Up to 250 children of different ages can be seen when entering Sekolahku-MySchool (SMS) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, integrated and happily engaged, indoors or outdoors, in sustainable activities as part of their everyday learning. With ages ranging from 16 months to 13 years, the children engage in learning typical academic skills and techniques…

Some features of project work are of value for toddlers, while others are best left until children are older. This article shares the process through which teachers and administrators at a private school in Mexico City gained awareness of the importance of listening, observing, and documenting children's activities to determine how to adapt…

This article describes what school social workers observed to be the quality components, or the "key ingredients," of the youth development activities they implement within their practice. The article reports on findings from twenty-eight interviews of school social workers. Eight quality components emerged from the data including: (1) giving…

Children observe, listen, feel, taste, and take apart while exploring everything in their environment. Teachers can cultivate nature investigations with very young children by offering infants natural objects they can explore and investigate. When adults introduce nature in the earliest stages of development, children will be open to new ideas and…

The author points out and discusses misunderstandings that parents often have about how children learn. Many problems in child rearing and education could be avoided of concern for a child's achievement as a student were balanced by an equally strong concern for his feelings of self-worth as a person. (Author/AS)

Advocates hands-on activities for preschool children that develop the skills that form the foundation for abstract thinking. Concrete experiences in reading, writing, math and science will develop motor skills and concept formation, and make the move into higher level academics a comfortable and natural process. (SH)

This article offers suggestions on planning field trip experiences for young children. Rules should be set and enforced, strollers available, and enough care givers present to manage the group. Grocery stores, fire stations, bookstores, and barbershops are some of the places children enjoy. (DF)

Experiential learning has been defined as the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of the experience of the learner who is at the center of the learning process. Modern experiential learning theory begins with John Dewey and his "Experience and Education" (1938). Coleman (1976) describes traditional learning as…

Because of the way young children learn, environmental educational programs should incorporate opportunities for sensory absorption and physical manipulation. Emphasis should be on stimulating children's senses and bringing joy to their actions, thoughts and feelings. Key concepts related to developmentally appropriate practices include active…

This collection of 12 short, bilingual papers on nutrition and preschool children is part of a series of papers on various aspects of day care published by the Canadian Department of Health and Welfare. Each paper is presented in both English and French. Topics dealt with include an overview of children's nutritional needs; development of…

This Spanish-language ERIC Digest addresses the question of what young children should be learning that will best serve their development and learning in the long term. Two major dimensions of development--normative and dynamic--are explored, and four categories of learning goals are discussed: (1) knowledge; (2) skills; (3) dispositions; and (4)…

This Korean-language digest addresses the question of what young children should be learning that will best serve their development and learning in the long term. Two major dimensions of development--normative and dynamic--are explored, and four categories of learning goals are discussed: (1) knowledge; (2) skills; (3) dispositions; and (4)…

A university child development/early childhood education professor renews her relationship with young children and with current public school teaching by spending 5 weeks in kindergarten. This article describes some highlights of her experience: the children's daily journal writing, an in-class and take-home math activity, and teaching the…

Sex differences in activity selection or choice appear by age 12 or 18 months. These choices are one of the earliest indicators of sex differences in the behavior of young children. Differences in activity participation or toy choices are evident long before the emergence of sex differences in personality characteristics like passivity or…