Background/Context: The COVID-19 pandemic challenged the way we conduct research. For some modes of data collection, such as interviews, there was a ready (if not perfect) analog: face-to-face became phone-based; paper and pen surveys moved online. Others, such as direct assessments of child development, proved more challenging. Despite the…

This brief summarizes the working paper, "Understanding Motivation: Building the Brain Architecture That Supports Learning, Health, and Community Participation. Working Paper 14," which explains the science behind motivation--the "wanting" system and the "liking" system--as well as how those systems develop, and how…

In line with international trends in early childhood care and education (ECCE) recognising the importance of early learning, the Department of Basic Education in South Africa has pledged to professionalise the sector, increase access and improve quality. From a systemic point of view, professionalisation of the sector will require collaboration on…

This study explores the professional development (PD) of rural teachers in China based on their relationship with "left-behind" children, guided by two research questions: 1) How do rural teachers describe their relationship with left-behind children? and 2) How do rural teachers perceive the influence of their relationship with…

The aim of this study is to reveal preschool teachers' views on sensory education. In the study, phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research methods, was selected. The study group of the research consists of 20 preschool teachers working in a city in Turkey in the 2022-2023 academic year. Maximum diversity sampling, one of the…

Childcare services are widely used by families and thereby exert an important influence on many young children. Yet, little research has examined whether childcare may impact the development of child executive functioning (EF), one of the pillars of cognitive development in early childhood. Furthermore, despite persisting hypotheses that childcare…

This study reports on crawling variability and differences in variability between infants with typical development (TD) and those with developmental delays. This longitudinal study included 0-year-old infants with no apparent dysfunction. The crawling movement in the video was coded objectively with reference to previous research. The infants were…

What makes a word easy to learn? Early-learned words are frequent and tend to name concrete referents. But words typically do not occur in isolation. Some words are predictable from their contexts; others are less so. Here, we investigate whether predictability relates to when children start producing different words (age of acquisition; AoA). We…

This study examined the relationship between using the Ignite by Hatch™ educational gaming system and assessments of the developmental status of young children participating in the 2023 Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) Summer Transition Program. Researchers collected data that describe the extent to which the children engaged…

Play is a very effective tool in the development of the child's personality, cognitive skills, social-emotional structure, communication and interaction skills. In this study, it was aimed to determine the effect of teaching with the Direct Instruction Model on the teaching of musical play (round) skills in students with moderate intellectual…

India is home to the largest population of adolescents in the world, of which nearly half experience one or more adverse childhood experiences. Despite rising interest in building trauma-sensitive school systems globally, such initiatives are limited in India. This paper presents the development, implementation, and acceptability of the Fostering…

Conversations with families about understanding and nurturing their young child's development can be both rewarding and challenging. In this article, two seasoned HealthySteps specialists and two HealthySteps physician champions were asked to reflect on this central aspect of their mission in serving infants, toddlers, and families and on what…

The brain undergoes profound development across childhood and adolescence, including continuous changes in brain morphology, connectivity, and functioning that are, in part, dependent on one's experiences. These neurobiological changes are accompanied by significant changes in children's and adolescents' cognitive learning. By drawing from studies…

Background: This paper represents an empirical study that examines the impact of specific teaching methods on the effectiveness of preschool music education. Objectives: The current study seeks to determine whether the integration of digital technology improves the music learning outcomes of preschoolers. Methods: The author compared the learning…

This article argues for a reconceptualisation of early childhood education, where learning and development are not only valued by outcome, and aims to investigate how aesthetic processes are organised in ways for the children to be inspired, to compare, explore, and play. Inspired by a Vygotsky perspective and his theories of play, imagination,…