Emotion Displays in Two-Year-Olds during Mishaps

Although it has been shown that toddlers express distress when personal or physical events violate their expectations, there has been little detailed examination of their emotional reactions to such events. In this study, 45 2-year-olds were observed during 2 mishaps: a doll breaking and juice spilling. Their emotional reactions and their attempts to fix the mishap were coded. 2 components to their reactions to mishaps were found: one of tension and frustration, and another of concerned reparation. Mishaps elicited more negative emotions in toddlers than free play, and most toddlers attempted to correct the mishap. Children's styles of emotional response to mishaps may be related to maternal mental health. Symptoms of depression and anxiety in mothers were related to a suppression of tension and frustration in their offspring. Maternal acting out symptoms were not related to toddlers' reactions to mishaps. The findings are discussed in terms of the role of emotion in the formation of individual differences in sociomoral functioning and factors contributing to early differences.     

Hand–Eye Coordination Predicts Joint Attention

The present article shows that infant and dyad differences in hand–eye coordination predict dyad differences in joint attention (JA). In the study reported here, 51 toddlers ranging in age from 11 to 24 months and their parents wore head‐mounted eye trackers as they played with objects together. We found that physically active toddlers aligned their looking behavior with their parent and achieved a substantial proportion of time spent jointly attending to the same object. However, JA did not arise through gaze following but rather through the coordination of gaze with manual actions on objects as both infants and parents attended to their partner's object manipulations. Moreover, dyad differences in JA were associated with dyad differences in hand following.     

How to Support Toddlers’ Autonomy: Socialization Practices Reported by Parents

Autonomy-supportive parenting is found to foster children’s adjustment but relatively few studies have been conducted with toddlers. In the present exploratory study, parents (N = 182) reported what practices they use when asking their toddlers (M age = 26.9 months) to engage in important yet uninteresting activities. Parents rated twenty-six potentially autonomy-supportive practices, along with a well-known scale measuring the extent to which they have a positive attitude towards autonomy support. Research Findings: Using correlational and factorial analyses, eight practices were identified: various ways to communicate empathy, providing developmentally appropriate rationales, describing the problem in an informational and neutral way, and modeling the requested behavior. This subset of autonomy-supportive practices for toddlers was positively related with toddlers’ rule internalization, providing them with further validity. Practice or Policy: These preliminary findings may be useful in guiding future conceptual, empirical, and applied work on the support of toddlers’ autonomy and its assessment in an emotionally-charged and challenging context.     

A national survey of educational preparation programs for early intervention specialists.

To examine the status of preprofessional education in early intervention, we conducted a nationwide survey of college and university programs offering degrees in education of the deaf. Curriculum content and practicum experiences with infants and toddlers and their families were examined, as well as general comments and recommendations of program directors. Additional information was sought from programs offering specializations at the preschool level to determine whether they had CED affiliation, and if so, whether they were certified in the areas of parent-infant education or early childhood education. The findings are discussed in the context of Public Law 99-457 and the growing emphasis on family centered early intervention.     

Putting the "Noun Bias" in Context: A Comparison of English and Mandarin

Recently, researchers have been debating whether children exhibit a universal "noun bias" when learning a first language. The present study compares the proportions of nouns and verbs in the early vocabularies of 24 English- and 24 Mandarin-speaking toddlers ( M age = 20 months) and their mothers. Three different methods were used to measure the proportion of noun types, relative to verb types: controlled observations in three contexts (book reading, mechanical toy play, regular toy play), identical across languages; a vocabulary checklist (MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory); and mothers' reporting of their children's "first words." Across all measures, Mandarin-speaking children were found to have relatively fewer nouns and more verbs than English-speaking children. However, context itself played an important role in the proportions of nouns found in children's vocabularies, such that, regardless of the language spoken, children's vocabularies appeared dominated by nouns when they were engaged in book reading, but not when they were playing with toys. Mothers' speech to children showed the same language differences (relatively more verbs in Mandarin), although both Mandarin- and English-speaking mothers produced relatively more verbs than their children. In sum, whether or not language-learning toddlers demonstrate a "noun bias" depends on a variety of factors, including the methods by which their vocabularies are sampled and the contexts in which observations occur.     

Across the great divide: bridging the gap between understanding of toddlers' and older children's thinking

Research on very young children's cognitive development differs greatly from research on cognitive development in older children. The differences include the questions that are asked, the methods that are used to address them, the measures that are employed to provide relevant evidence, and the level of detail at which children's knowledge is represented. The research approaches are so different that they create an impression that infants' and toddlers' thinking differs qualitatively from that of preschoolers and older children. This impression, however, may reflect differences in research approaches rather than differences in children's thinking. In the present study, we attempted to bridge this gap by applying to toddlers a type of process analysis that has proved fruitful in studies of older children. Overlapping waves theory, trial-by-trial strategy assessments, and microgenetic methods were used to analyze 1.5- and 2.5-year-olds' problem solving and learning. The results demonstrated that changes in toddlers' strategies could be assessed reliably on a trial-by-trial basis, that the changes followed the basic form predicted by the overlapping waves model, and that analyses of toddlers' strategies could tell us a great deal about both qualitative and quantitative aspects of their learning. A componential analysis of learning that previously had been applied to older children also proved useful for understanding toddlers' learning. The analysis specified that cognitive change frequently involves five components: acquisition of new strategies; strengthening of the strategies in their original context; improved mapping of strategies onto novel problems; increasingly refined choices among variants of the strategies; and increasingly skillful execution of the strategies. Independent measures of these components indicated that strategic development in toddlers involves improvements in all five components. Analyses of individual differences in learning showed that the effects of distal variables, such as age and sex, could be partially explained in terms of their influence on mastery of the components, but that the distal variables exercised additional direct effects as well. The process of learning in toddlers closely resembled that of older children in other ways as well. Like older children, toddlers use multiple strategies over the course of learning; their choices among strategies are quite adaptive from early on; their choices become progressively more adaptive as they gain experience with the task; they switch strategies not only from trial to trial but within a single trial; their transfer of learning from one problem to the next is primarily influenced by structural relations between problems but also is influenced by superficial features; they show utilization deficiencies early in learning that they gradually overcome; and they show individual differences in learning that fall into a few qualitatively distinct categories. Perhaps most striking, the 1.5- and 2.5-year-olds emerged as active learners, who continued to work out the lessons of previous instruction in the absence of further instruction. That is, they integrated the lessons of their own problem-solving efforts with the previous instruction in ways that magnified the initial effects of the instruction. Overall, the findings indicated that the gap can be bridged; that theories, methods, measures, and representations of knowledge typically used with older children can improve our understanding of toddlers' problem solving and learning as well.     

Visual Constancies Amidst Changes in Handled Objects for 5- to 24-Month-Old Infants

Manual skills slowly develop throughout infancy and have been shown to create clear views of objects that provide better support for visually sustained attention, recognition, memory, and learning. These clear views may coincide with the development of manual skills, or that social scaffolding supports clear viewing experiences like those generated by toddlers during active object exploration. This study used a head-mounted eye tracker to record 5- to 24-month-olds’ object views during repeated mother-infant play sessions (Ns = 18). Results show an early beginning of scaffolding in which parents generate views similar to those of older infants and toddlers, resulting in increased fixations to objects. The finding implicates parents as early scaffolders of object attention and learning.     

Toddlers' Acquisition of Self/Other Knowledge: Ecological and Interpersonal Aspects of Self and Other

The complexity of toddlers' self-development was examined in the context of knowing others. Two studies were designed to test whether toddlers' self-knowledge was different from their knowledge of others (e.g., mother and inanimate object) or whether toddlers' knowledge of persons (e.g., self and mother) was different from their knowledge of objects. Knowledge of self, mother, and inanimate object was observed in developmentally sequenced tasks assessing agency and featural knowledge. When the inanimate object was perceptually different from humans, 12-month-old toddlers responded differently to all 3 versions. When the inanimate object was perceptually similar to humans, 24-month-olds, distinguished self from other and did not distinguish between the 2 versions of "other:" mother and inanimate object. We concluded that 12-month-old infants were more sensitive to perceptual features of objects than were older toddlers. Data were interpreted according to Neisser's distinction between the ecological self and the interpersonal self.     

The relations between ideal and real forms of <Emphasis Type="Italic">small science</Emphasis>: conscious collaboration among parents and infants–toddlers (Cultural Studies of Science Education)

Vygotsky (in: Rieber, Carton (eds) The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky, vol 1, Pleneum Press, Newyork, pp 167–241, Retrieved from http://images.lib.monash.edu.au/edf5411/04118997.pdf, 1987) stated that academic or scientific concepts require a level of conscious awareness on the part of the child within everyday situations. Academic concepts can be any kind of concept, such as science concepts, mathematics concepts, language concepts and so on. Vygotsky theorised how these academic concepts could be developed by school aged children, but he said less about the prior to school period. Scientific concepts do not instantly develop in their final form but rather follow a process of conceptual development guided through adult–child interaction. It is understood that not any kind of social interactions can be considered developmental, but rather it is interaction which is purposeful and which is viewed as useful for a child’s development. Any kind of conceptual development requires the interaction with the ideal form as presented through adult interaction in social contexts. In any stage of development, ideal forms need to be present in the real context. Ideal in the sense that it acts as a model for that which should be achieved at the end of the developmental period; and in contrast, the real form represents the beginning point of child development (Vygotsky, in: Veer, Valsiner (eds) The Vygotsky reader, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, pp 338–350, 1994). Many studies have documented the interactions between adults and children for developing scientific concepts in formal settings but little is understood about what happens in family homes for the prior to school age period. We do not know how scientific concepts develop during infants–toddlers everyday life at home. What kinds of social interactions in everyday family life support infants and toddlers to develop early forms of science concepts? This paper presents the findings of a study of infant and toddler learning of science at home. A total of around 30 h of video data were collected from three Bangladeshi families in Australia and Singapore. Three children aged from 10 to 36 months were filmed over 1 year in their everyday context. Informed by cultural-historical theory, the findings indicate that a form of conscious collaboration between parents and infants–toddlers is the key for developing small science concepts from rudimentary to final form. Small science has been defined as simple scientific narration of the everyday moments that infants and toddlers experience at home with their families. It was found that it was the families who filled the gap in understanding, through actively supporting the development of their infant–toddler’s higher mental function. Here the relations between infant–toddler real forms of development were carefully considered by the parents in relation to the ideal form that they created through collective dialogue of small science moments in the environment. If infants–toddlers learn these small concepts in their everyday settings, it is probable that they could link these early forms of understandings to learning abstract concepts later in school. This study contributes to understanding the nature of social interaction patterns for developing small science concepts in the everyday context of family life. This paper also provides pedagogical suggestions for early childhood science education.     

浅议省属高校硕士研究生学术道德失范的表现及原因

学术道德建设对于硕士研究生及其所在的省属高校都有重要意义。但是,目前省属高校硕士研究生学术道德失范现象较为普遍,主要有抄袭剽窃、雇佣枪手、搭顺风车、伪造数据、一稿多投等多种形式。教育理念偏差,评价体系不善和认识水平不足是造成其道德失范的主要原因。规避道德失范现象是个系统工程,既要提高规范意识,也要完善制度和加大制度执行力。     

儿童观的后现代视角

后现代理论认可世界的多样性,提倡对儿童与儿童期作多样化的理解。后现代理论分析了传统儿童观的缺陷,主张用新的视角了解儿童,颠覆了传统的教育质量标准。后现代理论认为,儿童不是以自我为中心的,他们关注当前的现实问题,努力探寻世界的意义。儿童通过填空的方式创造理论,依赖情境赋予事物意义。在认识世界的过程中,儿童将事物组合成一个个“故事”,强调整体的优先性,用自己的奇思妙想认识和改造世界。     

Children's Reasoning About Self-Presentation Following Rule Violations: The Role of Self-Focused Attention

Rule violations are likely to serve as key contexts for learning to reason about public identity. In an initial study with 91 children aged 4–9 years, social emotions and self‐presentational concerns were more likely to be cited when children were responding to hypothetical vignettes involving social‐conventional rather than moral violations. In 2 further studies with 376 children aged 4–9 years, experimental manipulations of self‐focused attention (either by leading children to believe they were being video‐recorded or by varying audience reactions to transgressions) were found to elicit greater attention to social evaluation following moral violations, although self‐presentational concerns were consistently salient in the context of social‐conventional violations. The role of rule transgressions in children’s emerging self‐awareness and social understanding is discussed.     

At-risk toddlers and their mothers: the special case of physical handicap

Previous studies of school-aged children with physical handicaps indicate passivity, inhibition, and deficits in cognitive-linguistic functioning, sometimes interpreted as consequent to parent-child problems. The present study examined the functioning of toddlers with physical anomalies (but without CNS damage) in comparison to premature toddlers (who share deviant early experience but not deviant physical appearance) and to normal toddlers. 14 mother-child pairs in each group were videotaped at 9, 12, 18, and 24 months in a variety of semistructured situations. Both premature and handicapped toddlers performed more poorly in measures of social initiative, focused play, language production, and 2-year IQ. In addition, handicapped toddlers manifested increased distractibility, decreased compliance, and reluctance to separate from their mothers. Mothers of both prematures and handicapped toddlers were more initiating and less responsive than controls, while mothers of handicapped children were also more likely to both encourage and ignore their toddlers. Patterns previously reported for older children are therefore found here with toddlers. Maternal patterns are interpreted as supporting Bell's model of compensatory "lower-limit" effects.     

论幼儿教师资格的“品性”标准

《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要(2010—2020年)》关于"基本普及学前教育"的战略目标,进一步加大了我国幼儿教师的需求量。既要确保足够数量的教师,又要最大程度地保证教师的质量,在这种状况下,把品性纳入幼儿教师任职资格标准是亟需也是必要。为确保品性标准在幼儿教师选拔中的完善应用,要明确幼儿教师品性标准的内涵,确立以气质与性情、心灵的敏感性、爱的情怀和品质、个体美德、与幼儿沟通交往的意愿和能力等方面的指标为基本维度的指标体系,坚持实践性、过程性和整体性的评价原则,确立对话法、观察法、调查法等具体操作方法。     

Physical and cognitive development in the first two years

Summary Physical and cognitive development proceed at a breathtaking pace in the first two years of life. Infants enter the world as competent individuals who actively explore the external world from the moment of birth. As their basic reflexes disappear, they begin to engage in intentional and purposeful behavior. Their ability to move, as in crawling and walking, and to manipulate objects extends their opportunities to learn about the physical environment. Responsive and supportive caregivers who work with infants and toddlers play a critical role in providing an optimal learning environment that takes into account infants' unique developmental needs. The next segment of the four-part series addresses the social and emotional development of infants and toddlers.     

Attention to novel objects during verb learning

Three experiments provided evidence that 3.5- to 4-year-old English-speaking children (N = 72) attend to the appearances of novel objects, not only when they hear a novel noun, but also when they hear a novel verb. Children learning nouns in the context of novel, moving objects attended exclusively to the appearances of objects, even though nouns were also related to the motions of those objects. Children learning verbs attended equally to the appearances of objects and their motions. The latter result contrasted with the results from adults (N = 20), who focused more strongly on motions than on the appearances of objects when learning verbs. When familiar objects were instead employed, child verb learners attended more to motions than to the appearances of objects. Children may attend to novel objects during verb learning because knowledge of an object may be prerequisite to understanding what a verb means in the context of that object.     

How to Support Toddlers’ Autonomy: A Qualitative Study With Child Care Educators

Research Findings: The present study explored the concrete manifestations of autonomy support (AS) toward toddlers. Eight child care educators were interviewed. Based on our assessment, these educators all valued AS. A qualitative content analysis revealed 18 practices that this group of child care educators considered supportive of toddlers’ autonomy. The present findings are in line with the traditional conceptualization of AS, namely, offering choices and encouraging initiatives, acknowledging the child’s feelings and perspective, and providing rationales and explanations for requests (Deci, Eghrari, Patrick, & Leone, 1994; Koestner, Ryan, Bernieri, & Holt, 1984), suggesting that these practices are developmentally appropriate for toddlers. Yet, they also widen the scope of AS, highlighting additional caregiving practices that may support the autonomy of toddlers. Practice or Policy: The results are discussed in light of child care educators’ professional training context and the relationship between AS and structure. The practices found in this study offer many means of actualizing AS with toddlers on a daily basis.     

论市场经济下的官员道德

官员道德是整个社会道德中最重要最关键的部分，它与社会主义市场经济互为条件，互相促进，两体现出一致性和互补性，市场经济是一种道德经济，社会主义市场经济需要官员道德的强有力支撑。计划经济向市场经济转轨，现代化进程加快，客观上对官员道德提出了新要求，新时期官员道德体系应以集体主义，全心全意为人民服务为核心，确立适应市场经济需要的民主，平等，公正等八大观念。