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This review presents a reasoned synthesis of whole-school interventions seeking to improve the overall school environment by fostering active student participation (ASP) in school activities and decision-making processes. The aims are to describe the selected programs, assess their methodological quality, and analyze the activities soliciting ASP. Among the 205 publications initially provided by the literature search in the academic databases PsycINFO and Education Research Complete, 22 reports met the inclusion criteria of presenting whole-school interventions that solicit ASP in secondary schools, and were thus included in the review. Such publications referred to 13 different whole-school programs, whose implemented activities were distinguished on a 5-point scale of ASP levels, ranging from "Very high ASP," when students were involved in a decision-making role, to "Very low ASP," when students were the passive recipients of content provided by adults. This review contributes to the literature by proposing an organizing structure based on different levels of ASP, which provides clarity and a common ground for future studies on student participation. Overall, the in-depth description of activities offers a framework to researchers and practitioners for planning interventions aimed at improving the learning environment and contributing meaningfully to the far-reaching goal of encouraging student participation in school life.

Research Findings: In order to investigate the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on preschooler's social-emotional learning skills, the present pre-post test pilot study assessed prosocial behavior, self-regulation and perspective taking in 21 preschool children, randomly assigned either to the experimental or the control group. Children who received the intervention showed significant improvements in prosocial behavior, in the inhibitory processes of self-regulation and in the ability of perspective taking, particularly in its emotional and cognitive components. Practice or Policy: These preliminary findings, which should be supported by further empirical investigation in larger samples, encourage the use of mindfulness-practices in preschool-age children in order to enhance social-emotional competence.

In relation to the growing attention to the quality of physical space in early childhood education and care (ECEC), the present scoping review aims to define the state of the art regarding the relationship between the physical environment of ECEC services and the psychological development of children. After 50 years of research in this field, this contribution should promote understanding of what scientific studies have achieved so far, in order to prompt useful reflections for education professionals and identify future directions of research. A systematic analysis of the psychological and educational databases has provided 88 publications on the topic. The contents of the studies identified refer to two main thematic areas: "perception of physical environment," which includes both children's and adults' perceptions, and "relation between physical environment and child development," which includes behavioral, cognitive, and emotional aspects of development. Although the studies included have used several methods and investigated different aspects of environment, systematic analysis has enabled the identification of some topics that recur among the studies, such as the significance of adults' awareness about their perception of space, the importance of a child-centered approach, and the relevance of the participation of stakeholders in the design processes. Finally, these main findings are summarized and reflections on future conceptual and methodological orientations in the field are discussed.