Examined whether participating in the North Carolina Quality Enhancement Initiative improved the quality of 26 participating school-age child care programs. Found a significant increase in the quality of child care environments and teacher-child interaction over the 9-month period. State license and smaller group size related to higher quality…

Compared Chinese fourth-, eighth-, and eleventh-graders' self-perceptions of ability in physical education. Found no grade-related decline in perceived ability. All students used effort, ability, and comparison to judge their ability. Students at all grades perceived task mastery as the major ability indicator and tended to assess ability in…

Investigated the impact of a course on interprofessional collaboration and field site experiences in family literacy programs on the perceptions of preservice teachers as it pertained to working with children and families "of promise." Found that students' views changed to a "family first" perspective, considering children and families to be "of…

Examined children's play in indoor and outdoor environments at a New Zealand child care center. Identified four dimensions of difference illuminating the relationship between outdoor and indoor playspaces and the play occurring there: physical versus constructive play, change and stability continuum, freedom and control dimension, and differences…

Videotaped 1- to 6-year-olds' day care routines and adults' work after extensive consultation on the Storycrafting method to study children's thoughts and collaborative behavior. Found that children's viewpoints are elicited when they play an active role and when educational work is directed by telling stories, playing, and doing research. Noted…

Discusses teachers' sensitivity in the context of young children's peer conflicts. Explains that young children need to experience their own actions as logical and sound and that they co-construct logic-in-action (procedural knowledge) long before they can verbalize their logic. Maintains that teachers who do not respect children's logic often…

Researchers observed and rated environments of 80 early childhood settings in Australia, interviewed staff, and conducted focus group discussions with family members regarding early childhood literacy. Case study findings indicated that in settings with strong levels of congruence between family and staff perspectives on early literacies, both…

Examines the Coram Community Campus, an innovative model of service provision for young children and families in a multi- ethnic areas of inner London, providing care, education, family support, and other services. Uses case study and interview data to describe "one-stop" service provision and how the program makes services more accessible to…

This 4-year longitudinal study compared characteristics of different day care contexts and the home environment of young children in Turkey and their effects on child outcomes. Findings indicated that custodial and educational day care differed in quality. Short- and long-term child outcomes suggested that educational settings supported child…

This study examines the personal and professional growth for three student-caregivers as they began working with infants and families in child care. Findings suggest that new infant caregivers experience thoughts and feelings similar to those of new teachers of older children. Challenges include adjusting to the physical and emotional intensity of…

This study observed the different ways in which 11 child care teachers constructed "teaching" in a high-quality program that included children with disabilities. Qualitative analysis revealed that teaching could be conceptualized as comprising four contexts consisting of a range of behaviors, practices, or beliefs about teaching: environmental,…

Examined the impact of computers on the social behavior of 14 preschoolers over a 2-month period. Found that there were a total of 91 peer interactions and 33 teacher interactions, including children acknowledging each other, children commenting and being ignored, and children sharing or helping each other. Boys used the computer more than girls.…

A 2-year ethnographic study focused on social behaviors and gender differences among preschoolers engaging in science activities. Findings indicated that boys exhibited curiosity, spontaneity, extensive prior knowledge about nature, and tended toward aggressive, competitive, and sometimes violent behavior. Girls displayed a submissive countenance,…

This study sought to validate the translated Self-Control Rating Scale on a population of 204 randomly selected Chinese preschool children from over 600 attending a Beijing child care center. Results indicated satisfactory content validity, internal reliability, construct validity, and test-retest reliability. Validation of measure will allow…

This study examined associations between children's participation in out-of-school activities and academic achievement among 60 first-graders from low-income ethnically diverse families. Regression analyses revealed that as frequency of children's participation in out-of-school activities increased from low to moderate, grades also increased. As…