The first year of teaching has and continues to be fraught with challenges for early educators in public school contexts across the United States. A persistent problem that has been documented across the globe is the ability of novice teachers to engage in developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) with their students. We examine this issue…

This longitudinal study of robot programming in early childhood (ROPEC) was performed based on summative and formative assessments of the robotics program in kindergarten and year one of elementary school. The study aims to broaden our knowledge about children's understanding of programming, their confidence in ability to read and write programs,…

In early childhood education in China, kindergarten teachers are facing a period of reform and development in which advanced technologies should be integrated into traditional education. This research aims to identify Chinese kindergarten teachers' opinions on using advanced technologies in their classrooms. The effects of four variables (age of…

Computational thinking (CT) activities are increasingly being integrated into early childhood schools. We focus on studying children's learning using an "unplugged" (non-computational) learning unit that considers a teacher's knowledge and classroom space and affords seamless adaptation into the classroom given the objects used in the…

Preparing children and youth for a world of growing complexity, diversity, and mobility requires fresh educational approaches and deliberate pedagogies. In this article, we explore the role of storytelling in making sense of crucial global transformations affecting children's lives. We examine how migrant children and their peers in two classrooms…

This article presents five main challenges refugee children experience in their learning and living in host countries, revealing an urgent need for reexamining their strengths and needs in education. It further reports an asset-based participatory research project with 18 preservice teachers (PTs) and 85 refugee children (K-5) engaged in an…

The role of play in early elementary education (K-2) generates dichotomous opinions, and more research is required to support efficacious pedagogical decision-making. This pilot study explored the effects of pedagogical approaches on Title I kindergarten students' executive function (EF) to test the hypothesis that children, especially those from…

Despite numerous research findings that support play's positive impact on children's learning, pressure to pass high-stakes tests later in the elementary years has prompted a decrease in the amount of time for kindergarten play. While play proponents work to prioritize play in kindergarten, there is a dilemma. How can educators respond to the…

With a growing number of multilingual children entering early childhood education, teachers are challenged to create appropriate learning opportunities for all children. Given diverse literacy skills and cultural backgrounds, early childhood educators might provide different support to children after an inappropriate child response depending on…

We explored how teacher and child talk-turns were related to children's subsequent comprehension responses during read-alouds. Data included three kindergarten teachers' interactive read-alouds (736 talk-turns across six video-recorded and transcribed sessions). Talk-turns were coded using a priori and emergent codes. Statistical discourse…

This article describes the process teachers at a public elementary school completed to develop and implement a developmentally appropriate, race-conscious, anti-bias curriculum in all K-5 classrooms. The study focuses on the experiences of the teachers and children in three early childhood classrooms using a case study design. Data were gathered…

Using robotics and programming, this study investigated the effects of different levels of embodied instruction on the problem-solving, debugging, programming proficiency, self-determination, and self-efficacy of students in ethnically diverse elementary classrooms. The first small-scale, quasi-experimental study involved 37 second-graders, who…

Teachers' commitments, or what is often called fidelity in teaching, are of obvious importance in early childhood settings. Nonetheless, fidelity in teaching young children remains an undertheorized concept. Instead of appreciating the philosophical and socio-political complexities of practice, examinations of fidelity in teaching young children…

This study explores the utility of the Early Development Instrument (EDI) as a population-based measure of school readiness in Crete, Greece, during times of economic austerity. It is unique in that no similar investigation examining school readiness for grade one has been conducted in this country. More specifically, it identifies kindergarten…

Interest in providing one-to-one technology to students is increasing, particularly in low-income schools. This study examined the impact of one such approach on kindergartners' math and literacy development during an academic year in a small urban public school district. A district-wide outreach program provided tablets to every kindergarten…