Argues that there is no absolute standard for defining high-quality early childhood education and care and that current approaches to effective teaching/learning are of limited value in defining standards for effective early education. Explores from a Vygotskian perspective play as a format for children's activities, concluding that effective…

Examines effects of policies concerning nursery education over a 20-year span in Scotland. Highlights publication of school inspection reports, increased demand for written curriculum plans, and the controversial policy in one region to integrate education and social work nurseries. Focuses on effects of education authorities in three regions on…

Investigated working methods of two Icelandic preschool teachers, their beliefs about early childhood education, and goals of their programs. Found that their methods, goals, and beliefs reflected a romantic view of children and childrearing. One teacher had more content-oriented goals than the other, more in line with contemporary U.S. early…

Discusses the traditional practices and the theories that have been adopted by many early childhood professionals in Australia. Questions the implicit codes of Western schooling, highlighting the ethnocentric framework of early childhood education in many countries. Presents and discusses findings from a study of Australian indigenous families…

Describes how narratives can stimulate children's play and how it is possible to create playworlds. Shows how cultural context has a positive influence on children's quest for meaningful action. Asserts that a child's imagination is captured by the narrative, which gives objects and actions their meaning. Maintains that when adults play roles and…

Reviews research published in North America concerning how years of education, amount of specialized education, and years of experience relate to early childhood teaching practices. Finds that amount of formal schooling correlated with overall classroom quality and, less often, with effective teacher behavior. Specialized education may be causally…

Draws on findings from three early literacy research projects conducted in Australia between 1998 and 2001 to identify guiding principles to assist early childhood educators in reflecting upon their early literacy practices and in constructing more inclusive literacy narratives for children prior to school entry. Emphasizes the importance of…

Examined effects of planned encounters between religious and secular Jewish children and parents at a school in Jerusalem, Israel, on perceptions of religiosity and secularism. Results suggest that each group was aware of its affiliation, could discern similarities and differences, and did not have stereotyped perceptions. Social encounters…

Explored the impact of regular reading of selected children's books in Slovenian preschools on the development of language competencies among 4- to 6-year-olds. Found significant differences in receptive language, expressive language, and storytelling between children exposed to 2 selected books per week over 2 months and those exposed only to the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between gender, grade level, teachers, and the selection of mathematics software as measured by the type of mathematics software chosen, and time-on-task. Research data were collected from 202 third, fourth, and fifth grade students in a single elementary school located in northeastern…

In the early centuries of human evolution, the information to express cultures, social contents, ideas, values, and the society itself were primarily developed by means of expression. This information was represented in the form of classical, signs, figures, traditional manuscripts and performing arts. On the other hand, it becomes less important…

This article discusses the way online communications, and more precisely e-mail, can be used for English language teaching in a Primary Education classroom in Greece. The first part: (a) briefly describes the context where this particular technology will be used; (b) considers the pedagogical issues and language learning potential of using e-mail…

In the winter of 2000, a class of K-8 preservice teachers were introduced to "TesselMania! Deluxe," a software product that visually and manually engages students in the study of transformations but, more specifically, tessellations. Prior to discussing the topic of transformations, students were only slightly familiar with two types of…

With the continuing debate of the use and impact of technology on young children, this article examines the impact on technology on the academic self-efficacy and career intentions of African American students. The results from this study may be applicable to teaching, implementation, and use of technology with young children.

This meta-analysis compared the academic achievement of elementary students who received either traditional instruction or traditional instruction supplemented with CAI. From the 68 effect sizes, an overall mean effect size of 0.342 was calculated, indicating that, on average, students receiving traditional instruction supplemented with CAI…