Language ability plays a major role in children's future development. In the present study, the effect of three interactive reading approaches on children's language ability was investigated through a pre-posttest design. Participants were N = 73 children (aged 4-6) from three early childhood education classrooms. Classrooms were assigned to one…

Musical play is an activity in which young children more or less freely explore and create with sound with limited guidance from a teacher. This study explored the occurrence of musical play in Dutch early years education (4-5 year olds). Twenty early years classroom teachers were interviewed about the content of the music education taking place…

The aim of this study is to uncover the emergence of cultural mathematical understandings and communications in young children's spontaneous pretend play. It is based on Vygotskian cultural-historical perspectives and social-semiotic theory, informed by research into "funds of knowledge" and considers how children's informal knowledge of…

This study investigated gender differences in the relationship between oral communicative competence and peer rejection in early childhood education. It was hypothesized that children with poorer oral communicative competence would be rejected by their peers more frequently and that the strength of this relationship would differ for boys and…

This article reports on the first phase of a research project in which we looked for the voices of young children, aged 5 to 6, in school. What do children experience in school? What do they see as the meaning of school? What is their motivation? Children have the right to be listened to. The question is which settings, under which circumstances,…

Teachers possess several strategies to fine-tune their purposive interactions to children's needs. Our study investigates which strategies teachers use in their goal oriented interactions with pupils, whether differentiation is perceptible in the way they interact with children whom they define as "children at risk" as compared to the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether introducing schematising to children in early childhood (ages five to six) promotes better learning outcomes in later mathematics (age seven). This was done using a longitudinal, quantitative study with a quasi-experimental design. With the help of teachers and a teacher-trainer, pupils in the…

After a critique of the standard literacy practice in primary school, the article develops a Vygotskian view on literacy that defines literate activity as a generalised ability of using sign systems for personal and interpersonal use within specific cultural practices. Narrative competence is seen as one specific form of this literate activity.…

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…

Examined four- through six-year olds' ability to diagram the configuration of a toy railway set they had assembled and to reconstruct the railway based on drawings. Found that motivation had a significant influence on the accuracy of drawings. Results suggest that semiotic activity with the help of schematic representations or drawings is in the…

Analyzed the diagnostic teaching abilities in the domains of literacy and numeracy of second-year teachers in a Dutch primary school. Assessed student's literacy development using standardized tests, and compared results of these tests with teachers' criterion-referenced judgment of their pupils' literacy development. Found teachers' judgments to…

Discussions about the beginnings of mathematics education in early childhood are often caught up in a dilemma: should we stimulate spontaneous actions or provide direct instruction about elementary number-related actions? In this article we argue that either approach is problematic and neither is an optimal way of promoting the development of…