Educational interventions are frequently designed to occur during early childhood, based on the idea that earlier intervention will have greater long-term academic benefits. However, surprisingly little is known about when cognitive and academic skills are most plastic, or malleable, during development. One way to study plasticity is to ask…

Studies that have been conducted on the topic of self-esteem have shown that it contributes considerably to various important areas of life. However, research has proven that there is ontogenetic variation in self-esteem, and the factors that contribute to its development are not yet very clearly defined (Robins et.al. 2002, Orth & Robins,…

Practice-based coursework in higher education programs is considered a critical aspect of early childhood practitioner preparation. Many undergraduates also have formal (e.g., childcare) or informal (e.g., nannying, babysitting) work experience outside of their degree programs, which may influence their caregiving competencies. In this study we…

The choice of cortisol sampling times in early childhood studies varies widely. Given that recommendations on sampling protocols are largely based on adults, the present study aimed to broaden current knowledge by examining how reliably cortisol measures obtained at different daytimes would reveal between-individual differences in toddlers'…

Inuit communities in Northern Quebec (Canada) are exposed to environmental contaminants, particularly to mercury, lead and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Previous studies reported adverse associations between these neurotoxicants and memory performance. Here we aimed to determine the associations of pre- and postnatal exposures to mercury, lead…

Every child deserves the opportunity to play during their preschool-age towards optimal development of physical, intellectual, social and emotional. However, parents or caregivers from the remote villages in Myanmar have not raised awareness of the play with their preschoolers. There was no preschool program in these remote villages in Myanmar.…

Children's experiences during early childhood are critical for their cognitive and socio-emotional development, two key dimensions of human capital. However, children from low income backgrounds often grow up lacking stimulation and basic investments, leading to developmental deficits that are difficult, if not impossible, to reverse later in life…

This book is an exploration of story and its importance in early childhood. It provides a thorough theoretical foundation, and considers how to practically implement the use of stories to aid children's wellbeing and holistic development. The chapters cover topics including cognitive and emotional development, creativity, play, mathematics,…

Food insecurity is a nationwide, systemic epidemic that effects millions of students on a daily basis. Without intervention, food insecure youth are left to contend with physical, cognitive, social-emotional, and academic losses. This article reviews the impacts of food insecurity on student development and the ethical obligations of the field to…

From 2017 to 2019, the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research and Ingenuity, a Chicago arts education advocacy organization, collaborated to examine the relationship between arts education and social-emotional development. Combining arts-specific research with multidisciplinary literature on child and adolescent development, the…

Experience-dependent change pervades early human development. Though trajectories of developmental change have been well charted in many domains, the episode-to-episode schedules of experiences on which they are hypothesized to depend have not. Here, we took up this issue in a domain known to be governed in part by early experiences: music. Using…

For more than a decade, the widely used "Pyramid Model for Promoting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children" has been helping early educators use research-based practices to boost social-emotional development. Now there's a practical guide that makes it easier than ever to implement this highly effective framework in…

There is considerable variability in developmental outcomes of children whose mothers experience depression. Few longitudinal studies have examined contributions of paternal involvement in the association between maternal postnatal depression (PND) and offspring development. We examined pathways from maternal PND at 8 weeks (Edinburgh Postnatal…

This article aims to review and debate the concept of lying and the variables associated with it, such as the age of its emergence in infancy, developmental patterns in a life cycle, motives for lying, consequences on social relationships and contextual and educational factors. The paradoxical nature of this behaviour is also emphasized because it…

The architecture of sleep undergoes distinct changes during childhood and early adolescence. Slow wave sleep is involved in memory processing and may support active consolidation of newly encoded representations to support the formation of abstracted "gist" memories. Here, we examined sleep and overnight memory formation in German school…