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There is currently a lack of a more integrated perspective on reading literacy education. In preschool reading activities, it’s important to maximize an individual's potential for reading literacy development with limited nurturing energy. Based on self-regulated theory and metacognitive models, this study explored the pathway model of the influence of joy (interest in reading) and instruction (metacognitive strategy) on reading literacy in this context, with further investigation in different family contexts. Using PISA 2018 data, the model results showed that 1) preschool home reading activities contribute to individual student's interest in reading; 2) interest in reading, as a mediating variable, positively predicts reading literacy in preschool home reading activities; 3) reading instruction without interest in reading (purely metacognitive strategies) fails to produce a significant mediating effect; 4) there is a significant chain mediation from preschool family reading activities to interest in reading, to metacognitive reading strategies, to reading literacy; and 5) the characteristics of the pathways affecting reading literacy differ according to family backgrounds. We propose theoretical and practical recommendations based on these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence linking maternal subjective wellbeing (SWB) to early childhood development (ECD) is scarce. Subjective wellbeing measures an individual's negative and positive affect, life satisfaction, and optimism for the future. During ECD, growth occurs in family niches where a mother's physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing affects her child through processes that harness motor, cognitive, and socioemotional functioning. Few studies in Nigeria have examined the SWB of women and much less its association with ECD outcomes. This study examined the association of maternal and caregiver SWB with child literacy and cognitive and socioemotional indices. We posit that a primary caregiver's dissatisfaction with life and hopelessness may predispose their child to poorer developmental outcomes. We conducted a structural equation modeling using Stats 16 E and data from a nationally representative sample of Nigerian women 15 to 24 years and their focal child 3- to −4 years old (N = 3176). Findings suggest an average to a high level of SWB among the women. The SWB construct had a weak, inverse association with child outcomes. The weak direct path does not change when standardized or mediated by family investments such as early education, children's books, or stimulating activities with the child (total effects −0.04). The results also highlight the positive strength of the association of family investments and its robust path to child outcomes (total effects, 0.79, p < 0.001). The study suggests that SWB is a weak proxy for mental health. Findings also underscore the need to invest in child development, child engagement, and family strengthening programs. Highlights: Nationally representative sample showed a high subjective wellbeing (SWB) level among mothers/caregivers aged 15–24 years old. Religion and educational level are associated with high levels of SWB. Maternal happiness, life satisfaction, and optimism have weak and inverse associations with child development outcomes. Investment in early education, children's books, and stimulating activities is associated with higher child development indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Families face challenging decisions about early care and education (ECE) for their children. Decisions about what is best for each child and family are constrained by family and contextual factors and are prone to disruptions. This study provides a descriptive look at patterns of ECE settings children were in the year prior to kindergarten, beginning in Fall 2019 through Spring 2021, a period during which most ECE arrangements were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and into the 2020–2021 kindergarten year. Analyses of survey (N = 121) and interview (n = 25) data from families whose children entered kindergarten in Fall 2020 revealed multiple and cascading disruptions during this time. Disruptions were nearly universal, and families made continual accommodations as they juggled employment needs and children's ECE needs. Findings from this study have implications for how actual and anticipated disruptions may have a greater influence on families' child care decision-making into the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Letter names are some of the many preschool accomplishments that are of particular relevance to later academic challenges. However, many children enter school without having fluent letter name knowledge. The current study evaluated the effects of a taped-letter (TL) intervention delivered through PowerPoint on the accuracy of letter identification in three young children using a multiple probe across participants design. The participants were trained to say the letter name when the PowerPoint provided a printed letter on the screen and to echo the computer model of the correct response. Each training was followed by an assessment in which the participant was tested on letter identification accuracy. The TL intervention was successful in increasing letter identification to at least 23 letters for all participants within 8–11 intervention sessions. These results extend and add to the findings of previous studies demonstrating the effectiveness of taped interventions in teaching academic skills and demonstrate that similar taped interventions can be easily developed to teach early academic skills using a computerized platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is an important component of thriving communities. It is central to the socio-emotional and intellectual growth of young children, to the ability of parents to go to work, and to the ability of employers to find and retain workers. Despite this centrality, there is a profound shortage of ECEC in many communities, which has only been made worse by COVID-19. This study took place in rural Kentucky pre-pandemic, where approximately half of all residents lived in "childcare deserts"—a situation facing a growing number of communities. This research demonstrates that while financial factors affect the undersupply of childcare in a single community, there are also additional, more opaque, and under-theorized factors at play. Specifically, we argue that misconceptions around families' ability and willingness to pay for ECEC, what families prioritize in an ECEC setting, and ambiguous terminology result in misunderstandings and miscommunication that, in turn, affect perceived solutions to the problem of the childcare desert. In short, when different stakeholders use different language and assumptions to describe their goals and ideas about ECEC, it is hard to reach community consensus about how to add the high-quality options that families desire and value. Drawing upon survey and interview data collected from parents and childcare providers, as well as local newspaper articles and during community forums, we uncover barriers that may hinder efforts to strengthen ECEC options; notably, many barriers are surmountable. Ultimately, this research points to concrete steps that communities can take to help bolster ECEC and, thus, communities at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childhood trauma is a significant concern in Australia and internationally. Professionals working in the early childhood education sector (i.e., providing early childhood education and care to infants, toddlers, and children from birth to age eight) are positioned to provide valuable support for children affected by trauma. However, there is less research on early childhood professionals' perspectives and experiences of supporting trauma-exposed children compared to other education professionals (e.g., primary and secondary school teachers). This study explored early childhood professionals' perspectives and experiences in relation to supporting children exposed to trauma. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 early childhood professionals in Victoria, Australia, and data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings illustrate that while educators develop valuable skills and experience growth from supporting trauma-exposed children and their families, they also experience emotional distress and challenges. Educators noted that there are limited professional development opportunities to learn about childhood trauma, and limited access to qualified and knowledgeable staff who can help them when supporting these learners. Implications from this study emphasise the importance of designing and delivering trauma-based professional learning opportunities and policies for early childhood educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many smart technologies offer personalized experiences, such as the possibility for children to record their voice, add their own pictures or drawings to digital stories, customize their avatars or adjust display settings to their needs. This study examined the views of teachers and digital software designers on children's use of smart personalized technologies in Japan. Sixteen teachers and two designers from Japan took part in semi-structured interviews on the school or company premises in Tokyo and Osaka. Thematic analysis of the transcripts yielded three themes: agency, privacy and autonomy, which we consider through the lens of socio-materiality. While there were clear concerns about the protection of children's privacy with personalized technologies, children's agency and autonomy in using them was perceived both as a benefit and limitation of digital personalization features. The participants' paradoxical perceptions of the risks and benefits of personalization point to a complex socio-technological model of personalization that is embedded in children's smart technologies and influences adults' views on their use in early education. Our findings have implications for informing and theorising the design of personalization features in digital technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of writing development and accumulating evidence indicate that handwriting automaticity is related to the development of effective writing skills, and that writing and reading skills are also associated with each other. However, less is known about the nature of these associations and the role of instructional factors in the early years. The present study examines: (1) the influence of handwriting automaticity in the writing and reading performance of Year 1 students, both concurrently and across time; (2) associations between students' writing and reading performance and writing instruction. The current study involved 154 children enrolled in 24 classrooms from seven government-funded primary schools in Western Australia. Handwriting automaticity and word-reading were assessed at the end of kindergarten (Mage = 70 months, SD = 4.37 months) and a year later at the end of Year 1 (Mage = 82 months, SD = 3.64 months). Child-level measures of writing quality and production as well as teacher-reported measures of writing instruction were added in Year 1. Teachers reported on amount and type of writing instruction (i.e., teaching basic skills and teaching writing processes) and amount of writing practice in their classrooms. Data analyses included multilevel modelling. Handwriting automaticity predicted writing quality and production concurrently and across time after accounting for gender and initial word-reading skills. Handwriting automaticity predicted reading performance across time. Writing and reading performance were associated with amount of writing practice, while teaching planning and revising were positively associated with writing performance. Implications for writing development and writing instruction are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper presents two studies of transmedia interventions in the classroom. The two studies address how narrative-based transmedia curricular resources can support student learning in early mathematics. The studies were designed to identify the affordances (features and advantages) of transmedia-based learning in preschool and first grade classrooms. Study 1 included a 4-week intervention, where students interacted with 16 digital learning games featuring the popular Curious George animated character, hands-on materials downloaded from a Curious George public media website, three Curious George video episodes, and books and other common classroom materials. Sixty-eight preschool children were recruited from a school serving low-income communities in the San Francisco Bay Area that took part in the intervention. Measures included rigorous assessments of mathematics ability. Other data collection included classroom observations, and interviews with participating teachers. Over the course of the intervention, children’s knowledge of mathematics increased significantly, as measured by the Test of Early Mathematics Ability. Results of qualitative data analysis suggest that the transmedia aspect of the intervention brought affordances to students’ learning experiences. Study 2 involved an intervention with first grade students that included narrative-based digital and non-digital learning resources from the popular Odd Squad public television series. During the study, participating students used a school-based intervention that included videos, online games, interstitials, and hands-on activities from an Odd Squad transmedia suite. Four first grade teachers from the San Francisco Bay Area and their classrooms (n = 83 first grade students and their families) participated in the study. Measures included verbal and written assessments of mathematics ability. Other data collection included interviews with participating teachers and parents. Over the course of the Odd Squad intervention, students’ overall knowledge of mathematics in the domains of Number and Operations and Algebraic Thinking increased significantly, as well as their competency with mathematics vocabulary and the concept of fact families. Results of qualitative data analysis of teacher and parent interview data suggest that the transmedia aspect of the intervention brought affordances to first grade students’ learning experiences, including an engaging narrative domain to spur student motivation, presentation of content across multiple modalities, and supportive game-based learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is set in socio-material farming to offer a way of conceptualising actions and interactions of children in preschool involved in the understanding of scientific concepts. A model of early science education about the physical phenomena of shadow formation is implemented in group work in a French context. The research involved 44 children (13 females and 31 males) of 5-6 years old. The research design was organised in three video recording steps: pre-test, teaching session and post-test. We focus on the analysis of nine teaching sessions to investigate children's 'understanding' of shadow formation. A descriptive and qualitative approach was used. In particular, we have identified three main categories (the interaction of the children with the tools, the embodiment and verbal dimension)-with respective indicators-to perform the analysis. From the results, all the categories explored seem to influence each other: all material, human and social dimensions contribute to the children's understanding of shadow formation. Also we have identified some elements that can serve as a potential source of improvement of the teaching session on shadow formation. Finally, the research provides insights on how to improve science activities in preschool with the aim of supporting early understanding of physical phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early care and education (ECE) enables parental employment and provides a context for child development. Theory suggests that lower child care costs, through subsidized care or the provision of free or low-cost arrangements, would increase the use of ECE and parents' employment and work hours. This paper reviews the research literature examining the effects of child care costs and availability on parental employment. In general, research suggests that reduced out-of-pocket costs for ECE and increased availability of public ECE increases ECE attendance among young children, and has positive impacts on mothers' labor force participation and work hours. However, there is considerable heterogeneity in findings. Among U.S. studies that report the elasticity of employment to ECE price, estimates range from −0.025 to −1.1, with estimates clustering near 0.05-0.25. This indicates that a 10 % reduction in the price of child care would lead to a 0.25-11 % increase in maternal employment, likely near 0.5-2.5 %. In general, studies using more recent data or data from non-U.S. countries find smaller elasticities than those using U.S. data from the 1990s. These differences may be due to historical and cross-national differences in ECE attendance, labor force attachment, and educational attainment among mothers with young children, as well as heterogeneity in the methodological approaches and data used across studies. More research in the U.S. using contemporary data is needed, particularly given recent changes in U.S. ECE policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The studies regarding how the comprehension of geometric shapes evolves in childhood are largely based on the assessment of children's responses during the course of tasks linked to the recognition, classification or explanation of prototypes and models. Little attention has been granted to the issue as to what extent the geometric shape turns out to be an expressive tool that young children spontaneously use in their pictorial productions and also, whether or not methodological research approaches aimed at the examination of unprompted usage of geometric shapes in childhood may be useful regarding the study of the development of geometric thinking. This evidence provided by this study is coherent with the assumption that before starting primary education, internal representation of closed curves, quadrilaterals and triangles should have been developed by a significant number of children and, more interestingly, that young children's graphical expressivity appears liaised to their skill to depict two-dimensional geometric shapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored parents' and preschool personnel's opinions on factors influencing 3-5-year-old children's sedentary behaviors by applying the socioecological model. Four focus group interviews with preschool personnel (N = 14) and six interviews with parents (N = 17) were conducted in autumn 2014. Two researchers independently analyzed the data. A key finding was that the factors influencing children's sedentary behaviors were recognized at all levels of the socioecological model. Parents and personnel acknowledged that children's age, gender, and personal characteristics had an influence on the incidence of sedentary behaviors. The physical and social environments at home and at preschool seemed to work in a synergetic way. Sedentary behavior was focused on screens at home because of the wide variety of screens available for children to use. On the other hand, the existence and use of screens in preschools were rare. The routines and structures of the daily agenda in preschool define the sedentary behaviors, and how much children sit is dependent on personnel's motivation. Hurriedness and lack of rules at home increased children's sedentary behaviors. Overall, the vast majority of the preschool personnel and parents shared an understanding that the children in their care were not sedentary. The findings of this study support the use of the socioecological model in shedding light on the sedentary behaviors of preschool children. Interventions targeted at diminishing preschool children's sedentary behaviors should focus on different aspects of sedentary behaviors at home and at preschool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Providing enriched learning environments is important to stimulating children's development in early childhood. Early child-care policymakers in many states in the US have adopted Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) as a way to verify quality of child care and to support children's school readiness. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine associations between QRIS, a statewide government-funded early childhood care and education policy which integrates structural quality of child-care, and children's cognitive skills. Methods: A sample of randomly selected 313 children (mean age = 54.9 months, SD = 6.7) from 36 QRIS-participating early child-care programs was included in this study. Results: Multilevel analysis with a latent variable (i.e., observed cognitive skills consisting of vocabulary, phonological awareness, and mathematical skills) revealed that children in the highest level of QRIS programs demonstrated better cognitive skills after controlling for child demographics, and home and neighborhood environments. In addition, QRIS moderated a negative association between family socioeconomic risk and children's cognitive skills. Conclusions: The results suggest that policymakers may expect positive returns on QRIS investments in terms of children's early cognitive achievements that support their school readiness in later life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Research has documented the importance of high-quality early childhood experiences in preparing children for school. Quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) have recently emerged in many states as a way to build quality of child care and to promote better child outcomes. Objective: The goal of this study was to determine if preschool classrooms representing various levels of QRIS structure and status differ on classroom process quality as assessed by several observational tools (i.e., the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale-Revised, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, and the Early Language and Literacy Observation Tool). Methods: We randomly selected 103 teachers in 96 classrooms from 48 full-time child-care programs, and compared classroom quality in QRIS participating programs with classrooms in non-participating programs, and classroom quality across QRIS rating levels. Results: From multilevel analyses, we found that teachers in QRIS participating programs scored higher on global quality of classrooms, emotional support, instructional support, and literacy environment than those who were in non-participating programs after controlling for center-level and classroom-level variables. Teachers in the highest rated QRIS programs exhibited better process quality, including emotional support, classroom organization, instructional support, literacy environment, general classroom environments, and language curriculum than those in lower level programs. Conclusions: This study suggests that QRIS may be a promising investment for quality in early childhood education and care, which is a reasonable proxy for improving children's school readiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper describes the implementation and evaluation for scaling up a comprehensive early childhood teacher professional development program into 11 communities across 2 years with funding through state legislative actions. The comprehensive program had four major components based on results from a previous multi-condition random assignment study across four states. The previous results demonstrated that the most optimum approach for supporting children's school readiness included: (1) teacher on-line professional development with facilitation, (2) classroom mentoring, (3) implementation of a research-based curriculum, and (4) technology-driven progress monitoring that informed instruction. The comprehensive professional development program was evaluated in a new state program designed to bring childcare, Head Start, and public school pre-kindergarten together into integrated partnerships. In Year 1, 220 teachers serving 3834 children were randomly assigned to either receive the comprehensive program or not. Teachers who served as controls in Year 1 received the program in Year 2, and those who received the program in Year 1 participated for an additional year in Year 2, allowing for examination of the effects of one versus 2 years of participation. The program improved teachers instructional practices relative to controls, and a second year of participation resulted in greater gains in children's language and literacy. Results support the need for well-integrated, comprehensive professional development for early childhood educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the beginning of the conceptual understanding of the first number-words and what role language can play in developing the notion of numbers. To that end, 2½- and 3½-year-old Basque and Spanish monolingual children's ( N = 131) basic numeracy skills are analysed by means of two different experimental procedures: Give-N (in which children are requested to gather sets of objects) and How-Many (based on the ability to count collections). The paper accounts for differences as regards the performance in the Give-N procedure between children with different linguistic backgrounds. In accordance with previous research, this finding can be related to the dissimilar ways by which languages (Basque and Spanish, in this case) express grammatical number, supporting the idea that language plays a definite role in the emergence of the earliest set-size meanings of 'one,' 'two,' and 'three' number-words. Eventually, the work attempts to contribute to the growing body of evidence that shows that the meaning of the count-list appears from mapping numerals onto numerical cognitive representations produced by early core systems of numbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our review examined four early childhood journals ( Early Child Development and Care, Early Childhood Education Journal, Journal of Research in Childhood Education, and Early Childhood Research Quarterly) and four developmental science journals ( Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, and Merrill Palmer Quarterly) from 2005 to 2007. Only 57 articles out of over 1,000 (conservative estimate) included the term ‘play’ in the title, abstract or as a key word. Of these 57 articles, only 19 were primarily focused on play, 16 from ECE journals and only three from developmental science journals ( Z = 2.43, p < .05). While the ECE journals drew implications for practice, the developmental science journals did not. Seven ECE journal articles dealt with the concept of play in education and four other ECE journal articles covered play and literacy. The findings suggest the need for more careful use of the term play in early education and child development studies and a reevaluation of rationales and methods for its study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early childhood teachers and educational programs are expected to be the primary resources as children experience different and sometimes conflicting cultural contexts. Early educators can play a paramount role as young children move through fluid identities and start recognizing and navigating within and across spaces of cultural differences—e.g., between home cultures and the socially-dominant school culture. In this sense, we draw attention to a multi-year action research study, paying particular attention to the process whereby an early childhood teacher investigated, problematized, and challenged the nature of curriculum and practices in a diverse preschool classroom. We focus on the role of action research in fostering culturally-relevant teaching. As we do so, we analyze an early childhood teacher’s shifting perceptions of what it means to engage in culturally-relevant teaching, respecting and honoring cultural diversities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Monatsschrift Kinderheilkunde is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Family, friend and neighbor (FFN) child caregivers represent a significant proportion of caregivers for young children. Yet, these caregivers receive little support for their services. In 2003, the First 5 California Children and Families Commission (First 5 California) began a study to determine the work-related needs of FFN caregivers in California. This paper reports on the results of all study activities, including focus groups and interviews with caregivers and parents. It details the specific needs related to licensing, materials and equipment, education and training, and support systems that were identified by FFN caregivers, parents, and other stakeholders as being important to improve the quality and working conditions of FFN care. It also discusses needs of agencies that provide services to FFN caregivers, including awareness of and knowledge about the population, funding and other resources, and professional development topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Painting in early childhood classrooms should have its own values and purposes enriching young children’s aesthetic intelligence rather than being considered as mere supplements to other art activities. The three approaches to painting in early childhood settings – Bank Street, Reggio, and Waldorf – consider painting as the core of integrated curriculum and present a coherent relationship between theory and practice. Materials and instructional methods for painting within each approach appear to be unique and provide insights for early childhood teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]