Children's creativity is different from the creativity shown by adults. Discovery for others, which is what adults do, results in technological, scientific or artistic advances that then become part of the general culture. Discovery for oneself is more subjective, and results in a change in the person rather than in the culture. Although adults…

Child development involves the process of mastering cultural tools, which modify relations with the world and provide the means to act on the self. A sign is a universal cultural tool, but these tools are not the same for all ages. The problem of specifying development becomes one of finding the tools that children use in their activity.…

Combinatorial abilities are fundamental to experimental thinking. The aim of this work was to design didactic objects that will stimulate preschoolers' experimental thinking and to study young children's thinking in relation to these objects. Six heuristic rules for the design of didactic objects are specified, and the responses of 623 children…

This article is about experimentation in both practical and mental activity and uses data from a series of studies with preschool children. The article focuses on personal experimentation, which is aimed at discovering relations, rather than the more utilitarian experimentation that is aimed at solving practical tasks. Personal experimentation…

This article describes a music programme in an Australian early learning centre. Through a repertoire of songs, games and instruments, the children were introduced to music forms, including opera. Mozart's Magic Flute was presented to these children by watching the Metropolitan Opera's latest film performance. Because this opera seized the…

Child outcome studies consistently emphasize the effects of quality childcare on the early development of young children. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effects of assessment training and digital media on teacher-child interactions measured using the Caregiver Child Interaction Scale (CCIS). The participants included six infant…

East Asian children have consistently outperformed children from other nations on mathematical tests. However, most previous cross-cultural studies mainly compared East Asian countries and the United States and have largely ignored cultures from other parts of the world. The present study explored cultural differences in young children's early…

The national policies of the Chinese government regarding preschool inclusion are emerging to promote the well-being of all children, particularly children with disabilities in natural environments such as regular preschools or in homes. Following the global trend towards inclusive education, preschools in Beijing are gradually implementing both…

In a bilingual context, the mother tongue plays a key role in a child's social and personal development, in education and in second-language learning. There is a complex relationship between these three areas. Support for children receiving education through a second language is often in the form of additional learning opportunities in the second…

This study compares the attitudes of preschool teachers and students between the Netherlands and Germany towards typical play activities in preschool. The data were responses to short video clips of preschool children's play and elicited the respondents' attitudes through questionnaires. The data were analysed by classifying the written responses…

Any implementation of an inclusive policy is largely dependent on educators' attitudes. In Turkey, many teachers who educate preschool children with Special Educational Needs (SEN), and who have not received in-service teacher training (INSET) are observed to have negative attitudes towards their SEN students. The aim of this article is to examine…

This study examines the overall quality of parenting behaviours among low-income mothers in the USA and the extent to which they are influenced by risk factors within the family environment, maternal well-being and maternal risk characteristics associated with socio-economic status. Participants consisted of 1070 low-income mothers of…

This study investigated the relationships and interactions between childcare quality (Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale-Revised edition [ECERS-R]/Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale-Extension [ECERS-E]) and children's social skills (SSRS) in different sociodemographic areas within one Australian city. Multiple regression analysis…

In this study a particular kind of figurative language, so-called anthropomorphic speech, is analysed in the context of science activities in a preschool setting. Anthropomorphism means speaking about something non-human in human terms. Can any systematic pattern be seen with regard to when such speech is used? Do children and/or teachers…

This research investigated the similarities and differences between countries in young children's early numeracy skills related to age, culture, and gender. The participants were five-year-old children from Beijing (People's Republic of China), England, and Finland. The rationale for the cross-cultural comparison originates from research results…