The term "active learning" is used in a variety of educational contexts. As described in this guide, however, it refers to an instructional approach developed by Lilli Nielsen--a Danish psychologist--for promoting the learning and development of children who have significant support needs. Nielsen's Active Learning involves a range of…

Many teachers and administrators recognize the importance of social and emotional development for student success but do not feel that they have the time or tools to support social and emotional learning (SEL). The American Institutes for Research developed the "Social and Emotional Learning Coaching Toolkit: Keeping SEL at the Center"…

In urban schools overwhelmed by increasing demands to raise test scores, exclusive focus on increasing academic competencies has proven ineffective. School-wide, comprehensive social-emotional and character development (SECD), focused on the cultivation of Noble Purpose, provides an alternative pathway toward life, college, and career success. We…

In 2006, several dedicated early childhood professionals began work on the creation of the "Nebraska Core Competencies for Early Childhood Professionals." Representatives from across Nebraska worked together. After the input from various focus groups, the document became public in July of 2007. The current revision process began in late…

The purpose of the Early Childhood Essentials Framework is to synthesize and communicate the essential skills and competencies children should be acquiring before they enter kindergarten and the related skills and competencies early childhood educators must cultivate in order to provide high-quality early learning experiences that will set all…

Research tells us that children's social-emotional development can propel learning. A new program, SECURe, embeds that research into classroom management strategies that improve teaching and learning. Across all classrooms and grade levels, four principles of effective management are constant: Effective classroom management is based in…

Many children in preschool need support developing appropriate social-emotional competencies. Supportive early educators build confidence in young children to express and regulate emotions, develop solutions to problems, interact with peers, and persist when faced with challenges (Denham, 2006; Webster-Stratton & Reid, 2004). This article…

Skills related to social-emotional learning (SEL) are essential for college and career readiness. Failure to use appropriate skills for SEL in school is often linked to several negative academic outcomes, including rejection by school community members, academic deficits, and higher rates of problematic behavior. Social skills interventions are…

This paper describes a nature-based social-emotional approach to supporting young children's holistic development that can be applied in a range of early childhood settings from forest kindergartens and nature-based preschools to more traditional center-based early childhood programs. "The Social-Emotional and Environmental Education…

This article, a narrative inquiry, documents my professional learning as an educator through sustained research into the role of the bilingual teaching assistant over a period of 30 years from the late 1970s to the year 2000 in England as a teacher and today as a teacher educator in the UAE. It also represents a data-based analysis of the role of…

This paper is a portrait of a public elementary school classroom in light of the relationships, history, and ideas that have formed its physical space. In describing Judy Richard's classroom, the author shows how a creative teacher's commitment to seeing her classroom as a living space inevitably brings her to overstep the narrow limits of the…

Task cards are instructional tools that combine a picture of a skill with written instructions about how to perform the skill. This article provides practical guidelines for developing research-based task cards for use in physical education classes. Fitness-related motor skills are used as examples to clarify design principles for task cards. The…

The author first learned about the Shared Journal approach as a doctoral student in the mid-1980s, and she implemented it in her own kindergarten class with great success. Two decades later, she was listening as her own graduate students introduced themselves and described their experiences with teaching writing. A young kindergarten teacher…

Blocks are one of the most popular playthings for children. The purpose of this article is to describe the use of block play in developing parent-child relations. This paper has two major parts. First, a brief historical overview highlights the critical roles of child's block play in learning and development. Block play contributes to children's…

When children apologize, they accept responsibility for wrongdoings and act to reconcile social relationships. Apologies to siblings were coded in 40 families that were observed for 9 h when children were 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 years old, and again 2 years later. We found that sibling apologies were rare, generally simple in form, and more frequent after…