Best practice is based on knowledge--not on beliefs or guesses--about how children learn and develop. This volume contains 20 overviews of research on aspects of young children's social, emotional, cognitive, or physical development, as well as how the findings can be applied in the classroom. Originally "Research in Review" articles in NAEYC's journal Young Children, each has been freshly updated to reflect the current context and research base. Classroom teachers and teacher trainers will find valuable the overviews' plain discourse in making complex concepts more understandable. The table of contents is divided into five parts. Part I: Social Development, includes an introduction and the first three chapters of the book: (1) Peer-Related Social Competence in Early Childhood: Supporting Interaction and Relationships (Kristen M. Kemple and Stacy M. Ellis); (2) Growing Up with the Contradictions of Race and Class (Patricia G. Ramsey); and (3) Enhancing Development and Learning Through Teacher-Child Relationships (Kathleen Cranley Gallagher and Kelley Mayer). Part II: Emotional Development, contains an introduction and five chapters: (4) Young Children's Understanding of Everyday Emotions (Janet Kuebli and Accalia R. Kusto); (5) Recognizing and Supporting the Development of Self-Regulation in Young Children (Martha B. Bronson); (6) The Development of Self-Concept (Hermine H. Marshall); (7) Stress and Young Children (Alice Sterling Honig); and (8) Resilient Children (Emmy E. Werner and Eva L. Essa). Part III: Cognitive and Language Development, continues with an introduction and four chapters: (9) Children's Language: Learning Words from Experience (Celia Genishi and Andrea Smith Honig); (10) Emerging Knowledge About Emergent Writing (Kelley Mayer); (11) Mathematics Instruction That Makes Sense for 2- to 5-Year-Olds (Arthur J. Baroody and Xia Li); and (12) I Think I Can, I Knew I Could: Understanding and Encouraging Mastery Motivation in Young Children (Penny Hauser-Cram and Darcy B. Mitchell). Part IV: Physical Development, continues with an introduction and three chapters: (13) Motor Development in Young Children: Implications and Applications (Linda M. Gagen, Nancy Getchell, and Greg Payne); (14) Growing Children: The Physical Side of Development (Rebecca A. Marcon); and (15) Children's Eating: The Development of Food-Acceptance Patterns (Alison K. Ventura, Susan L. Johnson, and Leann L. Birch). Part V: Influences on Development, concludes with an introduction and the remaining five chapters: (16) Strengthening Relations Between Parents and Early Childhood Programs (Douglas R. Powell and Patrick M. O'Leary); (17) Early Childhood Programs That Work for Economically Disadvantaged Children (Frances A. Campbell and Karen B. Taylor); (18) Cultural and Linguistic Differences in Families with Young Children: Implications for Early Childhood Teachers (Lynn Okagaki and Karen E. Diamond); (19) The Education of Hispanics in Early Childhood: Of Roots and Wings (Eugene E. Garcia); and (20) Including Young Children with Disabilities in Preschool: Moving Forward from 1994 (Karen E. Diamond, Linda L. Hestenes, Swetha Chakravarthi, and Linlin Li). The book concludes with an index.