Preschoolers are offered few opportunities to become acquainted with non-fiction books, and when they are given the possibility to read non-fiction picturebooks, these are often fictionalised in one way or another. The fictionalisation of children's non-fiction blurs the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction picturebooks. This could mean that…

Differentiated instruction (DI) is a teaching philosophy which addresses the learning needs of individual children. This multiple case study aimed to investigate the extent preschool teachers differentiated content, process, assessment, and learning environment within multicultural classrooms. Four early childhood teachers' experiences were…

While classroom talk has been the subject of much research, particularly with primary aged children, the study of talk in contexts outside of the classroom and with younger children is under-researched. This study examined the child-child talk of 4-5-year-olds in the context of free play within a woodland setting. Free play was chosen as it…

Pedagogy is seen as a "double-edged sword": it efficiently conveys information but may constrain the exploration of the causal structure of objects, suggesting that pedagogy and exploration are mutually exclusive learning processes. However, research on children's active involvement in concept acquisition implies that pedagogical signals…

The present study compared Japanese and U.S. preschool children's knowledge of geometric shapes. The main goal was to explore if differences in shape-naming conventions in Japanese and English could explain differences in children's understanding of geometric shapes. In ancient Chinese-based languages (e.g., Japanese), all standard 2D shapes…

This study examined parents' beliefs and potential links with their children's (1) interest in science, (2) competence in learning science, and (3) science learning opportunities offered to their children. The study included a sample of 1,490 parents who had young children enrolled in U.S. preschool (3 years old, 55.9%) and pre-kindergarten (4…

The primary aim of this research was to explore the participants' perception of inclusive toys (i.e. toys with disabilities) as suitable playing tools for preschool children and their willingness to buy such toys. Our cross-sectional design involved 738 Romanian adults aged 18 to 61 (M = 29.72). We used ten images containing toys with and without…

There is a growing emphasis on early math education worldwide, yet some factors influence how teachers reflect this concern in their classroom practice. This study examined the content and frequency of math learning opportunities provided to preschoolers and the factors influencing these opportunities, specifically teachers' years of experience…

State policymakers have worked hard to increase prekindergarten enrollment and ease young children's transition to kindergarten, and with good reason. There is abundant evidence that attending a formal preschool program such as state pre-K or Head Start boosts students' academic and social competencies significantly and meaningfully, regardless of…

The Reggio Emilia approach, including the concept of the hundred languages that children use, offers expansive opportunities for affirming and sustaining the multilingual identities of young children (Fyfe et al., 2023). This paper counters the authoritarian culture of power (Delpit, 1988) in schooling that privileges monolingual, monomodal…

Retrieval practice is known to enhance long-term memory retention, a phenomenon termed as retrieval practice effect. Two experiments (NWhite = 202), showed that the effect was present in preschool age (5-6 years) and had a boundary condition, namely, amount of initial learning. Specifically, there was a considerable effect only when children…

"Story dictation" and "story acting" are joint practices that were popularized some years ago by educator and author Vivian Paley and remain relevant today given their alignment with child-centred, play-based curricula. We review quantitative and qualitative research on these practices, with a focus on young children's writing…

Research Findings: This study examined the association between preschool children's social-emotional competence (SEC), defined by their social skills and problem behaviors, and numeracy skills. It also examined if any subdomains of SEC predicted preschool numeracy above and beyond latent social skills or problem behaviors variables. Data came from…

Integrating literacy-focused curricula in preschool settings may help support children's literacy learning. In this study, we explored the use of literacy-focused curricula and how it was associated with preschool children's literacy gains (i.e., print and letter knowledge, phonological awareness, language and comprehension, and emergent writing)…

The author reviews the literature concerning cooperative problem solving (CPS), the process in which two or more children collaborate by sharing perspectives and exploring new ways to tackle common problems. The review considers the definitions and measurements of CPS and various examinations of its relationship to play and other factors such as…