the multiple, nuanced meanings of words. Other effective vocabulary instruction practices include meaningful repetition; combining the enactive, iconic, and symbolic modes; and reading aloud in a dialogic style. In light of the trend in the research data that links the child’s vocabulary level to gains in reading comprehension, early childhood educators have a special obligation to teach vocabulary more effectively.     

Multicultural visions in early reading classrooms: Implications for early childhood teacher educators

Abstract

Teachers and teacher educators are faced with an urgent responsibility to support the learning of an increasingly diverse population of young children. Based on the sociocultural perspective of reading, a literature‐based approach is outlined for early reading teachers. The implications of this approach to teacher education programs are further discussed from the author's own experiences of transmitting multicultural visions to preservice teachers in a multicultural course and a literacy method course she taught. The author maintains that teacher educators are in a unique position to help early childhood teacher candidates nurture multicultural visions in their teacher education programs today, and carry these visions to their future early reading classrooms tomorrow. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.     

Training early childhood teachers for sustainability: towards a ‘learning experience of a different kind’

In this study, we discuss findings from a small-scale project evaluating an in-service teacher training programme focused on ‘perspective transformation’ in early childhood education and education for sustainability (EfS). A bespoke professional development programme was developed for Turkish early childhood teachers, based on a variety of Mezirowian-inspired adult education activities. Data were gathered using a mixed method research design, from 24 early childhood educators, through learning diaries, a Learning Activities Survey and follow-up interviews. Initial findings illustrate the range of transformations possible in the teachers’ perspectives during and after the training workshops. Influential factors in facilitating perspective transformation are shown to be the content, structure and sequencing of the training, and peer support. We conclude that transformative learning techniques offer a viable framework for engaging practicing early childhood teachers with EfS and also discuss implications for teacher preparation in both areas.     

Helping Preservice Teachers Learn to Teach for Understanding in this Era of High-stakes Early Education Reform

As early childhood education becomes more regulated through a range of education reforms and mandates, early childhood teacher educators are seeking ways to prepare their preservice teachers to address these policy constraints through appropriate teaching practices that foster learning with understanding. Using the National Research Council’s conception of learning as a framework for analysis, this article considers strategies to achieve this goal by first presenting findings from a case study that examined the training of a sample of preservice teachers who were both educated in high-stakes learning classrooms as well as taught to be early educators in these same environments. This article then uses these findings to the make case for practical and political approaches to teaching that can assist teacher educators in preparing their students for this regulated field of early education.     

Service Learning and Early Childhood Education: Intersection of Developmentally Appropriate Practice and P.A.R.E.

ABSTRACT

Service learning (SL) is both a pedagogy and philosophy adopted by many early childhood teacher educators. Extant research suggests the incorporation of service-learning can be effective for facilitating preservice teacher learning of curriculum, pedagogy, approaches to diverse learners and families as well as establishing a professional identity. To guide the intentional adoption of SL and its assessment in early childhood teacher education programs, the authors present the Developmentally Appropriate Practice /P.A.R.E. model and illustrate how the model might be applied in a teacher education program. Challenges to incorporating service-learning in early childhood education programs and future areas of research are described.     

Young children learning about well-being and environmental education in the early years: a funds of knowledge approach

Early childhood educators currently provide content focused learning opportunities for children in the areas of well-being and environmental education. However, these are usually seen as discrete content areas and educators are challenged with responding to children’s interests in popular-culture inspired food products given these influence their consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor and highly packaged food in the early childhood setting. This paper reports preliminary findings from a pilot randomised trial examining the interconnectedness of sustainability, well-being and popular-culture in early childhood education. Planning, assessment documentation and summaries from twenty-four learning experiences implemented by six educators over a six-week period were analysed using a deductive approach. Twenty well-being and environmental education topics were identified and shown to be generated by the educators when considering the children’s ‘funds of knowledge’ on popular-culture inspired food products. We argue that topics derived from children’s engagement with popular-culture may help educators to create an integrated approach to curriculum provision. This may impact child weight and facilitate obesity prevention and environmental sustainability as children create stronger connections between these content areas and their everyday choices and practices.     

Mind, Brain, and Literacy: Biomarkers as Usable Knowledge for Education

Neuroscience has the potential to make some very exciting contributions to education and pedagogy. However, it is important to ask whether the insights from neuroscience studies can provide "usable knowledge" for educators. With respect to literacy, for example, current neuroimaging methods allow us to ask research questions about how the brain develops networks of neurons specialized for the act of reading and how literacy is organized in the brain of a reader with developmental dyslexia. Yet quite how these findings can translate to the classroom remains unclear. One of the most exciting possibilities is that neuroscience could deliver "biomarkers" that could identify children with learning difficulties very early in development. In this review, I will illustrate how the field of mind, brain, and education might develop biomarkers by combining educational, cognitive, and neuroscience research paradigms. I will argue that all three kinds of research are necessary to provide usable knowledge for education.     

New Discoveries From the Bilingual Brain and Mind Across the Life Span: Implications for Education

We discuss the fruits of educational neuroscience research from our laboratory and show how the typical maturational timing milestones in bilingual language acquisition provide educators with a tool for differentiating a bilingual child experiencing language and reading delay versus deviance. Further, early schooling in two languages simultaneously affords young bilingual children a reading advantage and may also ameliorate the negative effect of low socioeconomic status on literacy. Using powerful brain imaging technology, functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy, we provide a first-time look into the developing brains of bilingual as comapred to monolingual children. We show unequivocally that the age of first bilingual exposure is a vital predictor of bilingual language and reading mastery. Accounts that promote later dual language and reading instruction, or those that assert human brain development is unrelated to bilingual language mastery, are not supported by the present findings. We discuss the implications for education, teachers, and developmental brain sciences.     

An ecological footprint for an early learning centre: identifying opportunities for early childhood sustainability education through interdisciplinary research

In this study, engineers and educators worked together to adapt and apply the ecological footprint (EF) methodology to an early learning centre in Brisbane, Australia. Results were analysed to determine how environmental impact can be reduced at the study site and more generally across early childhood settings. It was found that food, transport and energy consumption had the largest impact on the centre’s overall footprint. In transport and energy, early childhood centres can reduce their impact through infrastructure and cultural change, in association with changed curriculum strategies. Building design, the type of energy purchased and appliance usage can all be modified to reduce the energy footprint. The transport footprint can be reduced through more families using active and public transport, which can be encouraged by providing information, support and facilities and appropriate siting of new centres. Introducing the concept of ecological footprint in early childhood education may be an effective way to educate children, staff and parents on the links between the food they eat, land usage and environmental impact. This study responds directly to the call in this journal for research focused on early childhood education and for more to be made of interdisciplinary research opportunities.     

Early Care and Education Matters: A Conceptual Model for Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Integrating the Key Constructs of Knowledge,Reflection, and Practice

There has been a great deal of discourse in the field of early care and education concerning the experiences, skills, competencies, and education level needed by early childhood teachers to ensure that quality teaching and learning take place in the early years. The purpose of this article is to describe an early childhood teacher preparation program developed by a Child and Family Development Department at a large, urban, state-funded university in the hopes that we can further the discourse on how the field can ensure quality teaching and learning in both ECE and university classrooms. We propose a conceptual model that is built around three key constructs: knowledge, reflection, and practice and describe our approach to preparing early childhood educators. Using qualitative data from student reflections and course syllabi and quantitative data on the experiences and perceptions of graduating seniors, we hope to present promising practices in early childhood teacher education and provide support for our contention that the quality of early childhood teacher education matters.     

Interventions and Adaptations for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Inclusive Early Childhood Settings

The inclusive education of children with disabilities is considered best practice, yet many early childhood educators feel unprepared to deliver appropriate instruction for children with disabilities and often require supports to successfully meet the children’s unique needs. Young children experiencing autism spectrum disorder are being diagnosed at a young age and they are commonly receiving their education within inclusive early childhood settings. This article presents two methods to meet the needs of children with autism spectrum disorder. First, early childhood educators can provide interventions tailored to the children’s learning needs. Second, educators can adapt the environment, materials, activity, instruction, and assistance they provide so that each child is appropriately supported, while still being encouraged to succeed as independently as possible. This article summarizes research-based interventions and adaptations that early childhood educators can implement within inclusive settings to meet the diverse needs of young children with autism spectrum disorder and presents a case study to describe how these practices can support young children with autism spectrum disorder within inclusive settings.     

Developing Professional Early Childhood Educators in England and Hungary: Where Has All the Love Gone?

European education agendas have emphasized the importance of early childhood education in providing the foundations for lifelong learning. Central to the success of early childhood education is the quality of provision, with the workforce being key. While qualifications levels are frequently cited as important for the quality of provision here we ask questions of the attitudinal competences required to work in early childhood in two countries: England and Hungary. This paper presents a mixed-method study that considers the attitudinal competences perceived as needed by early childhood students and how these are acquired. We focus on the role of love in early childhood education and the contrasting perceptions and experiences in England and Hungary. In Hungary love is spoken about freely, but in England managerialist and entrepreneurial discourses are creating tensions with more emotional dispositions of being caring, supportive, and empathic that early childhood practitioners uphold. In Hungary, early childhood educators are given relative autonomy in their professional roles and love is a key characteristic. We consider historical, philosophical, and political developments in the two countries to shed light on how English and Hungarian perspectives have diverged, while exploring opportunities that comparing perspectives offers for the further professional development of early childhood educators.     

Transformative Curriculum: “I Felt like an Artist”

Contemporary early childhood teacher education is situated in a knowledge and policy environment where on the one hand preservice educators have the opportunity to connect with unlimited knowledge sources and, on the other, are expected to conform to standardized outcomes. This situation is compounded by increasingly inequitable learning outcomes for children in many countries. In this paper, we argue that this context demands different ways of teaching and learning in early childhood teacher education and that in order to address increasing inequity, preservice educators must experience a transformative university curriculum. This paper uses the example of an arts topic, with a particular focus on music, to examine ways of positioning preservice educators that open up, rather than restrict opportunities to reconceptualize early childhood curriculum. The authors examine data from curriculum documents and student reflections in order to discuss the intended (planned), enacted (implemented) and experienced university curriculum.