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The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of humour, teaching, gender, age, birth order, siblings, parents' level of education and income on kindergarteners' costly sharing behaviours. The participants consist of 106 kindergarteners enrolled in three public kindergartens in Sanliurfa. The participants interacted with two assistants, one of whom made them laugh (the joker) and the other taught them something new (the teacher). After the meetings, a third assistant presented 20 stickers to each child. Among the 20 stickers, the children selected their 10 favourite stickers. Another assistant asked the children to share their stickers with teaching, joker or stranger if they desired. The children's distribution of their stickers to the joker, the teacher assistants and the neutral recipients did not statistically differ. This might be the result of egalitarian tendency of young children. Multiple regression revealed gender as a predictor variable for sharing with jokers and total sharing. The girls shared significantly more than the boys.

The scope of this study was to discriminate factors, which could improve students' social relationships in kindergarten classrooms. In this research, 147 volunteer children participated, 67 female students and 80 male students. Every student was between 4.5 and 5.5 years old and they were all attending urban public kindergarten located in central Greece. This study focuses on factors associated with the students' social ability to develop healthy relationships in kindergarten classrooms. Direct observations of children's friendship skills and social play participation, questionnaires for children's social behaviour filled out by teachers and sociometric data were gathered for data analysis. The collected data ware analysed through correlational and Multiple Linear Regression Analysis. Results indicate that social behaviour, social play and social skills for developing friendships have an impact on children's relationships. Higher scores in 'cooperation', 'social collaborative game' and 'social skills for sustaining friends' are positively associated with peer acceptance and friendship. All of the above are highly significant variables for the prediction of healthy relationships in early childhood. All models showed effects, which are meaningful in socio-pedagogical applications.

The present research investigates the perceptions of kindergarten students, and pre-service teachers from the Early Childhood Education Department at the University of Athens, concerning the frequency of the Moon's appearance in the night sky. ?he sample consisted of 15 people from each population group. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect the data. Data analysis suggests that the vast majority of both population groups consider the presence of the Moon in the celestial dome to be indicative of the night. Furthermore, when the relevant questions are asked independent of the need to explain other phenomena, the participants usually respond with the tautological statement that they can always see the Moon at night because it is night. The research also revealed that although knowledge which is acquired over time from: (a) observational data (e.g. the periodicity of the Moon's Apparent Motion is not 24 h), and (b) school/extracurricular activities (e.g. the Moon orbits the Earth with a frequency that is not 24 h) constitutes grounds for doubting the belief that the Moon is always visible in the night sky, it does not actually affect this belief.

In 2001, the Chinese Ministry of Education issued "Guidelines for Preschool Education (GPE) (trial version)" to call on early childhood practitioners to use a child-centred and play-based approach to teaching and learning. In order to implement the requirements, many kindergartens in China have carried out the play-based kindergarten curriculum reform. Among them, there are three successful trial cases in China on putting play as the core and base activity in kindergarten. They are Anji play in Zhejiang province (south east China), Lijin play in Shandong Province (east China) and Gamification of the curriculum in Jiangsu Province (east China). All the kindergartens there whether private or public start to change the old group teaching and return play to young children. The similarities of three play modes are: open and constantly changing play environment, adequate play time, multiple teachers' roles and child-centred play evaluation. Play-based curriculum in these three cases are top-down reform, which is the most effective way in China.

Early arithmetic skills, and in particular the understanding of the part-whole relationship, are currently considered crucial for future arithmetic achievement. They are complex skills extending far beyond the mastery of counting procedures. In order to develop these arithmetic skills in kindergarten children, we developed a game-based approach using conventional card and board games adapted to the targeted mathematical objectives. The present study examines the effects on the arithmetic skills of this game-based approach. Individual pre- and post-tests were administered to 194 children (5-6 years old) from four countries (play-based group n = 104 and control group n = 90). Our findings show that the learning outcomes of the game-based group were significantly higher than those of the control group after the intervention. The game-based group showed improvements in arithmetic skills, and in particular those relating to the part-part-whole relation. The intervention also resulted in all pupils, regardless of their initial proficiency level and including those regarded as 'at risk', making more progress than those in the control group. These results demonstrate the possibility of developing complex mathematical learning effectively in preschool in a manner consistent with the needs and interests of young children.

In this article, we examine how teachers in two kindergartens, one in New Zealand and one in China, used the stimulus of a fictional story combining mythical creatures from Maori and Chinese culture to enhance young children's sense of place and cultural identity. Sociocultural understandings about the role of collaboration and cultural tools in meaning-making informed the research design. Teachers' documentation about the children's learning throughout the project was analysed and focus group interviews were conducted with teachers and parents. Findings demonstrated that story-telling provided an effective stimulus for children's learning using a range of multi-literacies. It was also helpful for exploring and connecting children, teachers and families with significant aspects of the cultural backgrounds of the children. The research also revealed that teachers engaged in intentional teaching practices to achieve these outcomes but experienced challenges (pedagogical knots) as they used the story. Nonetheless, we argue that the use of storytelling can be a powerful tool for fostering greater understanding for children, teachers and families of their own and others' cultures.

Inclusive kindergarten provision remains relatively rare in Indonesia. This article indicates factors that contribute to this situation (stigmatisation, lack of resources and training) and reports on an approach to begin to address it. Sign Supported Big Books were evaluated in mainstream kindergartens (i.e. classes without children with special educational needs) as a way of enhancing their inclusive affordances. These books used "Signalong Indonesia," a keyword signing approach, to support whole class stories with 76 children in five kindergarten classes. Four classes used books with signs and one used a book without signs as part of their everyday activities. Five teacher interviews suggested that the approach enhanced pupils' engagement and was enjoyable and fun for pupils and teachers alike. There were also positive effects for children's story comprehension and sign learning. The findings of this study support the novel position that having a disabled child in a class is not necessary in order to justify using an inclusive keyword signing approach. The implications of these findings are discussed for developing a proactive approach to facilitate inclusive practices in Indonesian kindergartens.

There is increasing evidence of the fusion of Western and Eastern early childhood philosophies and programmes within China. Although research has paid attention to this change, less attention has been directed to how culturally different beliefs and practices are experienced by children and teachers. This paper reports on a study of play-based practices in the context of the "Guidelines for Early Childhood Education (Trial Version)" in mainland China. Sixteen teachers from 6 rural preschools in Shaanxi province were interviewed about their play and learning practices and 205 children were observed participating in these teachers' play-based programmes. Thirty hours of digital video observations, 989 photos, 252 children's drawings, and 20 h of focus group interviews were gathered and analysed. The study found that whilst teachers struggled against the effect of Western individualist maturational views of play, the children demonstrated high levels of self-regulation in group oriented play. In the context of Confucian values, new forms of expressions of play were found suggesting new directions for early childhood education.

This case study of a US suburban Kindergarten illustrates the challenges and opportunities posed by the shifting context of Kindergarten toward a narrowed academic focus aligned to state goals. In this neoliberal policy context, teachers experienced difficult emotions as they supported children's and families' cultural and linguistic talents and skills. Emotional refuges and emotives are key concepts used to theorise teachers' experiences. The Findings of the study indicated that a subset of teachers used the available storylines to 'compartmentalise'. In doing so, they created an emotional refuge in which they might conserve traditional aspects of Kindergarten such as developmental discourses and practices, yet also segment their own lives to cope with the stress and strain invoked by the change. A second storyline was 'intensifying' in which a set of teachers actively engaged with the neoliberal paradigm. Yet, the navigation of emotions was complex and created moments of collectivism as well as some tensions amongst educators based on their individual positions. In order to enhance teachers' abilities to teach and cope with change, the possibilities of emotional navigation are discussed.

Research into pedagogical approaches used in early years' nature education, more specifically European and UK forest schools, remains according to Leather, 'undertheorised.' In a similar situation in Australia, the bush kindergarten programmes (referred to as 'bush kinders'), have had limited research attention. Influenced by European and UK forest school approaches, bush kinders are a recent development in Australian early years nature education. We discuss an ethnographic study where teaching and learning in three bush kinder settings was observed, each with different pedagogical approaches. The paper reports one main finding, where a wide range of pedagogical approaches were observed across the different bush kinder sites. To theoretically frame these pedagogical approaches, our analysis builds on Edwards' notion of play-based learning, along with a model of inquiry-based teaching proposed by Furtak et al. Using ethnographic methods we draw on fieldwork data and research literature to analyse bush kinder pedagogies. The paper contributes to the conceptualisation of pedagogy in early childhood nature and bush kinder programmes.

This paper considers the pedagogical collaborations between early childhood teachers in kindergarten (4 years) and the first year of school (5 years) in one Australian State. We report on a year-long project that brought these early childhood teachers together as we asked them to design STEM learning ecologies that would not only support new learning, but also provide a context for a meaningful transition from kindergarten to the first year of school. A transition that went beyond familiarisation with the new school environment to creating reciprocal pedagogical collaborations. In their collective discussions the teachers indicated that they wanted to encourage children's agency. This provoked them to think creatively about their pedagogical designs. Being part of the project encouraged collaborative pedagogical conversations between all participants around children's voice and advocacy, the practices of noticing and generating questions as the basis of investigations and extending play-based inquiries from the kindergarten into the school context. This paper explores the ways in which these pedagogical encounters occurred. In the process, the teachers reflected on the shift from a traditional view of transition as being 'school ready' to one in which pedagogical conversations and documentation were elevated to focus on innovative designs for learning.

The aim of this grounded theory study was to understand parents' emotions and coping strategies regarding their child's initial placement in an Israeli special education kindergarten. Proper placement is essential to effectively support children with developmental disabilities (DD), yet parents tend to approach assessment procedures with dread. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were held with 60 parents of children with DD (ages 4-6) who underwent placement procedures in the previous two years. Qualitative content analysis revealed three themes: external emotions of worry about the future, shame, fear of stigma, and trust issues towards professional staff; internal coping strategies of rationalisation and denial; external coping strategies of concealment and search for help. Findings revealed parents' emotions were directed towards their surroundings, whilst coping strategies were directed both inwards and outwards. Therefore, the majority of the parents' emotions and coping strategies focused on external social aspects. This in-depth understanding of parents' reactions to the placement process may help educational staff focus their support on external attributes, thereby strengthening the staff-parent partnership and easing the entry process of children with DD into special education kindergartens.

This paper aims to investigate to what extent preschoolers' narrative speech can be affected by the combined use of five narrative elements: narrative framing, narrative basic structure, intertextual hero, plot subversion and image-text interaction. It presents an intervention aiming to teach these elements to an experimental group of preschoolers, while a control group followed the regular curriculum. A novel evaluation tool, P.R.O.S.E, was designed to evaluate the level of the five elements' comprehension and use and applied to both groups. To assure regularity and homogeneity, the differences in performance were evaluated by the mixed-design two-way RM-ANOVA analysis. The performance of the experimental group after the intervention confirmed that the combined use of narrative elements can lead to the production of contemporary narrative types by 5-6-year-old children. Statistical analysis showed a notable differentiation of performance after the use of combined narrative elements. The empirical observation validates practices aiming at the development of narrative skill at preschool age, such as the particular teaching intervention which showed that 5-6-year-old children are capable of combining narrative elements in their narrative speech.

Teaching English as a foreign language in early years has become prevalent in response to contemporary trends of English as a global language. However, early childhood teachers may face challenges that would prevent children from achieving success in learning English in different educational contexts. This study explored the challenges that kindergarten teachers face when teaching English as a foreign language at kindergarten schools in Kuwait. There is high demand for teaching English as a second language in most countries in the world at early stages, and stakeholders could take responsibility for overcoming these challenges that are related to many aspects of this field. The researchers interviewed 16 kindergarten teachers and then conducted classroom observations. Lack of teacher preparation and training, English curriculum deficiencies, and teachers' English proficiency level emerged as key challenges faced by kindergarten teachers. Other localized challenges were also identified. This paper concludes by highlighting several implications for decision makers to further enhance teaching English as a foreign language in kindergarten schools.

Studies about parents' expectations of their children's achievements in primary and secondary school often conclude that such expectations have an impact on academic achievements. This poses two quandaries for early childhood education (ECE): there is minimal research focusing on parents' expectations concerning achievements of young children; if parental expectations in ECE are also linked to academic achievements, other achievements of potential significance for young children and which can be promoted through early experiences are ignored. This article reviews responses to an open-ended statement submitted by 1975 parents whose children were attending early years settings in Malta. A phenomenological approach to data collection was adopted in this exploratory study as parents were invited to list three expectations about their children's achievements resulting from experiences accrued in formal settings. NVivo analyses yielded nine broad categories of expectations. Personal, social development, school readiness/academic achievements, skills development and personal learning were the four most frequently cited expectations. Results are analysed using Bronfenbrenner's bioecological systems theory. Having high expectations for each child is recommended but these need to be realistic, contextualised, shared and incorporated in the planning and design of learning opportunities which respect children's individuality, while acknowledging their abilities and learning characteristics.

Education reform in early childhood education in China has often adopted western theories and pedagogies in efforts to facilitate educational change. The theory of multiple intelligences (MI) is an example of one adopted. This paper reports on a study that examined factors that influence Chinese kindergarten teachers' use of MI theory in their pedagogy. The study was a qualitative case study with seven participants from two kindergartens. Multiple methods were used to understand the contexts of these teachers' work, their understandings and practices, and ways that they had become exposed to ideas about MI. A number of influences were apparent in shaping teacher understandings and practices. These influences at times motivated teachers to incorporate MI, but there were also instances where teachers were unsure and confused about MI and struggled to meld it with their existing beliefs and practices based on longstanding Chinese values and pedagogies. The paper argues that if the policy goal of any educational reform is to facilitate teacher change then the introduction of new educational theories or approaches should first be grounded in, and connected carefully with, teachers' practices and, second, take careful consideration of the context in which their teaching will be embedded.

This study examined whether particular practices in story retelling improve children's comprehension of story structure and enables them to further comment on the story content. Eighty-three (83) kindergarten children (M = 5.4) years old composed the experimental (N = 43) and the control (N = 40) groups. For 6 weeks, one time per week, six well-structured books were read to the experimental group as follows: Before reading there was a brief discussion, while after reading children were trained in story retelling. The intervention programme in retelling consisted of five levels, which began from total teacher assistance to the point where children were able to retell the story freely and completely. The same six books were simply read to the control group and after the reading the children discussed the interesting parts and made drawings based on the story. Children's retellings were taped and analysed by a series of measures. Results confirmed the experimental group children's achievements in almost all measurements indicating that the multilevel training programme in retelling enhanced children's ability for deeper comprehension and further commentary.

The development of early numeracy skills in preschoolers is an important predictor of future academic performance. A multiplicity of tasks or tests measure early numeracy skills in the English-language. Nevertheless, no tools are currently in French for evaluating and monitoring the development of young children's early numeracy skills. The present study addressed this situation by creating a set of early numeracy tasks in French. In addition to examining the psychometric properties of those early numeracy tasks, we used multiple regression analyses to examine possible links between early numeracy skills and children's characteristics (sex, age, socioeconomic status). Results obtained on a sample of 167 French kindergarten students (Mean = 5.17 years, Standard Deviation = 0.59) showed the tests to have good psychometric properties. Moreover, model fit for our data were better for a single-factor model than for a two-factor model. In addition, we found links between different dimensions of early numeracy and both children's age and socioeconomic status.

This article presents an exploratory study of educational quality in Bulgarian kindergartens at a time the educational system undergoes significant transformations in aligning with the principles shared by the majority of European countries. The focus is on the structural and process characteristics of quality, as measured by ECERS-3 on a moderately representative sample of classrooms (N = 40). The one-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant differences between five subscales. Care practices and positive social interactions scored highest, while subscales representing the common instructional approach scored lowest due to the insufficient learning opportunities tailored to the individual needs of children. The measures for quality improvement require the instruction to be more flexible with free-choice activities and play in small groups. Through the K-means analysis we identified three profiles of dimensions that characterise different classrooms. The cluster that covers the majority of classrooms with large size groups represents an overall mediocre quality across all aspects of the educational environment. Two other clusters depict the opposite profiles with the highest and lowest scores. The methodological findings of present study favour the application of multi-methods approach in quality evaluation and the involvement of multiple informants for better representation of universality and cultural specificity of educational context.

This study aimed at investigating the teachers' perceptions in Qatar regarding employing assistive technologies in teaching children with disabilities in early intervention programmes. A descriptive method (survey) was used to answer the research questions. The study sample consisted of 183 female teachers from Qatar. These participants all worked in early intervention programmes in both public kindergartens and public schools. The stratified random sampling method was selected to determine the study sample during the 2018/2019 academic year. A questionnaire was developed to collect the data. The validity and reliability of the study instrument were assured. Results revealed that the employment of assistive technology by teachers in teaching children with disabilities in early intervention programmes was high. Further, the results showed that there are no statistically significant differences attributed to the variables of experience, specialisation, and students' disability level. In light of the study findings, researchers addressed several recommendations and future implications.

The existing literature on early childhood education (ECE) quality is predominantly from the US or other developed countries. In low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs), systematic research on ECE quality, however, is very limited. In the present study, we explore variation in structural and process indicators of ECE quality in two Eastern European LMICs, Kosovo and Ukraine, using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System Pre-K (CLASS) as a measure of process quality for the first time in these countries. We also include Finland because governments in Kosovo and Ukraine show a particular interest in the Finnish education model to inform policy reforms. Participants were kindergarten teachers (n=177) from these three countries who were observed in their classrooms and asked to complete questionnaires. Results indicated variability in ECE quality at various levels, both within and across the three countries. Directions for future research and implications for practice and policy development in LMICs are discussed.

Chinese as the medium of instruction (MOI) is used across the curriculum for early childhood education in Hong Kong; however, kindergartens with non-Chinese speaking (NCS) students adopt different MOI, in which English remains an integral part of learning and teaching, to cater to the needs of NCS students and their families. The present study investigated how different modes of MOI adopted in six local kindergartens affected the Chinese language learning of 457 NCS students. Effective Chinese learning of the NCS students in their first year of kindergarten schooling and its relation to their Chinese language proficiency were examined. The preliminary findings showed that the Chinese MOI was relatively effective in enhancing NCS students' learning Chinese in comparison to English and dual-language MOI. Deliberate considerations on different contexts of kindergartens of varying proportions of NCS students for Chinese language learning is essential whilst the choice of MOI remains school-based, particularly in aspects of enhancing NCS students' Chinese language proficiency for their smooth Primary One transition and earlier social integration.

Playing is an activity that affects significantly the psychological development and learning in preschool age. Opinions among researchers and practitioners are divided about adults' role in children's play. Despite being a children's activity, high-level, complex social play hardly appears without adult mediation. According to the narrative play and learning approach, adults play a crucial role in developing narrative playworlds. Teachers must have special abilities to create narrative playworlds, including adult involvement and participation in the play with children. The teachers should preserve two perspectives simultaneously: they must be children's play partners and play guiders. This study explores the process of creating narrative playworlds from the teachers' perspective. The thematic analysis of a focus group interview revealed contradictions between teachers' intentions and behaviours. The creation of narrative playworlds proceeds through a series of critical contradictions that the teachers must overcome. Successful resolution of the contradictions helps build a community of players in the classroom.

In Australia, there have been a growing number of nature-based early childhood education initiatives [Alme, H., and M. A. Reime. 2021. "Nature Kindergartens: A Space for Children's Participation." "Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education" 24: 113-131]. Research into early years' nature education internationally remains under-theorised particularly in STEM teaching and learning. The nature or bush kindergarten programme (often referred to as 'bush kinders' in the Australian context), is one such programme where nature play and education occur. This paper considers how children's mathematical thinking develops through their time spent in bush kinder settings. Using an ethnographic lens, this longitudinal study is the first of its type in Australia with a focus on STEM in bush kinders. In this paper, eight 'powerful mathematical ideas' are used to analyse how educators can approach teaching mathematics with only what nature provides. The paper reports one main finding, that bush kinders provide opportunities for children through educator support to build mathematical understandings through nature play. Drawing on fieldwork data and the analysis of research literature, this paper contributes to the conceptualisation of mathematics in early childhood nature play and bush kinder programmes.

This paper draws from a cross-cultural study of young children's arts curricula. The initial phase of the original study consisted of a comparison of the intended arts curriculum for 5--6 year old children in China and Australia. This was followed by a survey in Beijing exploring 88 contemporary early childhood educators' beliefs about children's arts education. A case study of the enacted curriculum took place across three kindergartens in Beijing. The data was coded and analysed using grounded theory methodology. The research presented in this paper reported a diverse understanding of children's creativity among the participant EC educators; it revealed that a pedagogical dilemma of demonstration remains as a challenge to early childhood arts educators. This study provided qualitative descriptions and examples of Chinese Beijing children's arts education in this era of globalisation. Utilising Foucault's (1991. "Governmentality." In "The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality," edited by G. Burchell, C. Gordon, and P. Miller, translated by R. Braidotti, 87-104. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf) theory of governmentality as a critical lens to view the issues in this field, the study broadened perspectives regarding the education philosophy and practices of early childhood arts curriculum, in particular, for the cultivation of young children's creativity.

Cognitive style differences, also known as 'empathizing' and 'systemizing' have been argued as one reason that may explain differences in children's motivation to learn science. Researchers claim that people with a 'systemizing' cognitive style are likelier to engage in science than those with an 'empathizing' cognitive style. As such, they propose tailor-made teaching approaches and themes to specifically motivate children with an 'empathizing' cognitive style. In the present study, we introduce structured inquiry-based science activities to children of both cognitive styles and explore whether there is a correlation between cognitive style and engagement, as well as cognitive style and learning outcomes. The main features of this specific learning approach include building knowledge through experiments and investigations, engaging children in problem-solving situations, giving them opportunities to form coherent arguments and test their own spontaneous ideas, draw conclusions, and reflect. The results revealed no statistically significant correlation between the children's cognitive style and their level of engagement or learning outcomes. The findings suggest that an inquiry-based approach with the above characteristics may be suitable for encouraging science learning and motivation in young children of all cognitive styles.

This study examines the perceptions of kindergarten (KG) teachers in Jordan about the importance of using a reading pictures strategy and the barriers to doing so. A descriptive design was employed and 192 teachers were surveyed to rank their perceptions. The results showed that teachers perceived a moderate level of importance about using reading pictures and almost a quarter indicated a low level of importance. There was no significant effect of specialisation, while there was a significant effect of qualification and years of experience. The results also revealed that using a reading pictures strategy is currently constrained by different factors including low parental involvement and lack of administration interest. A number of recommendations are presented for enhancing teachers' perceptions regarding a reading pictures strategy and combating constraints.

Children's everyday mathematics has been well evidenced by a growing body of research and is widely acknowledged as fundamental to meaningful learning in early childhood education. However, literature supports that drawing upon children's mathematical resources for further learning requires that the range of these resources is valued and noticed at school. Considering that up to now little is known about the way children express their mathematical ideas during naturally occurring activities within classrooms, this study sought to enhance our understanding of this issue. Informed by previous research on the emergence of early mathematics during play and based on the funds of knowledge framework, we investigated the content, the processes and the origin of children's mathematical knowledge in a kindergarten classroom, with the aim to understand through a sociocultural lens where and how this knowledge is situated and how this information is revealed during play activities. Evidence foregrounds the importance of examining all the different facets of children's everyday mathematics for creating responsive curricula and confirms the critical role of play for investigating this type of cultural knowledge within schools.

This study reports on the effectiveness of an organised set of storytelling activities that aimed to enhance early literacy development. There were three conditions in the study. In the control condition, regular literacy development activities took place. In one experimental condition, the set of activities included oral storytelling. In the other experimental condition, the activities included digital storytelling. Participants were 59 four- to five-year-old children from three kindergarten classrooms, and the intervention lasted 6 weeks. Children were assessed before and after the intervention for their early literacy skills development using two standardised tests and one non-standardised test. The results on the standardised tests showed that there was equally strong literacy development in all conditions. On the non-standardised post-test, the children in the experimental conditions did better than the control group. The discussion draws attention to the specific qualities of the intervention for early literacy development, and the benefits of testing this development with a mixture of standardised and dedicated tests.

Following recipes, adding ingredients, creating something unique, and seeing the finished products are the cooking processes that children can get actively involved with. This paper presents a quantitative study exploring the effectiveness of an inquiry-based cooking project to improve children's scientific process skills and health eating habits. This research was conducted with 67 experimental and 58 control group students for nine months in South Korea. Based on the t-test results, significant improvements were found in children's scientific process skills: specifically, prediction, observation, classification, measurement, and discussion, as well as healthy eating habits. These results confirm that the cooking projects reinforce the academic experiences of children, helping them to develop scientific processing skills, and providing children with the opportunity for the joy of food preparation and cooking, and experiencing different foods and tastes, and promoting healthy eating habits. The critical role of the teacher in this study is being addressed to provide a scientifically and nutritionally purposeful classroom environment.

It has become increasingly clear that the early use of decomposition for addition is associated with later mathematical achievement. This study examined how younger children execute a base-10 decomposition strategy to solve complex arithmetic (e.g. two-digit addition). 24 addition problems in two modalities (WA: Written Arithmetic; OA: Oral Arithmetic) with sums less than 100 were administered to 22 Japanese and 22 Singaporean 6-year-old kindergarteners. Our findings reveal that they were able to solve complex addition. For instance, Japanese kindergarteners tended to solve complex arithmetic using base-10 decomposition across the modality, whereas Singaporean kindergarteners used standard algorithms and basic counting to solve complex WA and OA problems, respectively. We speculate that Japanese kindergarteners might have a clearer understanding of the base-10 concept and were able to use this knowledge more readily than Singaporean kindergarteners. Mathematical experiences in kindergarten and number-naming systems have been put forward as two of the crucial contributors for such cross-cultural differences. This study also provides new directions for future research on the understanding of the base-10 concept and its application among young children.

In this paper, we describe patterns in and associations between the ways in which young (ages 3-7) children living in northern rural and Indigenous communities in two Canadian provinces communicated ideas as they drew, talked, and wrote in response to researcher prompts. Prompting the children to draw and talk about a personal experience afforded them the opportunity to explore word meanings and relationships using their personal sign systems prior to communicating the experience using a new sign system, writing. We conclude with recommendations for teachers of ways to scaffold students' transition between the two sign systems in their classroom.

There is considerable evidence on the connections between emergent literacy-related skills in preschool-age and successful reading and writing. The purpose of this double-designed experimental/descriptive study was to analyse the impact of invented spelling activities on kindergarten children's spelling performance and to explore adult mediation and peer collaboration processes that occurred within a sample of intervention sessions. Data was collected with 52 participants divided into an experimental group and a control group who were submitted to a pre/post-test assessment. The global quantitative analysis revealed the strong impact of the intervention on children's word spelling progress scores. The descriptive qualitative data of 2304 verbal interventions of a small-scale sample suggested that significant and diverse mediation scaffolding strategies were incorporated by the children in a shared dialogical learning approach. Our findings point to the need for delivering group interaction activities combining early literacy contents in kindergarten contexts as a vehicle for responding to the challenge of reading and writing acquisition at the beginning of schooling.

Research suggests that metacommunication in young children's social pretend play is the most complex form of cooperation. In this study, metacommunication was examined using audio and video recordings during pretend play. Participants were 24 children in kindergarten average age 5.1 years. Utterances were coded for metacommunication, the narrative content and the social dimension of cooperation. Results show that while the use of metacommunication correlates with the complexity of the narrative, it does not correlate with the complexity of the social dimension. Implications for supporting metacommunication in social pretend play by teachers are discussed.

This paper presents a unique perspective into challenges faced by kindergarten teachers in engaging children in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) education in Vietnam. It reports on teachers' perspectives of an adaptation of immersive learning experiences (ILE), to develop understanding of pedagogical approaches to STEAM education in real-world contexts. The study adopted a qualitative and interpretivist methodology, engaging 105 teachers in informal and collaborative activities. Their perceptions were gathered via participatory tools; photographic images recorded how they engaged with ILE. Data analysis occurred using de Freitas's four-dimensional framework. The study responds to evidence that STEAM education is not prevalent in Vietnamese schools, and reflects on the top-down siloed approach ubiquitous within its early childhood education (ECE) sector. Findings indicate the necessity for a prolonged period of training using ILE that enables teachers' development of pedagogical approaches to STEAM education. Significantly, it provides new insight for a variety of stakeholders (including teacher trainers and policy makers) into the under-researched field of Vietnamese teachers' pedagogical approaches in ECE, and extends its findings to countries adopting more formalised approaches to education.

Children's food preferences are strongly associated with their consumption patterns. Children tend to choose foods with which they are familiar. It is proposed that the earlier and broader the experience with food, the healthier the child's or adult´s diet. In a focus group we developed a toolkit consisting of a training course for kindergarten staff, a booklet with nutrition and sensory-based information, and 55 professionally designed experiment cards. The cards came with exercises focusing on sensory tasting core food groups, including all food groups. Twenty-five kindergarten teachers completed the training, field-testing of the experiments and an online survey evaluating the cards. The evaluation was performed using frequency distributions with IBM® SPSS® 21 for Mac. Teachers reported high interest on the part of the children, good preparation for the experiments' practical implementation in kindergarten and favoured the appealing design and usability. The combination of the expert-driven development and personal training with sensory experiments is a broader approach for nutrition training and, as such, an enrichment for kindergarten teachers.

This study preliminarily examined the multiple dimensions of Chinese family involvement in early childhood education across demographic variables through a pilot translation and validation of a revised 36-item measure of the Family Involvement Questionnaire (FIQ; Fantuzzo, J., E. Tighe, and S. Childs. 2000. "Family Involvement Questionnaire: A Multivariate Assessment of Family Participation in Early Childhood Education." "Journal of Educational Psychology" 92 (2): 367-376) for use in Chinese kindergartens. Participants were 311 parents or caregivers (Mean age = 35.74) of children (Mean age = 5.53) enrolled in kindergartens in Shanghai, China. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure similar to the original (non-Chinese) FIQ: school-based involvement, home-based involvement, and home-school conferencing. However, 12 items were removed because they either had cross loadings or did not load onto any factors. As expected, based on prior research with the original FIQ, differences in the Chinese Family Involvement Questionnaire (FIQ-C, hereafter) dimension scores across subgroups based on parents' educational levels and monthly family income were found using MANOVA. Implications for future research and cross-cultural studies on family involvement are discussed.

Teacher-child interactions provide an important context for children's development and learning. The study explored how teacher- and classroom-level factors were associated with quality of teacher-child interactions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). We also investigated associations between teacher-child interactions and child outcomes. Teacher-child interactions were observed in 60 kindergarten classrooms using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, for the first time with this population. Pre-academic skills (letter and number knowledge), behavioural regulation (assessed with the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task), and stress response physiology (assessed with salivary cortisol levels) were measured in a sample of 115 five-year-old children, recruited from 22 of the 60 classrooms. Results provided moderate evidence for a three-domain structure of teacher-child interactions. Some differences in the quality of teacher-child interactions were related to teachers' years of experience. Correlational findings suggest links between quality of emotional support with children's pre-academic skills and behavioural regulation. Results are also discussed in relation to similar international studies to highlight any unique findings to the UAE context.

It is thought that our behavioural, social and intellectual development is fostered in early childhood alongside the acquisition of metacognitive and self-regulatory abilities. This qualitative investigation reports on how 11 children applied these skills via pedagogical documentation. Participant observation and interviews were used to gather data through documentation panel activities over a period of seven weeks. Data were coded and analysed with reference to the Cambridge Independent Learning (C.Ind.Le) framework. In this way, a specific application of a pedagogical documentation process was observed for evidence of how sharing time sessions and reflective dialogues with documentation panels supported children's use of self-regulatory and metacognitive abilities.

With the aim of developing new knowledge on inclusive practices for young children in early childhood education, the following research question was explored: what characterises young children's negotiations of belonging and togetherness in a diverse peer group in kindergarten? Data from field work in a young children's group in a multicultural kindergarten in Norway formed basis for the present study's analysis, which was conducted within a cultural-historical framework. The findings revealed that the two-year-olds' everyday institutional lives were influenced by features in the peer culture and characterised by fleeting moments of caring and sharing, shared joint experiences and ongoing negotiations of mutual bonds, hierarchies and group boundaries. Although the findings did not reveal any differences along ethnic or cultural lines when it came to the two-year-olds' negotiations of belonging and togetherness, the fact that the peer culture already at this age included the application of hierarchies and symbol systems, calls for kindergarten teachers' awareness in order to secure inclusive practices for young children.

Denmark has a tradition of kindergarten pedagogy focused on children's play, sociality and individual interests. Political emphasis on global competition, however, has led to reforms in early childhood education and care (ECEC) since 2004. Based on ethnographic fieldwork at three kindergartens, we analyse how the ECEC-reforms have affected the priorities of parents and pedagogues regarding school readiness. To understand how this is negotiated, we draw upon Lareau's distinction between childrearing as 'concerted cultivation' or as 'the accomplishment of natural growth' (Lareau, A. 2003. "Unequal Childhoods. Class, Race and Family Life." London: University of California Press). We show that parents and staff consider "the social" as the most important thing for kindergarten children to learn and as something that the adults must cultivate -- often in a disciplinary manner. Meanwhile, parents and pedagogues state that "academic" competences are not important to cultivate because an interest in academics will naturally grow. Adults just have to support academic activities through play when the children choose to engage in them. However, "academic" competences are actively cultivated in practice.

This paper reports on the perceptions early childhood teachers hold about digital technologies, children and childhood and how their perceptions influence their pedagogical decision-making. Symbolic interactionism was the theoretical lens used to give insights and meanings to the early childhood teachers views, experiences and ascribed meanings. The findings revealed that early childhood teachers were concerned and challenged by children's motivation to play with digital technologies, valued traditional early childhood pedagogies and conceptualised play as being exclusive of digital technologies. In response to the perceptions they held, early childhood teachers implemented protective measures to restrict and regulate children's digital experiences.

Hong Kong has launched reforms to advocate child-centred pedagogies in kindergartens since 2000. This study examined the actual pedagogical interactions in eight kindergarten classrooms via videotaped observations. The teachers were surveyed before the observation and interviewed after receiving the observational report. Evidence revealed that the Hong Kong teachers used various scaffolding strategies to maintain a reciprocal interaction, and teacher-directed instruction dominated the pedagogical interactions. Most teachers had a positive attitude towards teacher-child interactions, yet traditional beliefs persisted. Teachers' pedagogical interactions were associated with their age, years of teaching experience and educational level, but not with the age group they taught.

The purpose of the study is to describe the teacher's personal connection with parents as an intermediary factor between cultures and to examine the implications for the future of the migrant group in the receiving society. The study is a qualitative study based on the phenomenological approach and involved five teachers working with African children. The findings show three categories: (1) social and cultural, (2) language, (3) behaviour and education. The contribution focuses on the importance of developing intercultural competence among the teachers and the importance of having a joint-personal dialogue in order to cope with migration challenges.

The immigrant population in Hong Kong is steadily increasing every year. This immigrant population largely comprises families, most of whom have pre-school and school-age children. However, limited information is known on the practices that immigrant parents adopt when they become involved in their children's schooling. In the present study, the researcher implemented a Quality Education Fund project called 'Building a caring community: Family support and empowerment.' The project aimed to promote parent education and to build a caring community by implementing a group parent education program (GPEP) for low-income and new immigrant parents. The parent leaders conducted an outreach parent education program in which the low-income, new immigrant parents (target parents) had their children enrolled in two kindergartens. The parent leaders imparted parenting knowledge, shared positive parenting strategies, and exchanged their own experiences with target parents. The present research aims to study how new immigrant parents evaluate their experiences and the effectiveness of the GPEP. Results suggest that providing opportunities for mutual support and emotional healing correlates with improved parenting attitudes and practices.

This study reports an analysis of how children in a Japanese kindergarten are scaffolded when facing the challenge of collaboratively retelling a "kitsune" story they have been told. What is referred to as a "kitsune" story is an example of a trickster tale with foxes as anthropomorphised animals. The participants were ten 5-year-old children and their teacher. Told a story by their teacher, the children were asked later to collaboratively retell it. How this retelling activity is supported -- theorised in terms of the metaphor of scaffolding -- is analysed on the basis of recordings. The findings show the nature of this evolving process. The conclusion is that the metaphor of scaffolding may require some contextual specification to remain a functional conceptual -- and in extension, pedagogical -- tool in activities fundamentally different from the activity studied in Wood, Bruner and Ross' founding 1976 study.

This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of early literacy beliefs held by early childhood education and care (ECEC) teachers in Japan by developing a novel scale. We believed that overviewing ECEC teachers' beliefs about early literacy from ecological perspectives would contribute to understanding the underlying factors influencing the quality of early literacy instruction and involvement in ECEC. To this end, 349 ECEC and 45 primary school teachers were asked to complete a two-part questionnaire dealing with (1) ECEC teachers' literacy beliefs and (2) teachers' general pedagogical beliefs. Exploratory factor analysis extracted three sub-categories of literacy belief -- Direct instruction, Natural development, and Social interaction -- and two sub-categories of general pedagogical belief -- Adult-centred and Child-centred -- and the relations between these sub-categories and background factors were then discussed. The results implied that considering the ecological perspectives of ECEC teachers affords a better understanding of effective practices to facilitate the early literacy experiences of young children in ECEC settings beyond differences in their educational tradition concerning early literacy. These perspectives include the influence of the educational tradition in each region, how ECEC teachers differ from primary school teachers, and the values shared by a particular ECEC facility.

We examined early elementary children's reading motivation in four different countries. Results revealed that reading motivation is a stable construct in countries like Chile, Finland, Greece, and the United States. Motivation to read followed similar patterns across the countries, with increased scores at the end of the school year. This trend differs from what has been reported in the literature for older students. Significant gender differences were observed mainly for Finnish and Greek students. Understanding early reading motivation from a cross-cultural perspective can help identify commonalities in the initial development of reading motivation, and deepen our understanding about how it may differ in different cultural contexts.

Young children spend an increasing amount of time in out of home care, as neuroscientific research reveals the pivotal role love and touch plays in children's development. In response to this new knowledge, there is a growing interest in love and touch in the context of early childhood education. Sadly, cases of sexual abuse in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings have ignited fear and uncertainty among stakeholders in regards to what kind of touch and how much love is appropriate to feel for children in ECEC. Research exploring love in early childhood education tends therefore to be concerned with creating certainty in regards to love as a safe and healthy practice. This focus, though necessary to develop knowledge about love, also silences other uncertain aspects of love in the context of early childhood education that affects early childhood educators. Drawing on Karen Barad's diffraction methodology, this article engages a diffractive analysis and transforms educators' solicited narratives of love in pedagogic practice into love poems. The poems attend to the overflowing quality of love as an uncertain, ephemeral phenomenon, invoking moments of pleasure and the desire to connect with children as personal matters, rather than solely professional concerns.

This paper highlights the similarities and differences of seven nature kindergarten programmes in Australia and New Zealand. The study targeted three programmes from New Zealand and four from Australia. Participant observations and semi-structured interviews were used to build a profile of each site. The profiles were compared on factors such as philosophical influences, curriculum design, site location, safety requirements and programme activity. In many ways, the programmes were quite similar, and this was attributed to synergies between the respective curriculum frameworks and the influence of the European Forest School movement. There were, however, some unique features at each site and differences attributed to national perspectives. It is anticipated that the profiling of philosophical and logistical dimensions of nature programmes implemented in exemplar settings can help to inspire other early childhood educators and encourage them to reposition nature pedagogy as part of their own early childhood programmes.