This paper presents a new theoretical model of creative imagination and its applications in early education. The model sees creative imagination as composed of three inter-related components: vividness of images, their originality, and the level of transformation of imageries. We explore the theoretical and practical consequences of this new…

In most cultures, play seems to matter a great deal to young children. This is evidenced by the vast amount of time children spent playing and the combination of often unsurpassed passion, imagination, and energy which they invest in this activity. This paper explores why play matters through the lens of Bakhtin's dialogic approach combined with…

Generic statements express generalizations about categories and present a unique semantic profile that is distinct from quantified statements. This paper reports two studies examining the development of children's intuitions about the semantics of generics and how they differ from statements quantified by "all," "most," and…

Gradually, learning a foreign language has become a necessity to capture the era in a changing world. In recent years, the importance attached to multilingualism in pre-school-age children has also raised the issue of teaching foreign languages. This issue is also becoming increasingly important in our country, Turkey. Present study was conducted…

Extant research has highlighted the importance of multiple characteristics of housing but has not comprehensively assessed a broad range of housing characteristics and their relative contributions to children's well-being. Using a representative, longitudinal sample of low-income children and adolescents from low-income urban neighborhoods (N =…

This brief summarizes the working paper, "The Science of Neglect: The Persistent Absence of Responsive Care Disrupts the Developing Brain," and explains why neglect, or the absence of responsive, supportive care, can affect the formation of the developing brain, impairing later learning, behavior, and health. The brief also includes…

In this paper, we contrast the early childhood education and care aims and curriculum in Norway and Australia and the theoretical underpinnings of Norwegian and Australian pedagogy in an attempt to partially explain the different approaches to (risky) outdoor play in these two countries. We argue that Norwegian pedagogical approaches may allow…

The effects of high- versus low-quality child care during 2 developmental periods (infant-toddlerhood and preschool) were examined using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care. Propensity score matching was used to account for differences in families who used different combinations of child…

This article provides an interview transcript between David Kahn and Mario Montessori (1898-1982), son of Dr. Maria Montessori. Mario Montessori dedicated his life to the preservation, dissemination and application of Montessori's works. Herein Kahn asks Montessori about his time living in the hills of Kodaikanal, India. Montessori touches upon…

This research focuses on the associations between interactive processes of early childhood classrooms and gains in children's cognitive self-regulation (CSR) across the preschool year. Data from 803 children (45.8% female; "M" = 54 months; 39.1% Caucasian, 26.3% African American, 24.6% Hispanic, 9.9% Other) were collected at fall and…

Relations among indices of maternal mind-mindedness (appropriate and nonattuned mind-related comments) and children's: (a) internal state vocabulary and perspectival symbolic play at 26 months ("N" = 206), and (b) theory of mind (ToM) at 51 months ("n" = 161) were investigated. Appropriate comments were positively…

This research investigated the developing inter-relationships between language, graphic symbolism and symbolic play both concurrently and longitudinally from the fourth to the fifth year of childhood. Sixty children ("n"?=?60) aged between 3 and 4?years completed multiple assessments of language and assessments of graphic symbolism,…

Physical inactivity is a key determinant of health across the lifespan. A lack of activity increases the risk of heart disease, colon and breast cancer, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, osteoporosis, anxiety and depression and others diseases. Emerging literature has suggested that in terms of mortality, the global population health burden of…

Executive functions (EFs) may help children to regulate their food-intake in an "obesogenic" environment, where energy-dense food is easily available. There is mounting evidence that overweight is associated with diminished hot and cool EFs, and several longitudinal studies found evidence for a predictive effect of hot EFs on children's…

This article reports on a collaborative action research project, conducted in a pre-primary school in South Central Uganda, which explores the opportunities for children to draw upon and integrate their home and community-based knowledge and experiences through mother tongue (MT) instruction and resources. We use the funds of knowledge (Moll,…