This study investigated children's cooperative problem solving (CPS) behaviors during play in classrooms and associated influencing factors (school, age, and gender) in a Chinese kindergarten and U.S. early learning center. Four- and five-year-old participants (n = 39) were from one Chinese kindergarten and one U.S. center. They were video…

With a heavy increase in academic expectations and standards to be learned in the early years, educators are facing the challenge of integrating important academic standards into developmentally appropriate learning experiences for children in kindergarten. To meet this challenge, there is a need to become familiar with the role of play in the…

The research literature well establishes that adverse conditions, such as poverty, can affect children's cognitive development and academic achievement. Educators are challenged to translate these understandings into instructional practices grounded in research that best meet the needs of students, especially students living in poverty who are at…

The study employed a qualitative multiple case study approach to investigate second-grade students' perceptions of their classrooms' physical learning environment. Data were collected through interviews, participant-generated photographs, and observations. Participants in the study were 16 students in four classrooms in three school districts. A…

This article describes academic conversations in kindergarten classrooms and how they vary across two different instructional activities: teacher-led and student-led book conversations. Conversations about texts have been recommended to improve the comprehension of kindergarten through third graders. The research was conducted in a K-8 urban,…

Read-alouds are a frequent practice in early childhood classrooms and provide great potential for developing literacy skills for young learners including vocabulary, comprehension, text structure awareness, visual literacy, and fluency. Yet, any potential benefit of read-alouds depends on how the teacher enacts a read-aloud, particularly in…

Writing at school start is critical for students' literacy development but student composition is often undervalued in early education classrooms and understudied by literacy researchers. To address such needs, this mixed methods, sequential survey study investigated how writing practices are enacted in the fall semester of Norwegian 1st grade…

When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020, the lives of families all over the world were disrupted. Many adults found themselves working from home while their children were unable to go to school. To better understand the potential impact of these educational disruptions, it is important to establish what learning looked like during…

There is much debate over the potential impact of the iPad and similar technologies when applied to classroom activities. Some view such resources as distractions that impede collaboration and mutual focus among students, while others see them as resources whose natural appeal to children makes them useful in facilitating cooperative activities…

This article reports findings from a study to investigate the efficacy beliefs, experiences, and instructional practices of pre-kindergarten (pre-k) teachers from a high-need district who engaged in collaborative professional learning experiences provided by a partner university. The study also examined language and literacy instruction for…

Policies related to the inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream classrooms have led to questions regarding how teachers can help cultivate inclusive learning communities where all children are supported and valued. In play-based kindergarten programs, teachers are tasked with ensuring goals for children's learning and development are…

Play is a developmentally appropriate practice for young children and enhances children's holistic development. However, recent educational policies and pressure to focus on academic goals and high-stakes testing have resulted in an emphasis on teacher-directed instruction, minimizing play-based child directed experiences in kindergarten…

The adoption of one-to-one device programs in early childhood classrooms is a relatively new phenomenon that is quickly becoming widespread. While these devices carry potential as educational learning tools, there is still much to learn about how to successfully integrate them into classrooms and into children's lives. One important area to…

This study investigates whether using My Math Academy, which provides personalized content and adaptive embedded assessments to support existing curricula, can improve learning outcomes and engagement for kindergarten and first grade students (N = 505 treatment, 481 control). Findings indicate that students using My Math Academy made significant…

The purpose of the present study was to examine the opportunities kindergarten children in the United States had across different learning contexts (whole group, small group, center time, lunch, recess) to engage in social behavior as defined by the Developing Skills Checklist. Across a 3-year period, the social behaviors of 36 children across 13…