早期学习与儿童幸福感国际研究项目概况及对我国学前教育评价的启示

早期学习与幸福感研究是21世纪以来教育领域的热点话题。介绍OECD早期学习与儿童幸福感国际研究项目(International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study,IELS)的基本情况,着重阐述IELS项目的测评框架、评估方法及在美国的应用效果,以此探寻促进我国本土化早期教育发展的可行性路径。IELS对我国学前教育评价的启示有:1)强调整体性的早期儿童发展观;2)开发全国统一的学前儿童发展监测框架;3)重视以真实生活情境为基础的评价工具的研发;4)关注家庭和家校沟通在儿童早期经历中的重要作用。     

Providing Quality Early Care and Education to Young Children Who Experience Maltreatment: A Review of the Literature

The current paper highlights the few studies that examine the role of early care and education on the developmental and early academic outcomes of children who experience maltreatment. First, we argue that children who experience maltreatment are at significant risk for poor developmental outcomes as a result of the chronic exposure to stress that is typical of this population. Recent evidence emphasizing the effects of stress on brain development is discussed. Next, the role of quality early care and education (ECE) experiences for children receiving services from child protective agencies are explored, underscoring three particular studies that examine the early educational experiences of children who receive child protective services as a result of maltreatment or exposure to violence. Finally, we focus on current approaches to improve the outcomes of children who experience maltreatment, within the context of ECE, and the implications for future research. Overall, this review serves as a call for international research efforts to explore the role of ECE on the developmental and early educational outcomes of this vulnerable population of children.     

Nurturing Nature: How Brain Development Is Inherently Social and Emotional,and What This Means for Education

New advances in neurobiology are revealing that brain development and the learning it enables are directly dependent on social-emotional experience. Growing bodies of research reveal the importance of socially triggered epigenetic contributions to brain development and brain network configuration, with implications for social-emotional functioning, cognition, motivation, and learning. Brain development is also impacted by health-related and physical developmental factors, such as sleep, toxin exposure, and puberty, which in turn influence social-emotional functioning and cognition. An appreciation of the dynamic interdependencies of social-emotional experience, health-related factors, brain development and learning underscores the importance of a “whole child” approach to education reform and leads to important insights for research on social-emotional learning. To facilitate these interdisciplinary conversations, here we conceptualize within a developmental framework current evidence on the fundamental and ubiquitous biological constraints and affordances undergirding social-emotional learning–related constructs and learning more broadly. Learning indeed depends on how nature is nurtured.     

先秦通感修辞探析

先秦通感分为早期形态和完整形态。本文从认知语义角度抽象出通感的认知要素、语义框架,并列出其母体结构式。相对于母体结构式而言,先秦完整形态的通感变式居多。考察认为先秦对通感心理的认知经历了从幼稚到成熟的过程,而这种对感官联通正谬交叉的认知背景,在一定程度上可以解释通感的完整形态为何初现在文人作品中,并且与早期形态相比使用频率不高的原因。     

Multiagency working in the early years: confidence,competence and context

Research and development with regard to interprofessional practice have extended over recent decades to early years services in children’s centres (CCs). However, most children in England attend private and voluntary settings, rather than CCs. where early years practitioners have varying amounts of opportunity, training and experience to work interprofessionally. Developing our Social Practice analysis of case studies, we propose a theoretical framework for interpreting early years interprofessional practice that takes account of specific contexts, noting conditions which promote boundary-crossing competence. This paper presents selected findings from a survey of 52 early years practitioners from England about their experiences of interprofessional working, woven together with case study exemplars. Their extensive responses to open-ended survey questions showed great variation in work with other professions and in reported levels of confidence and competence. However, there were also differences depending on the setting type. Findings suggest the need to tailor training to individual contexts, and argue for securing space for practitioners to gain experience of interprofessional working through mentored opportunities.     

建立儿童学习的脑科学交管系统——脑执行功能理论对学前儿童发展与教育的启示

本研究聚焦国际儿童发展和脑功能研究的最新发现:儿童学习的脑功能交管系统,即脑执行功能理论,以及这一理论对学前儿童发展与教育的启示。综述大量来自国外权威研究机构的最新成果,本文集中讨论儿童学习与发展的脑功能交管系统的定义,解释早期发展经验如何促进儿童脑执行功能能力的发展,强调创建适合儿童脑执行功能发展的教育环境和预防毒性压力的重要性。在此基础上,研究者针对我国学前教育的现实状况,提出了有益的建议。     

The Role of Effective Modeling in the Development of Self‐Efficacy: The Case of the Transparent Engine*

Computing technology augments learning in education in a number of ways. One particular method uses interactive programs to demonstrate complex concepts. The purpose of this article is to examine one type of interactive learning technology, the transparent engine. The transparent engine allows instructors and students to view and directly interact with educational concepts such as Web‐enabled software development. The article first presents a framework describing transparent engines. The framework details four types of transparent engines: (1) enactive mastery/manipulatable, (2) enactive mastery/nonmanipulatable, (3) vicarious experience/manipulatable, and (4) vicarious experience/nonmanipulatable. Following this, we present the results of an experiment designed to examine this framework by testing its predictions for one quadrant, vicarious experience/nonmanipulatable. The results support the framework in that students taught concepts with the aid of the vicarious experience/nonmanipulatable transparent engine had significantly higher domain‐specific self‐efficacy compared to those taught the same concepts without this tool.     

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.     

Toward a Synthesis of Parental Socialization and Child Temperament in Early Development of Conscience

It is argued that, while research on conscience development has emphasized the contribution of parental socialization, the influence of children's temperament has been largely neglected. Two developmental processes that result in the formation of two respective components of conscience are proposed: (1) development of the tendency to experience affective discomfort, guilt, and anxiety associated with wrongdoing; and (2) development of behavioral control—the ability to inhibit a prohibited action, to suppress an antisocial or destructive impulse, and to perform a more prosocial/desirable behavior. Individual differences among children and qualities of parental socialization in relation to both processes are considered as they contribute to conscience development. Relevant evidence from neopsychoanalytic, attributional, social-learning, and temperament models is reviewed. New avenues of research that integrate socialization and temperament perspectives in a developmental framework are proposed. The importance of the study of early developmental periods is emphasized.     

Integrating theory and practice to increase scientific workforce diversity: a framework for career development in graduate research training

Few, if any, educational interventions intended to increase underrepresented minority (URM) graduate students in biological and behavioral sciences are informed by theory and research on career persistence. Training and Education to Advance Minority Scholars in Science (TEAM-Science) is a program funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with the twin goals of increasing the number of URM students entering and completing a PhD in BBS and increasing the number of these students who pursue academic careers. A framework for career development in graduate research training is proposed using social cognitive career theory. Based on this framework, TEAM-Science has five core components: 1) mentor training for the research advisor, 2) eight consensus-derived fundamental competencies required for a successful academic career, 3) career coaching by a senior faculty member, 4) an individualized career development plan that aligns students' activities with the eight fundamental competencies, and 5) a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats personal career analysis. This paper describes the theoretical framework used to guide development of these components, the research and evaluation plan, and early experience implementing the program. We discuss the potential of this framework to increase desired career outcomes for URM graduate trainees in mentored research programs and, thereby, strengthen the effectiveness of such interventions on participants' career behaviors.     

Science Teachers Without Classrooms of Their Own: A Study of the Phenomenon of Floating

“Floating” teachers, or teachers without their own classroom, experience unique affordances and constraints as they develop professionally. To increase the knowledge in this area, this study looks at how traveling to different classrooms affects beginning secondary science teachers’ development and instruction. The participants in this study were three first-year floating secondary science teachers whose experiences were analyzed through a cultural historical activity theory framework. The data revealed how floating can either support or constrain the development of beginning science teachers, and limit the implementation of standards-based instruction. Finally, this study shows that high levels of human, physical, and social resources are necessary for progress towards standards-based science teaching. It suggests that if science teachers must move to different classrooms, we need to create ways in which to support their instruction and development. Furthermore, this study recommends that all teachers and supervisors work toward a deeper understanding of the school community’s role in the experience of the floating science teacher.     

Early literacy and home visiting during the reception year: supporting ‘difficult to reach’ families

Intervening early when young children experience difficulties with literacy has been highlighted strongly in recent international research, particularly for children from families who live in areas marked by poverty. This study, based in two schools, was designed to support four children judged to be most at risk of struggling with literacy through the provision of weekly home visits (and some extra support in class) during their first year at school. The evidence that the children benefited from this form of intervention is discussed, and it is suggested that the home visiting intervention framework adopted in this study is useful for helping ‘difficult to reach’ families.     

New directions in the study of early experience

In this commentary, we review Greenough, Black, and Wallace's conceptual framework for understanding the effects of early experience, and illustrate the applicability of their model with recent data on the consequences for animals and human infants of the acquisition of self-produced locomotion.     

Scaling the Pyramid Model Across Complex Systems Providing Early Care for Preschoolers: Exploring How Models for Decision Making May Enhance Implementation Science

Bringing effective practices to scale across large systems requires attending to how information and belief systems come together in decisions to adopt, implement, and sustain those practices. Statewide scaling of the Pyramid Model, a framework for positive behavior intervention and support, across different types of early childhood programs (i.e., Head Start, early childhood special education, and school readiness) is used to describe how decision-making models may enhance professional development efforts. Research Findings: A theoretical model is presented based on implementation science, empirical knowledge, and practice evidence from one state’s experience trying to bring the Pyramid Model to scale across different types of early childhood programs. In this model, attention is given to how professional development systems may need to extend beyond the current focus on enhancing knowledge and skills to also address the belief systems of practitioners, administrators, and policymakers that influence implementation. Practice or Policy: Decision making and program characteristics are discussed relative to competency, organizational, and leadership drivers that may vary between different types of early childhood programs. Implications for statewide professional development systems and future research are discussed.     

Connecting inside out: Development of the social brain in infants and toddlers with a focus on myelination as a marker of brain maturation

Early childhood is a sensitive period for learning and social skill development. The maturation of cerebral regions underlying social processing lays the foundation for later social-emotional competence. This study explored myelin changes in social brain regions and their association with changes in parent-rated social-emotional development in a cohort of 129 children (64 females, 0–36 months, 77 White). Results reveal a steep increase in myelination throughout the social brain in the first 3 years of life that is significantly associated with social-emotional development scores. These findings add knowledge to the emerging picture of social brain development by describing neural underpinnings of human social behavior. They can contribute to identifying age-/stage-appropriate early life factors in this developmental domain.     

自闭症谱系障碍儿童早期脑结构发育异常及其神经机制

自闭症谱系障碍是儿童发育早期出现的一种神经发展性疾病。近年来,基于婴幼儿同胞研究范式的脑神经科学研究发现,自闭症儿童发育早期会出现皮层表面积加速增大、脑脊液异常增加和脑白质结构异常,这些发现有助于追踪自闭症儿童大脑和核心行为症状的发育轨迹,预测自闭症早期的发生和后期的发展趋势。本文对自闭症儿童早期脑结构发育异常及其神经机制的研究进行了系统梳理,以期深入理解自闭症的发病机制,助益于自闭症的早期筛查、靶向干预和有效康复。     

Look out! ‘Looked after’! Look here! Supporting ‘looked after’ and adopted children in the primary classroom

The focus of this article is on children who are ‘looked after’ or adopted. Specifically it explores some of the possible effects of early life traumas and insecure attachments on brain development and subsequent learning in primary school. The article draws on a range of research which helps to outline possible difficulties which these children may encounter, and behaviours which they may display. The article is not intended in any way to label these children within a deficit model, but to help those involved in their education to gain greater insight into the possible causes of their differences. The article examines how brain development may be influenced by early life trauma, how children who have been ‘looked after’ or adopted often have difficulties with forming and sustaining relationships with peers and adults and how issues related to self-esteem and learning behaviours and skills can be supported in the classroom. Furthermore, it identifies the importance of considering the special needs’ framework for these children and how a range of multi-professional support may be essential.     

Functional brain development in infants: elements of an interactive specialization framework

One future direction for cognitive development research involves a closer integration with our knowledge about the developing brain. I present a framework for analyzing and interpreting postnatal functional brain development in human infants. Three specific hypotheses contribute to this framework, within which a variety of phenomena associated with the neural basis of perception and cognition in normal and abnormal development can be characterized.